The landscape of auto parts stores is about to change. More than 700 Advance Auto Parts locations are about to disappear, removing an option for all kinds of wrenchers who need to get work done.
There are many explanations for this, and Matt Sexton’s additional insight about how these stores work is illuminating:
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I read this the other day, as you can imagine among us NAPA store owners it was of interest. I’m actually on a Teams call getting an update on it right now.
One thing to remember is that auto parts stores don’t subsist on DIY’ers doing work in their driveways. It’s nice, because there’s a bit more margin in that, but selling to the repair shops and fleets is where the bread and butter is. Advance acquired CarQuest a few years back to try to tap into that market a little better, I’m surprised this was not mentioned in the article (I do wonder how much that acquisition affected the balance sheet and led to the situation they’re in today). At our store probably 80% of our sales go out the back door. There’s a lot of volume there and it explains why O’Reilly’s in particular is after NAPA’s share of that market.
Auto parts is a fantastically competitive and complex business and there’s price pressure from all sides. Knowledgeable talent is at a premium. Margins are embarrassingly thin but everyone “can get it cheaper” somewhere else, and now the online retailers are strong as well. Sales are fairly soft in the industry right now, one theory I have is all the cars that weren’t sold in 2020 are not coming off-lease now nor out of OEM warranty (which is where the aftermarket comes in). Some folks disagree with my theory but we saw a bump a few years after Cash for Clunkers so there’s precedence. Between the Blue, Green, Orange and Red I’m not surprised one of the four is feeling the squeeze. Advance in particular has been so desperate for sales that they’ve been known to blitz areas at low margins, which has made things difficult at times.
Online retailers are a burden, to be sure, as evidenced by the number of folks here who say they’re willing to wait for parts. A shop that has to manage rack time doesn’t have this luxury, which is why it’s important to be successful in wholesale. You can combat the online guys buy having inventory, getting it to the shop faster, and providing good service. Personally I obviously feel an independently owned NAPA store is more likely to invest in these areas (in particular inventory), as they have their skin in the game. Your mileage may vary based on your local ownership though, and more NAPA’s are corporate owned now than ever before in my career, so it pays to know who runs yours.
TL;DR: From my perspective Advance was a retail-focused parts operation that tried to buy more wholesale market buy acquiring CarQuest and then didn’t know how to best use them, and amid a tough market is simply feeling the squeeze. I’m far from the smartest guy in the room though so take it for what it’s worth.
Yesterday, Jason wrote a Conspiracy Theory Thursday post about the loss of crotch vents and sperm counts. Lizardman in a human suit wasn’t entertained:
As a space lizard posing as a human, I find this decline in crotch vents and fertility very concerning. This is our future food supply!
I mean our future children. Disregard the food supply comment.
Finally, there’s Jason’s story about how four people allegedly committed insurance fraud by reporting bear attacks on their cars, but the bear was actually just a person in a bear suit. LTDScott replies:
I wonder how many times they got away with this in a Studebaker.
Pete jumping in here … I thought I’d go ahead and pop in a pic of a Studebaker Bearcat to cap LTDScott’s gag, but in looking for a pic I discovered Studebaker didn’t offer any Bear-named vehicles (though there were Hawks, of course, and one Weasel), and the Bearcat was an engine, not a car. You can see the mill inset in the ad below:
However – and I’m sure many of you are probably already poised to note this in the comments – there were indeed Bearcat automobiles; they just happened to be from Stutz, not Studebaker. Per Wikipedia, the first Stutz Bearcat (or “Bear Cat”) appeared in 1912. The model name continued through 1923 and was revived in 1931, then production ceased in 1934 and Stutz ultimately declared bankruptcy in 1937.
But this was not the end for Stutz, at least in name. The brand was revived in 1968 as Stutz Motor Car of America, and in 1979 the Bearcat returned with a, ahem, striking Virgil Exner design:
… which is a whole ‘nother story that would be a terrific tale for Mercedes to tell in her signature deep-dive style, don’t you agree?
