Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I've had my eye on this old Exxon service station at the corner of North Main & Sunset for several years, mainly because of the tow trucks, as Skibo is a family nickname for several people. I'm not sure when it stopped being an Exxon, but for the last several years at least, it seemed to be a tires only business with no gas. It appears though that its last incarnation was once again a gas station.

Well, a number of people have mentioned this place recently, and for that matter going back a good while, but for some reason, I just recently got around to visiting. It's quite a large and interesting property that is currently going to pot. I see from the real estate sign and LoopNet listing that it *is* on the market, but for whatever reason, it doesn't seem to be moving. Maybe $2,000,000 is just too much, though as I said it is a big property.

As nearly as I can tell based on this Facebook page, Hampton closed at some point between December 2013 and February 2014. In fact, we can corroborate with the Internet Wayback Machine, noting that the Hampton web site was up on 24 December 2013 and gone by 22 February 2014. (As an aside, it seems that phonebooks are less and less help for this sort of thing lately. For some reason the current Feb 2017 phonebook still has an active listing for Hampton..)

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I was not really aware until recently that Sumter Street crossed Elmwood, but Dave's Transmission was on that end of Sumter, and more or less behind the old Jim Moore Cadillac property.

The Free Times says that the property is to become a restaurant, although details were sparse at the time of the article. Just looking at the pictures, it seems to me parking might be an issue.

(Hat tip to commenter Justin)

People kept saying that the Mr. Suds carwash at Clemson & Hardscrabble Roads was closing due to the road widening, and I kept driving up there and saying to myself "What are these guys talking about? The carwash is well behind the Circle-K and shouldn't be affected by the road issues at all. In fact it's open, and there's a car in there now.."

Of course, I was looking at the Mr. Suds associated with Magnolia Pointe, and I finally realized there was another one nearby when commenter Sidney gave clear directions ("kinda across from the Waffle House"). By the time I got there, everything but the fence, some support beams and a few incidentals was gone. Almost as if the lot had been washed clean..

(Hat tips to commenters cheryl, Sidney and probably some others)
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Commenter Homer sends in these shots of the Meineke across from Seven Oaks Shopping Center. This is right next to the Former NAPA that moved into the shopping center, although when I was doing that one, I somehow managed to take the long shots to completely miss this building except for this one:

and pretty nearly in that case too.

(Hat tip, obviously, to commenter Homer)

UPDATE 23 March 2018 -- Now Minnie's Auto Repair:

I noticed this vacant car refinishing storefront when I was getting pictures of Sandy Run Towing, which is two doors down from here. In fact I believe the intervening building (which has the most character of the three) is also vacant.

You can see a picture with the branding still present on this LoopNet listing.

According to The State, this North Main towing operation caught fire on 24 February 2017:

Columbia fire crews arrived at Sandy Run Towing at 3610 North Main just before midnight. They worked for more than two hours to put out the flames.

There were no injuries, but the building and the cars inside were a complete loss

Man! You've already had a bad day when you car gets towed. Now imagine it getting caramelized on top of that..

From the sign, it appears that they have now relocated.

UPDATE 19 January 2018 -- This building has been razed:

I noticed this former garage in Triangle City on the Charleston Highway last weekend. I can't say exactly when it closed, as I don't see any phonebook listings for it, at least under the marquee name, although Google suggests it might also have been Southern Diesel Truck & Trailer Repair, or a Meineke Car Care location.

I think I have actually had service at this Jiffy Lube twice over the years, and I did stop there last summer when I needed the AC recharged in one of my cars and they were having an AC special but in the event they couldn't help me as the car was too old.

As commenter Matt mentions, the lot is definitely tight, and I too had trouble turning around and getting out that last time.

Somewhat, if not tremendously, interesting is that this building and the adjacent Kangaroo Express seem to share the same street address without any "suite" differentation.

(Hat tip to commenter Matt)

It looks like this old gas station at the corner of Two Notch and Germany Street is vacant again.
T T & B was the follow-on operation to Auto Selection, which was the follow-on to K & C Radiator Center, so the car theme has been pretty consistent.