Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

About all I can say about AAMCO is that growing up, they had a very memorable radio commercial. Well, perhaps that overstates it, as the commercial per se wasn't all that memorable, but the tagline made up for it. The announcer would advise the listener to bring his car to AAMCO with the hook:

That's Double-Ay-*beep*-*beep*-Em-See-Oh!

That little car horn beep in the middle of the business name would get my attention every time.

When commenter John mentioned that this place might be closed, I went to take some pictures and wasn't sure myself. The lot was certainly for sale, but all the signage and fixtures were still in place, and I thought they might be carrying the business on until they actually had a buyer. In the event that was not the case, and they closed shop sometime in 2012, early on enough that they are not listed in the February 2013 phonebook.

(Hat tip to commenter John)

UPDATE 5 March 2014 --It's now D's Automotive:

Marion Burnside Chrysler Plymouth was a constant breakfast-table presence while I was growing up due to their memorable commercials on WIS Radio. At this remove, it a little cloudy what the exact lyrics to their jingle were, but clearly they spelled out the word "Marion" and drove home the fact that they were at "Seventy Two Oh One on the Sumter Highway!". Here's the way several people recall it (as first seen on the Ads & Jingles page:

Mar-i-on is the name to remember,
7201 on the Sumter High-Way!
M-- "More Service"
A-- "Able to Serve You"
R-- "Real Value"
I-- "something something!"
O--"something something!"
N--"something something!"
Today!

(me)

M A R, I O N,
Marion Burnside Plymouth in Columbia
M for Marion Burnside Plymouth in Columbia
A at 7201 the Sumter Highway
R ready to serve you
I integrity
O opportunity
N now go!

(commenter Dennis)

M- Marion Brunside Chrysler Plymouth in Columbia
A- address 7201 Sumter Highway
R- ready to serve you
I- Integrity
O- Opportunity
N- Now Come

(commenter GB)

It's a bit hard to conceptualize now, but before I-77 and the growth of the metro area, this lot was way out in the boonies, or at least that's how I considered it. It was something we would pass on the way to the beach, and not something I considered as being "in town" at all. In the event, we were a Ford/Mecury family in those days (something 1970s' Mecurys cured us of), so I never actually paid a visit to Marion Burnside, and am a bit hazy as to when it closed. I'm thinking the late 1970s, but I could be wrong.

Jim Hudson moved into the Marion building sometime later, and had been there quite a while by the time they got caught up earlier this month in the general flight to Blythewood that has already taken Dick Dyer Toyota, Lexus of Columbia and a surprising number of other dealerships.

After a long series of days when I could only take pictures as the sun went down, or when the day was completely overcast, I had some hopes for these pictures. In particular, the sidelot with all the little plastic flags strung up was quite photogenic as they glittered in the early afternoon sun. Of course, the instant I got out of the car, the sun went behind the clouds, and I got yet another gray set of pix. The only partial benefit was that shooting against the sun as I had to do for most of these was a little less bad (Less bad, but still *bad*).

(Hat tip to commenter Frank)

UPDATE 2 May 2016 -- It appears that Dick Smith Ford is about ready to open:

Despite the fact that they broadened their business model to full car care many years ago, I still think of Midas as a muffler place. In fact, the last time I needed a muffler, I got it at the Decker store, and as far as I can tell, they did a good job.

This store, on Two Notch near The Village At Sandhill closed sometime late in 2012. I think I noticed it in December, and kept trying to get back out there during full daylight, which I never quite managed.

The sign, Moved to Decker Blvd is a bit disingenuous as the Decker store has been there (at Fashion Place, more or less) for a number of years, so it's more of a consolidation than an actual move.

Enterprise is not one of the car rental firms I've ever used, though their promise to deliver the car to you rather than have you come for the car is appealing. In the event, the one time I needed such a service (stuck in Beaufort with a busted alternator) the local branch was closed on Sunday and I just ended up staying until my car was fixed. Of course I never get a rental car that's a model I would drive by choice, so it was probably just as well.

The phonebook and google say that there are still several other Enterprise locations in town.

(Hat tip to commenter Matt)

UPDATE 19 October 2012 -- As commenter Matt notes in the comments this location has moved to 1307 Assembly Street a few blocks away.

UPDATE 14 November 2012 -- Here is the new Assembly Street location:

UPDATE 5 May 2018 -- At some point the 1436 Taylor Street building was razed:

Here is another closed NAPA store.

