Star Profile

By John Temple Ligon Temple@TheColumbiaStar.com

Matt Riley

There are two auto repair businesses on Harden Street with the name Andrews. A few generations back there was one. It was downtown on Lady Street in the late 1920s. So with two businesses coming from the same family, the proprietors are still cousins and always friendly competitors.

Andrews Auto Service is at 2015 Harden Street, which sits on the west side of the street, just north of Calhoun Street, where it's been for almost 50 years. Andrews Auto Service is owned and operated by Matt Riley, grandson of the original Mr. Mac Andrews.

Riley's parents lived in Eau Claire when he was born. His father Frank Riley was running Andrews Auto Service, and his mother was running the household. He has an older sister who works with him in the shop, and his older brother is an architect in Greenville.

Their mother lives in the Cedar Creek neighborhood in Blythewood, close enough for occasional baby sitting services.

Riley went to kindergarten on Monticello Road. He went to grammar school in Wildewood in what is now St. John Neumann Catholic School. After Handberry Middle School, Riley played varsity soccer at Spring Valley High School for three years. He was president of the Key Club his senior year.

His soccer skills brought him a scholarship at Spartanburg Methodist Junior College for two years. He finished Spartan- burg and enrolled at Midlands Tech, where he earned a diploma in graphic communications. Soon after leaving Midlands Tech, Riley went to work at Andrews Auto Service. Today, he is the president of the family- held company.

He met his wife Christa when she was working for Merck, the huge drug concern. They have two children. Andrews is three, a talker, and a proud owner of model trucks. Chloe is barely one- year- old. Christa continues in drug sales, now parttime. She is with Innovex, part of Johnson & Johnson.

With an active interest in photography, Riley's list of heroes includes Edward Steichen and Ansel Adams. On the contemporary scene, he much admires Jimmie Chin, a climbing photographer. Some of Riley's work can be seen in the current issue of Mark Pointer's Stir Magazine.

Riley climbs, too, and he teaches rock climbing at USC. It's a one- credit- hour course inside the Blatt Center, Wednesday evenings from 6 till 7. It's only open to full- time students. Each semester they take two trips to work on the real thing.

As for Riley's business, Andrews Auto Service used to have a body shop as part of the business, but the work became too specialized. The retail sales arm is intentionally kept to a low level to emphasize the repair business.

The shop's diagnostic equipment, mostly, is set up for Chevrolets, Chryslers, and Fords.

Andrews takes in about 45 cars a week. Extreme weather is always good for business for reasons hard to explain. Both bitterly cold nights and unbearably hot days somehow trigger problems inside automobiles with more regularity than temperate times. In other words, mid- October is a good time to drop by for service.