NAPA Expo - 10mm socket bonanza
- Thread starter fourjeepin
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fourjeepin
Well-known member
It might be Carlyle but I am not certain. I was so busy and tired that I didn’t even notice the brand.
The other two are Milwaukee. They had a huge booth and a ton of giveaways. They gave me a t-shirt, the two socket, a 15mm ratcheting combo wrench, a red canvas tool bag, and a pair of safety glasses. I heard they had gloves at one time but missed out on those.
oilslick
Well-known member
Awesome, I went in 2005, had a blast. A friend of mine owns 5 Napa stores so wife and I went with him. Add some pictures of other interesting things if you have time. Any celebrity appearances? Free party/booze?
OP
fourjeepin
Well-known member
I was working so I missed a lot of the celebrity stuff but did see Wood Rutledge a few times and spoke with him once. He was the emcee. There was free booze a couple of nights. And the GooGoo Dolls played, also Keith Urban. I had never seen him before and he was great.
I highly recommend the event to anyone that can make it.
I highly recommend the event to anyone that can make it.
Xcursion88
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2013
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- 785
Tell them to run their full synthetic @ 3.29 a quart again.
Ton ton
Well-known member
You guys who made it to the Napa expo are lucky. I wish I could go.
I never even knew there was a Napa Expo. Where do I find info on this? I suppose it was in those magazine things that Napa sends me all the time huh 
Since my shop is a Napa AutoCare Center I should be able to deduct that vacation, er, 'important business trip' off my taxes right?
Since my shop is a Napa AutoCare Center I should be able to deduct that vacation, er, 'important business trip' off my taxes right?
Ton ton
Well-known member
The Napa expo was mentioned in the Real Deals .
What's a Real Deals?
nbpt100
Well-known member
Where does it take place?
So where is this event? It is every year I assume. I do read the Real Deals from time to time but never say any mention of it.
It is NAPA's quarterly tool catalog. It lists sale items on the wide variety of tools and shop equipment they sell.
So where is this event? It is every year I assume. I do read the Real Deals from time to time but never say any mention of it.
Oh. I generally use Schucks as I get a much better price there.
nbpt100
Well-known member
Do you mean on car parts or tools? No Schucks near where I live, so I do not know what they sell. Napa's line of Carlyle tools are excellent quality. Much better than what you would get at Autozone, Carquest or O'Reilly. I can not speak for Shucks.
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Ton ton
Well-known member
I believe it was last quarter's real deals that mentioned napa expo.
Ton ton
Well-known member
I agree the auto parts in Napa are nothing special but they have better hand tool availability than a lot of the other small town auto parts stores. I use car quest and fisher auto parts too.
Parts. I rarely need any tools that NAPA would be selling. If there's a NAPA, there's almost always a Schucks nearby too.
nbpt100
Well-known member
Where NAPA excells is there ability to get parts fast. AdvanceAuto is pretty good with that too. NAPA does have good sales every month. On things I use like Oil, filters, and other shop fluids. The Carlyle tools are tool truck quality with a similar warranty. They also carry more small engine parts than other auto parts store in my area. I imagine this type of thing varies by location. I do not have any one favorite store. Each auto part store in my area has it's strenghts and weaknesses. It sounds like NAPA expo is for their Franchise owners or customers who spend big money with them every month. If it were local I would go. Sounds like a good opportunity to learn about new tools and products.
robert6715
Well-known member
Once upon a time, NAPA branded tools were made by Armstrong & high-quality USA-made. The Carlyle stuff they sell today is so so & imported junk just like every other parts store is selling.
NAPA is a shell of what it once was, they have adapted to compete with the discount auto parts stores & IMO not for the better.
Here in Kodiak & on the Kenai peninsula, they have the ABSOLUTE worst customer service & their parts are **** just like everyone else is selling. When I order something & never get a call that it came in, over & over again. It gets pretty annoying. This is the same story at three different NAPA's with three different owners. They are painful to deal with.
Where I grew up on the east side of Cincinnati, NAPA went from having 4 stores in the same zip code to 0 & they remain that way 25 years later. The big discount guys have cleaned their clock. The entire tri-state Cincinnati area has 3 NAPA's & I bet over 100 other discount auto parts stores.
