Now Opening: Discount appliances, green cleaners, new McAlister's

A brief look at openings, closings and other changes in Augusta-area business: 

NO BUSTER’S, JUST DAVE’S

 The former Earth Fare organic supermarket in Columbia County is expected to have a new tenant next month selling discount appliances. 

A sign outside the storefront at 368 Furys Ferry Road in Martinez is announcing the addition of Dave’s Appliance Warehouse to the Shoppes at Furys Ferry shopping center. 

Dave’s appears to be a liquidation marketplace for several brands of top-name appliances for homes and businesses. The company promises discounts of up to 50% on new products and up to 60% on open-box and scratch-and-dent models. 

Earlier:Brickle's Cleaners hanging it up after 70 years

Dave’s website lists Martinez as its fourth location. Another store is in Statham, a small town west of Athens and about 110 miles from Augusta. The other two locations are in upscale Orange County, Calif., in the cities of Westminster and Anaheim. 

When Earth Fare opened its location on Furys Ferry in 2007, the company was planning an expansion of up to two dozen more stores across the Southeast. When Earth Fare closed locally in 2020, the company attributed the move to difficulties in the grocery industry that hampered plans for expansion and debt refinancing.   

CLEAN START

A dry-cleaner that’s operated in the Augusta area for 70 years is making way for a national chain. 

Brickle’s Cleaners at 4296 Washington Road in Evans is now Lapels. Brickle’s put its Evans and Martinez locations up for lease in March. 

Lapels bills its cleaning process as environmentally friendly, using a trademarked method involving liquid silicone instead of more conventional petrochemicals. 

It will be the second Lapels in the Augusta area. Top Cleaners, at 3515 Walton Way Extension, became a Lapels franchise earlier this year. 

SANDWICHED IN

A new commercial strip at the intersection of Walton Way Extension and Exchange Lane is the new home in Augusta for McAlister’s Deli. The old home for the fast-casual sandwich chain was in Augusta Mall. 

Other area locations are in the Mullins Colony shopping center in Evans, and north of Grovetown at 230 Meridian Drive. McAlister's operates more than 500 locations in 29 states.