Why so many auto parts stores nowadays?

[ovilla]

I now have an Autozone, Advanced Auto Parts, NAPA, and a new O'Rileys all within a few miles of my house. This is great for wrenchers like me (and many of you) but I find it weird that nobody else on my whole street even works on their cars. Hell, drive through my whole subdivision on a Saturday and I'm probably the only one working on cars or a mower. Most of my neighbors don't even have tools, let alone an air compressor, or even a hydraulic jack and jack stands. Anyway, just curious if you're experiencing the same things in your part of the world.

 

[WhiffySpark]

Repair shops

 

[jd_1138]

Repair shops

Yeppers. And a lot of parts stores deliver right to the shops.

If you're out of town and having car trouble, it's a God send having a lot of parts stores. You can usually find at least one or two on Main St., Anytown, USA.

Or if you're in Canada, you can drive 70 kilometers to a Canadian Tire. Just kidding, I am sure they have tons of parts stores there, too.

 

[finn]

More chains, but the mom and pop stores and independent warehouses have largely disappeared.

There will be more consolidation in the next couple of years, and subsequently a lot of empty storefronts.

 

[ratdoggy]

Or if you're in Canada, you can drive 3 or 4 beer, eh?.... to a Canadian Tire. Just kidding, I am sure they have tons of parts stores there, too.

Fixed it for you

 

[Fordman7795]

There is a Advance Auto, Carquest and Autozone in a 3/4 mile stretch in my town. It is one of the busiest roads at least. But then recently O'reillys decided to jump in too. So four of the major chains in 3/4 of a mile.

 

[rburke65]

Have ya seen their stock prices!

 

[BearsFan315]

Same here

2 Advance autos, 2 Autozones, there was a small store all within 1 mile.
O-Reillys is a 10 minute drive, they closed the carquest when carquest and advance merged.
NAPA is a 5 minute Drive

Then Rock Auto is always a click away

We have at least a dozen shops around those parts stores. some of them next door to each other.

 

[unslow1]

The Advance Auto I frequent has 7 delivery vehicles. That takes a lot of deliveries to support that many.

 

[kylerohde]

Worked at an O'Reilly in college but it's been 12 years so I may be outdated, but it's absolutely because of independent shop business. What I always heard was that NAPA was 2/3+ commercial account sales, O'Reilly and Advance pretty close to 50/50, and AutoZone was 2/3 or so DIY sales.

But yeah, a lot of business going out the side door of the store and into the bed of those delivery vehicles.

 

[Eric29]

I use these folks. Saves a lot of money

http://www.primechoice.com

 

[WhiffySpark]

Advance owns Carquest. They are one in the same now.

Where I work spends 250k a year just for our store with advance. They get a kickback as well.

 

[seber]

Advance, O'rielly's and Autozone within 1/2 mile. But I still have to go to Napa to get a proper air filter for my Dodge Cummins.

 

[Advan]

Its the same here. Napa, Carquest, Partsource, Canadian Tire, and typically a few independent places. Usually within a 2-brew drive. Handy, but they never beat the online prices, at least up here.....

 

[MikeF2316]

Yeppers. And a lot of parts stores deliver right to the shops.

If you're out of town and having car trouble, it's a God send having a lot of parts stores. You can usually find at least one or two on Main St., Anytown, USA.

Or if you're in Canada, you can drive 70 kilometers to a Canadian Tire. Just kidding, I am sure they have tons of parts stores there, too.

Not really. We have Canadian Tire and Partsource, which are owned by Canadian Tire. Partsource doesn't even have an online catalog last time I looked. There are a few Carquests around, but only outside the big cities, and only in the East. UAP/NAPAs are around. Out west there's Lordco. And there's some wholesalers around that only sell to garages.

Then there's some sellers on Kijiji, I'm not sure if they're buying from the wholesale places or if they're importing themselves.

 

[DCarr2]

Competition is good, gives jobs and allows for lower prices.

 

[Showkey]

Have ya seen their stock prices!

So true.........number of outlets and their profits are directly related to number of car and trucks in service as more older cars stayed in service longer. That number sky rocketed from 2009 to 2015 during the recession.

Take note of the parking lot..........there is an oil slick from all the older leakers.

 

[C_F]

Near my house, there has been an O'really ( ) store for about 10 years. Suddenly, within the past 18 months or so, they built a new Auto Zone & new Parts Plus, all three are within 1/2 mile of each other.
There's one tire shop in that 1/2 mile area, and no other shop for at least 8 miles.

I can see why the new parts stores would want to get in on some of the O'really action, but why cram in so close?

 

[chazzz]

I almost always order genuine parts online. No taxes and most of time, free shipping. I only buy wiper blades, oil, fuses and a few other things from nearest Autozone and OReillys.

 

[Clorox Bleach]

Like Chazzz said..

Even though my town is saturated with parts house's, its Amazon or Rock Auto for me. Cant stand these kids who ask if your vehicle is 4x4, when you just want wiper blades. If I do have an emergency and need a part the same day, Advance has the best attitudes. Not the cheapest is town, but its a store run by men, who know what men want... Thats to get in, and get the freak out. I get all the oil and coolant I can use for free, but filters and things like that can wait a couple days for Amazon’s free 2 day shipping.

 

[smalltown]

I think there are so many auto parts stores, because so many people are holding onto cars/trucks longer.

