Last independent auto parts store in town...

[JeffKeryk]

I don't know of too many left around here.

I consider Napa and CarQuest to be a little bit different than AutoZone or O'Reilly. At least around here they're independently owned and operate a lot like an independent. They might have access to a big catalog of affiliated parts, but not necessarily everything.

There was one I liked using called Vic Hubbard. They had several locations but eventually were down to one. That's where I got Redline SI-1 fairly cheap years ago. There was one store in Fremont, CA I found by accident that had almost everything ACDelco. Don't remember the name. But over the years I bought ACDelco cooling tabs and even an ACDelco 51R battery.

Vic Hubbard Speed and Marine. Yup.

 

[y_p_w]

Vic Hubbard Speed and Marine. Yup.

I think it was considered two businesses - Vic Hubbard Auto Supply and a separate Vic Hubbard Speed and Marine. They had a store in Fremont years ago, but it was pretty small. In the 90s I was buying Redline SI-1 for maybe $3.50 when Pep Boys was selling it for about $9.

I liked the little back room with all the oil. Was it "Oil Alley" or something? They even had esoteric racing oil from the major brands that I'd never seen anywhere else.

 

[D60]

Our local is a Parts City which is just a privately franchised O'Reilly. They get the O'Reilly truck each morning.

Here's the rub: you're getting the same crappy parts you get at O'Reilly but with maybe a one year warranty if you're lucky. Personally I love the chains for the LT warranty, and it's even more important now the way remans have become.

I save all my receipts and am glad I do - I've had the corporate O'Reilly swap a LOT of parts for me under warranty. Sure, it's easy to say just buy a better part to start with, but that's not always as easy as you think, esp if you need it today or even tomorrow.

 

[sloinker]

In Tacoma the sole remaining independent and family owned auto parts store closed some months ago.
Lincoln Auto Parts.

I used to go there all the time in my earlier years.

I remember Lincoln auto parts. There was also Puyallup auto parts iirc, that was basically a speed shop. I used to go to Baxter's in North Tacoma, a small chain back in the day.

 

[82c10]

There isn't a single independent left in my city. There either retired, closed up, or absorbed by a bigger company. I do miss the environment of a mom and pop type place. They were never PC which I liked.

 

[sloinker]

I almost forgot Andy's on Pioneer between Puyallup and Tacoma. It was more a hangout for old timer's than anything. Andy or whoever ran it for years passed on more than a decade ago. Looks like it may still be open and not condemned.

 

[sloinker]

My memories are trickling back. Getting old and forgetful. I used to buy parts at Hagen's in Puyallup. Dude's had the parts memorized. Need a leather boot for a driveline out of an old Desoto? This place had them. Looks like they modernized the old place since 2005...

Hagen's Auto Parts

Hagen's Auto Parts. 421 likes · 17 were here. Hagen's Auto Parts has closed as of April 2021. After 75 Years of service to the Automotive industr

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[Saabist]

There's one about 10 miles from me that's a traditional full-service auto parts store, staffed with old guys who know what they're doing. Don't know for how much longer though, everyone retires sometime one way or another.

 

[Snagglefoot]

Bowness Auto Parts (1979) Ltd. in Calgary. Most of the part guys are old enough to know better.

 

[4WD]

...shut its doors recently. Does anyone still have an un-affiliated auto parts store in their town? I know many of them over the years have became affiliates of Giant or PartsPlus etc. but even those are disappearing nowadays leaving the Autozone's, Napa's, Advance chains in their place. Sad.

We have one … on average stuff - they are higher than a cat’s back … but carry things for RV types, mechanics, and commercial/truckers that the AZ’s don’t have …

 

[BHopkins]

It's been so long since I've seen an independent auto parts store that I had totally forgotten about them until this discussion was started.

I suspect it's not what the OP means by independent, but aren't NAPA and CarQuest stores independent in a sense? They are not corporate owned stores, and not quite what one would think of as a franchise. I believe both are given a great deal of latitude on what they select to carry. For example our local CarQuest carries a lot of farm equipment, with many items that you would never think of belonging in an auto parts store.

 

[PimTac]

My memories are trickling back. Getting old and forgetful. I used to buy parts at Hagen's in Puyallup. Dude's had the parts memorized. Need a leather boot for a driveline out of an old Desoto? This place had them. Looks like they modernized the old place since 2005...

Hagen's Auto Parts

Hagen's Auto Parts. 421 likes · 17 were here. Hagen's Auto Parts has closed as of April 2021. After 75 Years of service to the Automotive industr

www.facebook.com

My brother knew the old man at Hagen’s. You are right. He knew exactly what you needed without looking it up. Another local place is Walt and Verns in Buckley. I think they closed and is now a pick and pull.

There was a another place in Lakewood that was popular with the hot rodders. The name escapes me.

 

[Dinoburner]

NAPA bought out the Sanel chain auto stores in northern New England and IMHO NAPA sucks. Stopped in while the transition was going on and if I`d been an employee there I`d have walked out. The transition team was very condescending. The two times I`ve been in since they didn`t have what was needed.

 

[Lubener]

...shut its doors recently. Does anyone still have an un-affiliated auto parts store in their town? I know many of them over the years have became affiliates of Giant or PartsPlus etc. but even those are disappearing nowadays leaving the Autozone's, Napa's, Advance chains in their place. Sad.

None since around 2008 in my city.

 

[JC1]

We still have one independent parts store in town.

In the past few years I've been ordering most of my parts from Rockauto, even with shipping, they are still cheaper.

 

[PimTac]

@sloinker

Slightly off topic but I just found out that Lincoln Hardware in Tacoma is closing. They are the last independent hardware store around. I spent a lot of time in that place in my younger years.

 

[BlueOvalFitter]

There's a PARTS PLUS store in down town Marksville (17 miles from me. Our big city, pop. about 4K).

 

[SeaJay]

When charm goes it's gone forever.

Small bakeries, fabric stores, hat stores, tailor shops. It hurts continually.

Is it moral to pollute in order to send you 4 pair of shoes so you can select one and further pollute returning the other 3?

And where does the profit margin come from to pay for the shipping in the example above? Just askin'.

I would conclude that the profit margin on independently owned brick and mortar stores is less than all of the shipping back and forth costs to the online retailer.

 

[PandaBear]

When charm goes it's gone forever.

Small bakeries, fabric stores, hat stores, tailor shops. It hurts continually.

Is it moral to pollute in order to send you 4 pair of shoes so you can select one and further pollute returning the other 3?

And where does the profit margin come from to pay for the shipping in the example above? Just askin'.

You are bundling a whole bunch of things together.

First off food is perishable so you have to get them done locally, so the economy of scale to keep them locally is much better than importing them from China fresh, then across state line via trucks, or from central bakery of a large company daily.

Then you have many low turn over specialized parts like clothings and auto parts. You can keep them in stock locally for people to try, then let them buy 25% of them in a season, return 50% of them to the vendors after the season, and discount the 25% of them. It doesn't make sense to keep these business local when you can centralize inventory and send one or two unit a week to a dealer or mechanic by delivery.

Then you get into how expensive retail space is, and how cutting out retail and send things by mail is actually cheaper. This is why mall is dying and people won't pay the 80% profit margin to sustain mall and auto parts stores locally.

 

[PandaBear]

The smart business owners are moving out of local brick and mortar retail and go on YouTube, making a name of himself or herself on a small niche, and then ship products and service mail in repair (i.e. laptop motherboards of only a particular brand). If you can't specialize and go online you are screwed.