While I certainly hope that the employees are able to continue on at 3720 Two Notch Road, calling it a move is not quite right as that store has existed for several years, and was apparently built to replace the O'Neil Court location.

Interestingly, the phonebook (Feb 2012) gives the address for the Hardscrabble store as "1507 Hardscrabble Road", which led me on a merry chase all the way from Wilson, and when 1507 was in the boonies and obviously wrong, across both Farrow and Clemson. I probably wouldn't do *that* again, at least not close to rush hour. In fact this store turns out to be just a few buildings down from the old Santorini Grill and a few up from the former Food Lion and Blockbuster.

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This little auto lot was at the corner of Airport Boulevard and Glenn Street in Cayce. The full name comes from the 2012 phonebook -- as you can see, the roadside sign stops at International Auto Sales.

To me, it looks as though the garage wing of the building might have been added on after the front part was built, leading me to believe this has not always been a car-related spot.

This Calhoun Street building has much more character than modern boxy auto parts stores and I especially like the style of the logo as well. The interior has an old fashioned look too, though I like that less well than the exterior. Judging from the door note, Burns was a family business, and 50 years is a nice long run and well deserved retirement.

(Hat tip to commenter GA Lemons)

There's been a lot of speculation in Have Your Say lately as to whether Branham's Exxon at the corner of Devine & Ott is open or not.

I think the answer is probably: It's open, but it's not Branham's. Commenter Nobody saw a sign there to the effect that it was closing 24 March 2012 after 35 years, but when I drove by, I saw the station open and with people actively filling their cars. A closer inspection on a later Sunday trip reveals that the streetside sign now says:

Gas Pumps Open
Thank You
Keenan Oil Co

while the other sign of the sign says that the "shop" (which could be the convenience portion, the auto bay portion, or both) is temporarily closed.

It appears that the station has been sold to Keenan which is, for the nonce at least, running it as a gas-only station. I certainly wish the owners a nice retirement, but it's sad to see another of the very few "mechanic on duty" stations left close. In fact, the only other one that comes to mind right now is Null's Exxon on Two Notch.

UPDATE 5 February 2013: It's now a Gaz-bah:

United Car Sales was a small used car lot on Forest Drive just east of Four J's Plaza, next to Ambassador Animal Hospital. As reported by commenters Andrew & Matt, the place was torn down last month, and has since been confirmed as the second location for Cookout hamburger restaurant in Columbia. At first it seemed sort of an odd location choice to me, but then I remembered that Forest Drive is an Interstate exit now. Cookout advertises their Orangeburg location with I-26 billboards, and will presumably advertise this spot with billboards on I-77.

I'm not sure what The Toy Box was, but it's the other google hit for 5311 Forest Drive. I don't think it was an actual "toy" store however as I probably would have heard of that.

(Hat tips to commenters Matt & Andrew)

UPDATE 4 April 2012 -- Changed post title to add "moved" as the status for United based on commenter R H Lancaster's info. Cook Out construction continues:

UPDATE 16 April 2012 -- Here is United's new home on Garners Ferry Road at I-77 (as far as I can tell, they have been listed in the past as both "United Auto" and "United Car"):

UPDATE 30 June 2012 -- As these pictures from 20 May and 21 June 2012 show, they are progressing and scheduled to be open on 1 July 2012:

UPDATE 3 July 2012 -- Cookout is open!

There are some adjectives that I never know what to make of when they are used in advertising or business names. Certified is one such. Are they certifying that the objects on their lot are indeed cars? It's sort of like those dodgy collectible items with a "certificate of authenticity" as if that couldn't be faked as well as the item.

At any rate, Certified Cars Online, Inc. seems to have been the last tenant in this apparently revolving-door lot on Sunset Boulevard between I-20 and Target. The one review I see for Sunset Tattoos indicates that it was in business as of 2008, and I'm guessing the other car operations before Certified came after that. (It's possible that some of them (Enterprise for instance) were run concurrently with Certified).

Here's an archived copy of the Certified site on the Internet Wayback Machine.

It appears the closing note could be taken as a confession of sorts, though I doubt that's how it was meant..

UPDATE 18 July 2013 I'm guessing that when I listed Enterprise Rent-A-Car in the post title above, I had googled the address and had that come up as one of the hits. As it turns out, that was something still in the future for this site at the time. Now Enterprise has made the move from 5184 Sunset, and is in operation on this lot now: