Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

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.

I noticed this place was boarded-up as I drove past, so I turned around and took a closer look. As far as I can tell from the Google reviews, Entity Motors closed up in the time frame of "a year ago", having received mixed reviews.

The place is a solid looking older style house that would be attractive with a bit of TLC, so perhaps some sort of professional office will move in eventually. The LoopNet information is here.

The last google reviews for this place say "9 months ago", so I'm just going with 2024 for a closing date here.

I believe this building was once a maid service headquarters, though I did not do a closing on that. I know that at one time it was an Enterprise Rent-A-Car, which did feature here.

Despite the eye-catching bright yellow trim, I don't ever recall actually noticing this place while it was in operation though it looks to have been there at least since October of 2018.

Here is the LoopNet summary of the property, and here is the actual real-estate listing: The place can be yours for $700,000.

Cars & Beyond set up shop on the old National Pride Car Wash lot after the existing structures were razed (other than the sign, which was re-purposed). From the name of the place, I assume they were connected with the nearby Tires & Beyond, which closed in 2022 with a promise to re-open, though that appears to have fallen through.

Actually until commenter Gypsie mentioned that this place had closed, and that it had definitely had had an online presence as open, I had it in the "never opened" category in my mind. I saw some guys setting things up, as you can see in the first picture, but after that, it never actually seemed to be a working car lot -- at least I never saw any stock there when I would drive by.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

UPDATE 10 February 2025 -- They are back:

It wasn't clear to me that I could turn down the street the Google map car did, so I did not get very good pictures of this at all, but JT's Jeep on Greystone is doing a total remodel on their showroom. I believe they are open in the interim, but the place is pretty well gutted at this point.

UPDATE 18 October 2024 -- A few more shots coming the other way:

(Hat top to commenter Larry)

Commenter Gypsie speculates that Craft Auto Mart might be gone.

By the time I got there, it was pretty much a done deal, as the office trailer itself has vacated the premises.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

It appears that Latino's Used Cars (and towing) has moved from this Two Notch storefront to 10531 Farrow Road, according to their Facebook.

Looking at Google StreetView, they had moved in by 2016, before which the building had been vacant for a number of years.

RAW (Rent A Wheel) was in the old Huddle House location on Two Notch (though there is a discrepency in the address I have for Huddle House), and was the follow-up to Auto Image.

I'm not exactly sure when it closed, and I think there is still an AI robot on Google Reviews posting responses for the owner, but it appears to be sometime in the Spring. The embedded StreetView photo is from October of 2023). There is a nice aerial view of the property on LoopNet.

UPDATE 23 September 2024 -- More pictures:

I believe I got a battery at NTB once and it was fine. I was not really aware of this particular location, but it seems a bit hard to get in and out of to me. Hopefully the staff were able to go to the Harbison location called out on the closing sign.

We'll see what comes in next here, probably something else car related.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

This location of American Car Center has a much less distinctive building than the one on Two Notch, but like that one was caught in the bankruptcy of the whole chain in February of 2023.

As Fortune put it:

American Car Center told employees the business was closing its doors, a day after it pulled a $222 million bond sale from the market, according to people familiar with the matter.

The used car retailer, which tends to target consumers regardless of their credit history, said in an email to employees on Friday the firm was ceasing all operations, closing its headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee, and that all employees would be terminated by the end of the business day, the people said. The headquarters has about 288 people.

The closure email came a day after the company sent another message to staff saying management and advisors had been working with lenders to improve liquidity and continue operations, the people said. American Car Center, which has more than 40 dealerships across 10 states, is owned by York Capital Management LLC.

Interestingly, both Columbia locations have electronic signs that are still active. However, I can tell you that as I took these pictures, it was neither 6:52pm nor 38 degrees...