NAPA is going the way of Sears.
NAPA is a shell of what it once was, they have adapted to compete with the discount auto parts stores & IMO not for the better.
Here in Kodiak & on the Kenai peninsula, they have the ABSOLUTE worst customer service & their parts are **** just like everyone else is selling. When I order something & never get a call that it came in, over & over again. It gets pretty annoying. This is the same story at three different NAPA's with three different owners. They are painful to deal with.
Where I grew up on the east side of Cincinnati, NAPA went from having 4 stores in the same zip code to 0 & they remain that way 25 years later. The big discount guys have cleaned their clock. The entire tri-state Cincinnati area has 3 NAPA's & I bet over 100 other discount auto parts stores.
NAPA is going the way of Sears.
That statement couldn’t be more false.
The Cincinnati Tri-state area encompasses Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky and Southeast Indiana. Depending on who’s map you’re looking at, that includes at a minimum the 3 bordering counties in Indiana, 7 in Northern Kentucky and at least 4 in Ohio. Hamilton County (Cincinnati) alone has several NAPA locations and they’re more prevalent across the river in Kentucky. Looking at their location list, I count 24. That’s a far cry from “3”. I can think of 8 NAPA locations that are within a 15-20 mile drive of my location on the west side of the city. I have 5 of which that are even closer to me - Colerain Avenue, Cleves, OH, Ross, OH, Harrison, OH and Lawrenceburg, IN. All of which are within a 10 mile radius of my location. So no, there are not just 3.
NAPA may not be as established as Auto Zone, O’Reilly’s or Advance, but they still have a very LARGE footprint in the Midwest… and I travel extensively.
Furthermore, your comment regarding Carlyle being imported junk is also false. Carlyle has some tough *** tools in their lineup. Their 90 tooth ratchets, wrenches, breaker bars, screwdrivers, pliers, impact sockets just to name a few… all of them do the same thing as the big boy brands and they’ve held up to having the living the **** beat out of them. I wouldn’t hesitate to put Carlyle up against SnapOn in our heavy equipment shop and I guarantee they would hang right in there. Carlyle represents a high quality tool at a great value. They’re an acceptable alternative for those professionals who can’t or don’t want to buy from the tool truck. The only fault Carlyle has are the people who have mismanaged the brand.
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nbpt100
Well-known member
In my experience the Carlyle tools are great. I realize things can change, and they do. Nothing is constant. I purchased a torx driver set about 2 years ago and it is the best set I have used. Strong tips and great trilobe handles. Similar to Toptul screw driver handles. I would put them up against anyone. Purchased some pliers and a 2 ton floor jack as well around the same time. All excellent quality. No regrets.
@robert6715: Now if you told me NAPA changed their Carlyle vendor recently you may have a point. Please share what facts you know or explain your position about Carlyle better. I'll listen.
I agree many of their parts are the same as what you would get at anyone of the box stores with a different brand label. Service quality is location specific. Some Stores are owned directly by NAPA. Some are franchises. Some have local ownership and some do not. There are two in my area I frequent. One is owned by a larger company. It was owned and operated by NAPA for a long time. The ownership tends to burn out employees. Only one employee has been there for a while. They use to be open all day on SAT and half a day on Sundays. Now just to Noon on Sat. The reason given is no body wants to work on the week ends. This is a great location and they do a lot of work with the local boat yards. Too bad they do not treat their workers better.
@robert6715: Now if you told me NAPA changed their Carlyle vendor recently you may have a point. Please share what facts you know or explain your position about Carlyle better. I'll listen.
I agree many of their parts are the same as what you would get at anyone of the box stores with a different brand label. Service quality is location specific. Some Stores are owned directly by NAPA. Some are franchises. Some have local ownership and some do not. There are two in my area I frequent. One is owned by a larger company. It was owned and operated by NAPA for a long time. The ownership tends to burn out employees. Only one employee has been there for a while. They use to be open all day on SAT and half a day on Sundays. Now just to Noon on Sat. The reason given is no body wants to work on the week ends. This is a great location and they do a lot of work with the local boat yards. Too bad they do not treat their workers better.