 

[bczygan]

Neighbor borrowed a 4 way to change a tire. WTF?

People here know a lot about cars, cause they drive old ones, but even the shadetrees don't have tools.

Bill

 

[Clorox Bleach]

...........

 

[PeterT]

Amazon is trying to corner the market on auto parts, won't be for a few years but if you think the mom & pop stores disappeared quickly, just wait until amazon can delivery everywhere same day,, I'd hate to not have the local napa or autozone,, but i wouldn't be surprised if they disappear over the next 5 years

 

[L5wolvesf]

Pretty much the opposite here, 2 guys, besides myself, on my rather short street visibly work on cars

We have an Autozone, O'Reilly and NAPA. We had an Advanced but it closed around the time of the economic problem, and 2 NAPAs in the closest towns have closed recently. The one Pep Boys that was semi-close closed a while ago too.

 

[gregdd]

Like this past weekend. Have a leaking wheel cylinder. The local Advance auto has it in stock. I have no faith in any of there parts. Going to get an ac delco part delivered in 2 days on Amazon Prime. Doubt it will be lower quality. Same price and I don't have to wait in line. We had a local independant place in my town. They just went out of buisness a few months ago. I kept telling the guys working there that Rockauto was killing them. Now amazon can beat rockauto on a cheap part because of the shipping cost. I don't even have prime. Use a family member account.

 

[sberry]

Should have got the one from Advance.

 

[BillK]

Advanced

No 'D" on the end of this company's name.

 

[engineer2]

Around here the auto parts stores have large oil spots in all the parking areas and it's not unusual to see someone working on their car in the lot, like putting a starter in. I used to be in the same boat; work on it all weekend so it'll be driveable for another week.

 

[theoldwizard1]

I hate going in any of the chain stores. Their prices are high, they typically don't have "brand names" when you want them. There must be 10 different auto stores within a 10 mile radius of my house. Luckily 2 of them are "old school". The one has ordered brand name anti-freeze for me. Got it the next day. The other had the specific brand and type of ATF I wanted in stock.

The rest I order from Rock Auto or Amazon. Both will sell you premium, name brand parts for not much more than the generic stuff from those big chains.

 

[theoldwizard1]

... like putting a starter in.

My very first car was a '68 Dodge Dart with a Slant 6. The starter went out so I push started it for a week (3-on-the-tree) until I got the money. I drove to the rebuild shop (yes, they really did exist locally back then), parked on the side street. If yo ever saw a Slant 6 engine you will know there are 2 bolts holding the starter and one more for the Bendix, plus they are ALL ACCESSIBLE FROM THE TOP SIDE !

Yank the starter (boy. was it hot), walked in, bought the new one (the guy could not figure out why the old one was hot ) and bolted it in !

I'll bet I was back on the road in about 15 minutes !

 

[sberry]

Some parts are rather competitive. so many are marketed differently, same part in a different box. The guy at the store will sell some shocks with a straight face for 180$ in a box with racing printing can be had internet or wholsale for 65$ delivered in a white box. Over 100$ markup. Gasket set, 20 and 90 over the counter. 3 times cost on an oil filter. multiply these several times an hour for each guy doing sales, even a small store with couple busy counter pros can take in several hundred an hour in profits.

 

[Donald Cook]

I like Rock auto. They have quality parts, and deliver quickly. For local stuff I go to Napa, or Farm& fleet. Some of chains sell really cheap junk. I've never liked doing a job twice.

 

[vavet]

Cars are lasting longer. It used to be an accomplishment to get your car to 100K. Now 200K is not uncommon and plenty of cars out there with 300K. Of course, all that time and mileage still wears out parts, but the major components - axles, transmissions, engines, are still viable. It's worth replacing belts, bearings, alternators, etc.

 

[jetnow1]

When I was younger and worked at an Esso station there was several small parts places
around town, but they were not on the main shopping areas. As the major chain stores have come in the smaller independent stores have closed., but you see the majors as they
build and market on the main drag. The small places where aimed more at the pro's so they did not pay those higher rents.

 

[Showkey]

Rock auto is ok except their shipping charges are high.......and pentalize the customer for shipping from multiple warehouse locations. They will not be able to compete with Amazon if they do not change their shipping. Rock auto return policy is also NOT a customer friendly.

 

[nh_yota]

Too bad they're all garbage and sell garbage parts. All of my parts come straight from the dealer or from RockAuto.

 

[Frank Dukes]

ya know i was searching for a trans cooler line this past week.. not a single store in town stocked it or i would of just bought one for convenience. Amazon had the AC Delco version for less than the parts stores wanted to order a Dorman for. Amazon is definitely going to continue to increase market share in this segment, they beat Rock Auto by quite a bit as well.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Rock auto is ok except their shipping charges are high.......and pentalize the customer for shipping from multiple warehouse locations. They will not be able to compete with Amazon if they do not change their shipping. Rock auto return policy is also NOT a customer friendly.

No experience with returns, but Rock Auto handles core returns well while Amazon does not do "cores".

 

[logan_gibson]

Rock auto is ok except their shipping charges are high.......and pentalize the customer for shipping from multiple warehouse locations. They will not be able to compete with Amazon if they do not change their shipping. Rock auto return policy is also NOT a customer friendly.

What about the return policy did you not find friendly?
I agree on the shipping, I do my best to make sure they all come from the same warehouse because $8 shipping for a small part that can go in an envelope *****.