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Based on what I could find online, Michael Keaton’s character in the Movie Night Shift acquired the 4-door version of the Stutz. For those who were not watching movies in the early 1980s it is worth digging up. Not many of these Stutz were produced.
Great to see the comment from the inside about the auto parts business. Retail business (both brick and mortar and ecommerce) are things that everyone interacts with so people think they have a close understanding, but unless you know the details from being in the business there are a lot of factors you might not consider.
Just upsetting to see the suppliers let these local owners down. I worked for a local NAPA for 5 years, and the product we received only got worse, and more expensive. Even when I was receiving employee pricing (10% over cost) it was often cheaper and a better bet for me to go shopping online. It’s going to be hard for these guys to stay afloat even with shop customers.
Just my 2 cents, but I will say I’m a fan of local parts stores. I normally will order a large chunk of parts through RockAuto (support Wisconsin businesses!) but sometimes I’ll find a part I thought I needed was incorrect or I’m missing something. I’ll pay the extra premium to get the part same day than wait another day to get my car back on the road.
Not for nothing, but auto parts store staff quality seems to be based on location and what store it is. For example, if I go to my local O’Reily’s, it’s in a very poor neighborhood and not exactly the safest spot. The guys inside are nice, but about as dumb as a board when it comes to parts and questions. Most recently I needed 2 wheel seals for an Excursion and they were perplexed on why a “Wheel would need a seal?” until I had them pull up the part and diagram.
They didn’t have any in stock, so I went to the next nearest store in a much nicer neighborhood and the young lady behind the counter knew exactly which seal I needed for a Ford axle before I even got out the standard response to the “Trim, drivetrain, and engine” question. It’s not to say this is always the case, but something I’ve noticed in recent years.
Why would market pressure on aftermarket auto parts be any different from the overall market as a whole? If someone can save .14 cents at Walmart or Amazon for anything else, makes sense that those shoppers would behave the same for parts. When you condition customers to buy on price…and price alone. Well here we are. Best part is the irony when they lose their jobs to overseas outsourcing and/or turn and complain about main-street being ghost town with all the business being papered up.
My thought (and I know I’m not the average consumer, so I could be completely off base) is that it’s not just the cost but also the service. I’ve had service all over the spectrum at Advance and Autozone – some employees knowledgeable and excited to help, others neither of those things. In my experience it seems to become part of the culture of the store – people who like cars being around others who like cars and that helps them stick around longer and ultimately they become more knowledgeable. Usually when I walk into one of those stores and no one seems to want to help you, everyone there tends to be pretty useless. The ones that tend to have younger employees (because they are near colleges or whatever) seem to go through cycles of having both types of employees.
A lot of people aren’t sure what they need, or how to make sure it’s right for their car, so going in and talking to a human who can help guide them in the right direction (or help if something goes wrong and they ended up with the wrong part for whatever reason) is probably worth spending a couple of extra bucks (with the added bonus of probably getting what you need immediately).
Why, in an age where anyone can go online and research their issue and how to fix it, would they go into a retail store if they weren’t met with a knowledgeable employee that is happy to help them?
Another downside of the convenience of online ordering and the loss of mom-and-pop parts stores is the loss of the diagnostic value of the machine shop most of those stores featured provided. Case in point, the front brakes on our problematic Chrysler Pacifica.
Purchased used in 2018, the odometer got to about 45k miles when I determined the original front brakes were in need of replacement, which I did with Centric rotors and pads from Rock Auto. That set of pads and rotors lasted about 50k miles, before they too needed replacing. Based on the durability of that set, I ordered the same Centric rotors and pads from Rock Auto, and while I was in there replaced the right-front caliper after finding that the pistons would not retract back into the housing.
And that’s when the fun began.
Within a few months, the pulsation that prompted me to replace the front brakes this last time came back. Not believing that the brakes would go bad so quickly, I started chasing all sorts of other possibilities: tires rotated and balanced, wheel bearings replaced, the rest of the front suspension rebuilt. Everything I did helped a little bit, but the pulsation never completely went away. As a Hail Mary, I picked up a set of high carbon Duralast Gold rotors to replace the 9k mile-old Centrics and threw them in with the existing – and new – pads. The pulsation went away… for a while. Out of frustration I drove around with the pulsation until I was reminded that those Duralast Gold rotors had a 3-year warranty on them. So last week, I warrantied the rotors and purchased a new set of pads. While installing them I discovered that it took a lot more effort to compress the pistons in the left-front caliper than it should, so I took another ride to Autozone, picked up a replacement caliper and popped that in. Time will tell, but the van feels like new again, and for the first time in almost two years I don’t feel like I’m driving a beater (a rebuilt front suspension will do that).
The tl;dr of it all is that if the left-front caliper wasn’t also bad at the time I replaced the right-front (it retracted, as evidenced by my successfully installing the new pad and rotor) it was likely on its way out, the short failure time of the rotors was caused by the sticky/seized caliper, and sending the rotors out to be turned instead of just slapping new ones on would have uncovered that. Also, as much as I like doing it, as a DIYer I don’t do enough of this work to catch these types of issues.
For stuff like brakes, it’s often helpful to consider doing them in axle pairs. If one is bad, generally the other isn’t far behind. Not to say I haven’t replaced a single caliper or hub (more on that soon), but even just the mismatch between refreshed and “experienced” hardware from one side to the other can be noticeable.
Obviously, it’s a luxury to just throw money, parts, and time at the thing, so you do what you gotta do, and if that means fixing the bare minimum, there’s absolutely zero shame in that.
In terms of the wear items, absolutely. Hard items I’ve always done on a case-by-case basis. At the time I replaced the one caliper the other caliper was fine based on pad wear and the lack of effort in compressing the pistons. So I cleaned and greased the retaining pins, replaced the rest of the hardware, and reassembled.
If I were a shop, first of all I’d be doing a lot more of these jobs and have that experience to work from, but I’d also have to decide which is better for the customer; proactively replacing a part that isn’t known to be bad, charging the parts and labor, and hoping the customer accepts the explanation? Or only replacing the known bad part and risking the customer bringing the car back?
Yep, it’s always a balance! I’d have probably done the exact same thing; checked it and decided it’s fine. I’ve done the same kind of weird loop of “it can’t be that, because I checked that, and it was ok.” only to find that it is no longer ok. Thus, why I have hubs coming up.
I had a caliper piston on my MGB stick. I went to the little old British car parts guy near me and got everything I needed (pistons, seals, hoses) to rebuild the calipers. He asked if I needed pads, I told him no as only one was worn down from the stuck piston. In his very proper British accent he simply replied, “Don’t fuck around, just get the pads too so everything is even”.
Not bad advice. I had the good luck to start wrenching when there were still a lot of experienced specialists around to provide advice to the young kids stripping parts off the junkers in the back.
I think the bear, Studebaker thing had to do with the Muppets?
You’re correct, Fozzy Bear drove a Studebaker.
Had the exact same thought. Nice nerd rant (meant in a positive way), but missed the punchline.
45 year old cultural references are like Boomers citing Howdy Doody when I was a kid and getting an audible blink back from me as a response.
Shotgun approach. I figured there are plenty of people my age here who would appreciate this (and frankly the “wakka wakka” and “Movin Right Along” replies should have clued Peter in). I was right.
I did love the Muppet Show back in the day – and although I’m the exact right age, I think I missed on the movies until later, so I forgot all about Fozzy’s Studebaker.
Your homework tonight is to go back and watch The Muppet Movie. A lot of the jokes are better appreciated as an adult, anyway. (They don’t look like Presbyterians to me)
FWIW, I’m a cultured millennial.
I’m an angry Gen Xer, so my childhood was feral and outdoor, not VHS-powered.
Yeah, I thought the whole Ed comment was leading to a joke, but alas I think he was just clueless. Waka waka.
Partsource is one of the few big chains in Canada (other than NAPA), but they’re owned by Canadian Tire, who also sell auto parts, and my closest location of each are 500m from each other. Seems weird to have your biggest competition be yourself, unless Partsource gets the jobber business and Canadian Tire mostly serves their own service department.
Never could figure that one out. I avoid both as a matter of course. Part source is very slightly better in terms of knowledgeable people. Regular old CT is a dice roll when you ask for help. I usually go to Bensons if I need to speak to someone who has a clue. Online ordering is an expensive shipping risk for often questionable parts.
About the colors: red is Autozone, green is O’Reilly, blue is Napa, but who’s the fourth one?
i thought red was Advance and orange was Autozone.
Red is Advance, orange is Autozone.
Also think of AutoZone as red… Had to go look. They have red text, and an orange stripey bar thing… Meanwhile Advance is red with yellow text, which combines to orange… Seems a case can be made for either being red or orange. I wonder what the industry considers which?
Yeah it doesn’t seem consistent between background vs. text color, but I guess the case can be made that other than Advance the color listed is unique to that company. Advance has no unique color so they might as well be red.
And now I have upset the Overlizards. Something about not maintaining a low profile.
This is acceptable. The robot overlords have assured me that we are next in line.
Er. Um. Gasp! You’re not a real human!
Great, now I have to tell people I’m not that kind of doctor again while fighting lizard men and robots. You guys make this so difficult! (Tardis sounds in background)
Congrats to Matt Sexton! That was a very enlightening comment. (This is the part where $kaycog would tell you that this lovely lady will bring you your prize, as soon as she finds her way to you from this AutoZone parking lot)
I what $kaycog did with her library of photos. Asking for a friend.
I didnt even know about the advance stores closing. Where I used to live if I was working late on a project on the car I could hop on the wife’s vespa and quick pick up whatever small part or tool to finish the job. Not going to lie I get the same vibe from Napa or Advanced. They seem smaller. Autozone feels bigger but gives the same service. O’reillys feels the same to me also. Most of the time its best to just order online and pick up. Though all stores screw that up.
I was very surprised to find that Autozone were asking $2X more than O’Reilly’s for the same NGK spark plug near me..
There were a handful of Weasels around lake Tahoe in the 60s apparently left over from the Olympics.
We have three Napa Auto Parts in my end of Sonoma County and they’re 1000X better than the big chain stores. The people who work there know what they’re doing and don’t short-circuit when you need something that can’t be looked up with a year/make/model. They’re just a little more expensive than O’Shitty’s but their inventory is WAY better and it’s worth avoiding the frustration of dealing with the brain-dead kids at the chain stores.
Sometimes I’ll hit Rock Auto when I have time (which is almost never) or can save 50%+ e.g. when I replaced all of the coils on my 5.4 F150. And I get almost all of my performance parts for the Fairlane from Summit. But 9 times out of 10 for regular repairs, I’m going to Napa.
A few years ago I was replacing the clutch on my ’98 Ranger with the ancient 4.0 OHV. The exhaust y-pipe had to come out, and the steel bolts that screw into the iron exhaust manifolds had to be removed with a blowtorch (that’s a story in itself). These bolts had an interference thread, and were unique to 1998 – 2001 Rangers and probably the Explorer. Replacement ones do not exist, from anywhere. I finally ended up at my local NAPA. The very helpful cashier lady, who was otherwise clueless about Ford Ranger exhaust manifolds, pointed me to the aisle that had generic exhaust _stud_ kits for 2004 and newer Explorers. It turns out this is exactly what I needed. Manifold side had the same old interference thread, and the other side had a normal thread and nut. They worked perfectly. There is no parts cross reference anywhere listing this as the correct solution for this problem.
For me, owning German cars, the issue is that I can get OEM parts (aka identical to factory but in the original makers box not BMWs or Mercedes) for less online from FCP or eEuro etc than the FLAPS sell their generic stuff for. In a PINCH, I will buy a part from NAPA because I trust them a bit more to not have Chinesium junk, but then the price is silly. Like for example, this week. As an example, I needed a wheel speed sensor for my BMW. ATE OEM – $32, BMW $90 from FCP, NAPA $98 – but I could have had it that day, not in three days. Didn’t need it that fast, so ATE it was.
