Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

This one is a bit odd in that there is Maaco signage up on the old AutoPros location, but the place is up for sale again -- and I can't ever recall it operating as a Maaco. Furthermore, no google searches turn up Maaco at this location, they all come back with the Decker Boulevard location as the closest match: No indication that Maaco was planning to move here, or did move here.

If anyone can recall seeing it open, or knows more, chime in.

The signage on one side of this corner lot at Covenant & Beltline still says C & J, but I believe that is the result of the latest tenant, A Golden Automotive stripping their branding from that wall when they closed and that the two businesses were not the same.

Google reviews suggest Golden was open into Fall of 2025, but as you can see (if you squint) the building has now been ruled unsafe by the city, and the place is vacant.

Posting will probably continue light through the holidays and into the New Year, except for some Christmas music...

That said, I noticed the other week that Nuttall on Two Notch in the old, Dick Dyer location had rebranded as a Midas.

Actually, The Post & Courier says that the change was done in April when the local Midas franchaise, Palmetto Garage Works bought out Nuttall, but they have only gradually been changing the branding, with the sign finally coming down/going up in November.

Nuttall moved here from Millwood in late 2020, so that was about a five year run at this location.

Came across these pictures from 2012, and as far as I can tell, the building, just past the closed Wal-Mart & Murphy's, is still there, but it ceased being Bush River Auto Mall around 2018, moving to another nameplate, Automotive Showcase at that that time.

It's a nice little house.

For many years these stallions pranced in front of B&N Garage & Body Shop on the industrial end of Satchelford Road. I took those pictures back in 2010. Sadly I believe the owner of the shop has now passed on, and the horses have moved to greener pastures. Currently the property is for sale.

I have been meaning to get these pictures up for a while since work at the Hotel Trundle storefront ended up exposing the old marquee for a while.

When I was growing up, the Western Auto at Trenholm Plaza more or less where the Lululemon is now was my goto place for hobby batteries. In particular they had gigantic 1.5 volt carbon-zinc cells with screw tip connectors. I forget whatall I did, but electro-magnets, oddball things with flashlight bulbs and glowplugs figured into it. The stores were ubiquitous for a good while then the whole chain went into decline. I kind of remember that the last one open locally was in the Two Notch Kmart building.

I don't actually remember this location at all from back in the day. Of course we would not have driven downtown given that Trenholm Plaza was much more convenient, but I would have thought I would have some memory of seeing it, which I don't.

According to Wikipedia Western Auto was bought by Sears, which worked out as you would expect, and Sears sold most of it to Advance Auto Parts with the chain basically going defunct by 2003.

As reported by commenter Gypsie, Brakes 4 Less has moved down (or up) the street to 603-B Columbia Avenue which was apparently a Precision Tune.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

I noticed the other day that the carwash at the corner of Percival & Brackenridge is gone, and all the bays on the building are now enclosed in rollup doors. There doesn't seem to be any name on the place now, but perhaps a new auto-related operation is coming.

I noticed this vacant car rental storefront on a recent visit to St Andrews Square on Saint Andrews Road. I'm not sure when they closed or moved, but they are still on the roadside sign. (On the othe rhand, so is the Newsstand, which has been gone at least 20 years!)

This Advance Auto Parts was almost at the corner of Two Notch and Beltline -- in fact its parking lot connects with Murphy Express which *is* at the corner, and I have found it is usually a better way to get in and out of Murphy's than their actual entrances.

I believe I was only actually in this store once, probably about a year ago when I needed some jumper cables. I considered what they had to be very over-priced, but not enough so that I wanted to drive down to Wal-Mart, so I went ahead and bought them (they worked fine).

I'm not sure exactly when they closed, but it's quite recent, and I believe this month. Of corse a number of other Advance Auto Parts outlets remain in the area.

UPDATE 24 February 2026 -- Now Big City Furniture: