Texaco Gas Station / Suggs Ice Cream / Wingate Auto Sales / Lee Real Estate, 96 Powe Street: 2022 (moved)
Back in 2019, I observed that Lee Real Estate had moved from 201 Front Street to 96 Powe Street because the building at 201 Front Street was demolished to make way for the construction of the SpringHill Suites hotel. Then, when I was taking pictures for the closing of Pee Dee Nutrition in 2022, I noticed that Lee Real Estate had moved into the storefront at 847 Chesterfield Highway, which is in the Chesterfield Commons shopping center. With the fairly recent addition of the SPC Credit Union branch, it seems that Chesterfield Commons has taken two steps out of the grave.
Before this building was used as a real estate office, it was used by Wingate Auto Sales. Although I have found other locations for this business, including 23 Martin Luther King Drive and 3827 Highway 74 E in Wadesboro, it appears that Wingate Auto Sales is out of business.
Although I am sure that there were other, more recent businesses at 96 Powe Street, I only recall it being Suggs Ice Cream in the 90s and a Texaco gas station before then. It is likely that this building served as a gas station, and possibly a full-service station, for most of its history, given the look of the building.
Sadly, the stretch of Powe Street between Front Street and the bridge has seen better days and is currently devoid of any businesses, unless you count the busted-up trailer that is "for rent" in the lot next to the former Five Two Kitchen. It's a far cry from the days when upon crossing the bridge into Cheraw, the first sites you would see were a Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Inn, the J & K, Thomas Antiques, Kream Kastle, and a couple of gas stations.