Midlands Dining Innovation Turns 30

By Mike Switzer

Published February 21, 2020 at 6:35 AM EST

In 1989, our next guest saw an old vacant automobile parts store in downtown Columbia, SC and thought that it might be a good place to introduce a new trend in dining that was sweeping across the country by turning it into a farm-to-table bistro. Over 30 years later, he’s still going strong.

Mike Switzer interviews Eddie Wales, owner of Motor Supply in Columbia, SC.

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Mike Switzer

After almost 20 years, Mike Switzer retired from Wells Fargo Securities in 2001 as Senior Vice President/Investment Officer and Certified Portfolio Manager. In 1999, he and his wife, Maggie, purchased and operated for eight years the Baskin Robbins ice cream store on Forest Drive in Columbia. They grew the store from a bottom-tier operation in the Baskin Robbins franchise system to one in the top 5% nationwide within three years, tripling sales along the way. While operating the ice cream store, Mike and Maggie received patents for a portable ice cream sink and fold-down sneezeguard they invented and in 2002 started Magnolia Carts, an ice cream cart manufacturing company, which they sold in 2013.

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