I mostly end up buying fluids, goops, and cleaning supplies from them. As I said in the original post, there are stupid numbers of FLAPS near me.
Actually there was a TV Show called The Bearcats in 1971 with 2 guys riding around in a Stutz doing inane exciting tv show kind of things. I don’t think it lasted a full season and I forget the plot but this may be what get people thinking
It was kind of like “A two guy A-Team with a fancy car in the cowboy era Southwest US.”
Apparently Imperial German skullduggery wrt Mexico was involved.
Car deets:
I really miss the local Pep-Boys retail, they went completely service center now, but they had all the neat wacky retail keychains and steering wheel covers and floor mats and such compared to the others.
The Pep Boys retail space was actually filled by an Autozone and the next building over is an Advance Auto Parts. Seems a bit oversaturated. On the other side of my town is an Autozone in the next plaza is a Napa, across the street is an Advance Auto Parts, It’s nice to have options but dang.
Auto parts stores do seem a bit oversaturated, but it’s one market where having a lot of stores can be quite valuable for customers. Some of them won’t have a working car to get them to the store, so having one close is a big help.
But revenue from such customers probably isn’t enough to outweigh the cost of having so many stores.
My small town of 90k has at least three (two O’Reillys and one or two Autozones). It’s been handy because I can walk to one, and having two old cars has made it necessary. But is it sustainable?
My town of 28,000 has a Napa that’s been there forever and an Advanced that moved in practically across the street. Plus an AutoZone just over the border at the north end of town.
Way back in the day, I lived in Concord, CA. There was a parts store on Monument Blvd, called, amusingly, Monument Car Parts. A few years later, they had expanded to 4 locations, separated by 10-20 miles. They offered machine shop services like milling heads, flywheels and valve seats at reasonable prices. They had a fleet of Rangers shuttling parts between stores and shops. Sadly, they went out of business about 20 or so years ago.
Pete jumping in here … I thought I’d go ahead and pop in a pic of a Studebaker Bearcat to cap LTDScott’s gag, but in looking for a pic I discovered Studebaker didn’t offer any Bear-named vehicles
Pretty sure this was a reference to the Muppet Fozzie Bear who drove a Studebaker:
https://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/Fozzie%27s_Studebaker
Bear left! Right, Frog!
Ahhhhhh right right right right right right
That’s a bingo.
“A Bear in his natural habitat – A Studebaker”
Last year I saw that car in the basement of the Studebaker Museum in South Bend, Indiana. I understand they’re going to restore the car.
My Grandma had a Stutz In the 1920s. Maybe more than one before the crash of 29.
Matt: Great points about the Retail biz crunch here.
For 40 years we had a most excellent NAPA a block away.
The parts helped provide us with a good income for the 40 years our shop operated.
When the chain boys came along they would send reps to the shop and promise my wife the world to give them a try.
She was sorely disappointed by the results.
Appreciate your thoughts and POV here.
Looks like I’m on a roll in the last week or so! Thank you Mercedes.
Brioche, white, whole wheat or kimmelweck?
Kaiser?
How do we tell if a local NAPA is corporate or locally owned?
I’d say the best way is to ask the guys behind the counter. They’ll know. If their checks come from GPC, they’re corporate.
While I am normally educated and entertained (sometimes even enlightened) by the content here, I am disappointed and (re)depressed to be reminded of the 79 Bearcat.
My God; only in the 70s!
That looks like the opposite of a 5 mph bumper.
Get this – they somehow continued to be made as late as 1995! Though, the last one done was apparently based on an ’87 Camaro
RIGHT?! Just … wild, man. I really would love for Merc to tell the tale!
That must have been a festival of sadness and bad taste.
I had a huge teenage crush for the 3rd gen Camaro, but quickly learned I could blow their doors off at a stoplight in a stock 1.7liter 82 Rabbit LS. Later experienced the 305 in a Monte Carlo SS and was disappoint.