There was a time when automobile dealerships found the Orangeburg downtown district a welcome place to do business, but the recent move of the Toyota dealership from Broughton Street continues a trend toward consolidation along U.S. 601.

Fairey Chevrolet-Cadillac on U.S. 601 did a stint on Broughton Street when it assumed the ownership of Courtesy Chevrolet in 1993 from Jim Covington and Keith Hewitt. In 1996, Fairey moved to U.S. 601 near Interstate 26.

Covington's other businesses on Broughton, Courtesy Chevrolet and Courtesy Mazda, continued under his ownership as C&S Toyota/Mazda before being purchased by Paul Whatley in November 1997.

Courtesy Chevrolet was formerly the Wannamaker Motor Co., owned by Bill Wannamaker.

Fairey Motor Co. was in St. Matthews for about 70 years. Joe Fairey III's grandfather, Phillip Fairey, started the dealership there in 1926.

Joe III's father, Joe, led the St. Matthews operation through 1989. Since then, Joe Fairey III has run the dealership.

In 1998, Fairey Chevrolet acquired the Cadillac-Oldsmobile line of Burg Cadillac-Oldsmobile-Nissan when the dealership left Orangeburg.

Fairey continued to sell pre-owned vehicles at the St. Matthews location through 2000 before closing its doors. The automotive company reopened its St. Matthews dealership Aug. 1, 2005.

Six years ago, Fairey joined with Orangeburg Dodge Chrysler Nissan to build Orangeburg Nissan.

One example of the changing face of Orangeburg's dealership landscape is epitomized in D.D. Salley III.

Salley's father, D.D. Salley Jr., entered into the automobile business in 1931 on Broughton Street before moving to its current location on Russell Street about six years later.

He says while the move out of the downtown district does provide customers easier access and more parking, the relocation does have a detrimental impact on downtown.

"It leaves downtown with problems," Salley said. "It is a disaster when they close up downtown."

Relocation has also come with other changes, Salley said.

"The automobile business has changed so," he said. "You used to look on the car dealer like your lawyer and doctor. You knew you could depend on him and if you had a problem. It was more of a one-to-one basis. He would be there to see about you."

More recently, Whatley, the former owner of Orangeburg's Whatley Toyota-Mazda-Scion on Broughton Street, sold the dealership to Augusta, Ga.-based Bob Richards Automotive LLC in August 2005.

Bob Richards Automotive LLC is completing its first months of operations at a new 27,000-square-foot, $3.8-million Toyota of Orangeburg dealership on U.S. Highway 601 across from Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College.

The dealership officially relocated from its Broughton Street site to the U.S. 601 location on May 18.

The dealership broke ground in June 2006.

"We have more exposure and an updated facility to work in," owner Bob Richards said. "Broughton Street was very good, but the traffic count is more (on U.S. 601). We have more frontage and we are all on one side of the street."

Richards said preliminary estimates are that business has been "excellent."

"There was a little disruption with the move in May when we were planning and getting our move ready," Richards said. "But it has been going very smoothly."

Initially, the dealership was to sell a Mazda line, but changing market conditions resulted in a change of plans.

"We had decided Toyota had gotten so strong in the market," Richards said, explaining that Mazda accounted for about 10 percent of new car sales. Toyota sales made up the remaining 90 percent.

But it was not always that way, Richards said.

"Back in he 1970s and 1980s, Mazda was selling more than Toyota," Richards said. "Now Toyota has gotten so much stronger."

So much stronger that Richards said Toyota has become the No. 2 automobile in the world, sometimes reaching the top position.

"We felt better off focusing efforts on Toyota," Richards said, adding that Mazda had an option to sell to another dealer but decided not to close.

Richards said the Orangeburg market is attractive and can serve as a welcome reprieve from the larger markets such as Columbia and Charleston.

"People like to buy in Orangeburg," Richards said. "I like to think we are a little easier to deal with. We do things in a sort of small town way. Our staff is personable."

The dealership is located on 8-1/2 acres, which will include 450 parking spaces. The company has about 200 spaces at its current Broughton Street facility. There is also 2-1/2 acres available for future growth.

The growth of the Toyota line since the Broughton Street site was constructed in the mid-1970s is cited as a reason for the move.

The new owner was able to retain all 50 employees, with about 96 percent of them living locally. In fact, the dealership has added a few sales staff to handle the expected increase in volume.

Another dealership leaving downtown was Orangeburg Auto Company Inc.

It was founded by Bennie H. Brickle Sr. in 1946 as the DeSoto-Plymouth dealership. The company acquired the Chrysler line in 1984 and later took on the Dodge line.

Burg Cadillac-Oldsmobile-Nissan left Orangeburg in 1998 and the Brickles took their Orangeburg Chrysler-Plymouth-Dodge and its Nissan line and moved from Broughton Street to the building formerly owned by Burg on U.S. Highway 601.

Grandson Benji Brickle now owns the dealership Orangeburg Chrysler/Dodge Nissan.

The Burg family came into Orangeburg in 1994 when it purchased the J.W. Pickens Co. dealership on Broughton Street. Burg Cadillac-Oldsmobile-Nissan soon moved the dealership to U.S. 601.

Whatley has returned to Orangeburg with the recent purchase of the Orangeburg Ford dealership, which itself exited downtown two decades ago, but for a different location -- on U.S. 301.

Orangeburg Ford, founded as Horne Motors by the late Dick Horne, has been a business landmark in the Orangeburg area since 1931. It prospered and grew until it sprawled along several corners of Russell Street in downtown Orangeburg.

When there was no longer any room to grow, the business moved to the intersection of U.S. 301 and 601.

The dealership was purchased by Barron Driskell as a subsidiary company of Driskell Automotive Group in 1999.

Orangeburg County Chamber of Commerce President David Coleman says Orangeburg dealerships can compete with any.

"I think the quality of the dealerships that we have and the variety ... will help us to be a regional center for automotive sales," he said. "In our prime market area, we will be the key center for these sales."

Coleman said the movement of dealerships out of the downtown district is something that is not unique to Orangeburg.

"The cluster approach is one that you see in many cities," Coleman said, referencing the Columbia Two Notch Road area as well as the Greystone Boulevard and Interstate 26 area as prime examples. "It is one of those things where people want to go and look at more than one dealership at one time and like that as a car-buying experience."

T&D Staff Writer Gene Zaleski can be reached at gzaleski@timesanddemocrat.com and 803-533-5551. Discuss this and other stories on-line at www.TheTandD.com.

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