New Auto Zone :(

Status
Not open for further replies.
D

Deltona_Dave

Joined
Feb 1, 2010
Messages
817
Location
Deltona, FL USA
Hmm, There is a new AZ that opened up a few months ago, about 2 miles from my house. I went in today to check it out, I don't think I will be shopping there. Walk in, Salsa music is blaring, 2 Aisles dedicated to air fresheners and high performance neon lighted windshield washer nozzles. Had about 5 feet of shelf space for Oil, a 50 foot aisle with Fram oil and air filters, but only half a dozen selections of Premium oil and filters. This one seems to cater to the high Hispanic population. I live in an area with average people that drive average cars.

I am not prejudiced, as I have many friends and co-workers that are Hispanic, but they like to put V-8's in Corollas and can make a 1985 celica run in the 11's....

Whatever happened to "real" auto parts places that had shelves of Moroso, Edelbrock, Isky cams, Holleys? Now performance is a 21 inch exhaust pipe and a 5 foot rear spoiler for FWD cars... They did have a good selection of air fresheners and mono-wipers that are green....

Can we roll back the hands of time?

I will visit the AZ near my office that at least has a good selection of Purolators and some real performance parts. they are on the way home...

Just ranting,
Dave
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Deltona_Dave
This one seems to cater to the high Hispanic population.
Originally Posted By: Deltona_Dave
I am not prejudiced


There's a contradiction here somewhere.
wink.gif


You can shop the summit catalog online at work. Then you don't have to rub shoulders with the cash paying brick and mortar shopping crowd.
 
Are you getting what you need? It sounds to me like you should be shopping at a speed shop. To your point, it is amazing how much junk fills up car stores these days... While I don't need to choose from 200 air fresheners, I love that Pep Boys has oodles of car cleaning products available.
 
Central FL has a fast growing hispanic poplulation. My sister lives near Wekiwa Springs.

Maybe you can learn spanish so you will enjoy shopping there ?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
My local AAP has bilingual folks working behind the counter. The store itself is a nice little parts store that's pretty well stocked on parts.

Bummer your new AZ continues the ricer trend.
 
I speak enough Spanish to get by. It just seems that "performance" has taken a downturn. I don't want to get banned or anything. I know I can get performance parts online, but it seems that Illegal window tint and 28" rims and tires have taken over Crate Engines and Headers... Just sad.

I drive an "import", but yet I can get Doug Thorley headers and Wolf racing cams online, but yet I cannot get a decent oil filter from that store. I can go to the one near my office, and they have P-1's, K&N's, and Bosch, plus decent motor oil. The Wal-Mart 2 blocks away has Pennz Ultra, PP, M/C blend and ST filters. I will keep going to W-M as they even have a decent selection of normal wiper blades, fuses, and even trailer hitches...

I am just noticing a down turn, or maybe just a demographics change.

The NAPA I visit almost weekly has everything from custom blended Paint, might-Vacs, Royal Purple, Camshafts, and even a crate Engine on a stand. They will keep my business for specialty tools and other parts. Napa Gold filters are decent too.

Dave
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
Originally Posted By: Deltona_Dave
This one seems to cater to the high Hispanic population.
Originally Posted By: Deltona_Dave
I am not prejudiced


There's a contradiction here somewhere.
wink.gif


You can shop the summit catalog online at work. Then you don't have to rub shoulders with the cash paying brick and mortar shopping crowd.


No contradiction, just an observation. I have many friends that are from P.R. (one is an excellent machinist). Most of them have "tuners" as their daily drivers (the machinist drives a stock Camry, and his brother has a BMW M-3 and M-5). To look at one, looks stock, but they upgrade chassis parts and tweak them, but no phony Buick portals on the fenders, or [censored] cannon mufflers.

Again, I am just venting, but I am not one to stir up things, but it seems that "performance" is now decals and lighting and not horsepower and torque.

Dave
 
I like my local Advance Auto pretty good. The guys at the NAPA are much more knowledgable, but the store is very small with limited selection of everything, alot of stuff needs to be ordered. The closes AZ is about 45 minutes away, in Schenectady.
 
The Advance Auto near me, about a block from the new Auto Zone, is really good. They have a good selection of parts, bulbs, tools, oil, gear lube,and carry a larger selection of Purolator filters, than Frams. I go to that store about once a month as they are well-stocked and have a good selection. It just seems that this AZ stocks for profit, not what will fix your car. I will take AA over AZ in my area.

Dave
 
Funny what people look for in an auto parts store. I went to a AAP in East Haven CT, not a great neighborhood, not horrible. Parking lot filled with beaters and the asphalt should have been a superfund site, lots of people working on their cars in front of the store. I walk in and see a closeout rack with close to 20 qts of M1 0W-30 (SL) for $2.22 a quart. The store is mobbed and I'm looking around wondering why there is no interest in what is basically a treasure chest in the middle of the store. I gather up the quarts and make off like it was the greatest heist ever.
 
The AZ in my town has a wonderful selection of Snickers,Reeses,3 Muskateers and M&M's.Lots of magazines,Cokes and Hot Wheels too.Who needs auto parts when you have all those great items to waste your money on.
 
Gotta cater to what the local market wants. A lot of Latinos are more into the visual, showy aspect of car culture as opposed to raw performance. I rarely ever go to "auto parts stores" because I often find a lot of junk that I don't need and employees that pretend to know it all but really know nothing.

Sometimes you can still find an old school NAPA with a couple 50 something guys that work there that know their s***, a real parts store minus all the "fluff" (magazines, air fresheners, etc)

Seems like Auto Zone just employs 19 year old tech school dropouts, most of them have never turned a wrench in their life. Problem is, 95% of customers that frequent these places are equally clueless. Then again, when you pay peanuts you get monkeys.
 
I refuse to go in our local AZ for reasons I can't say on here.

O'Riley's is somewhat better but only a little.

Our NAPA is okay but by far the best is a local owned auto parts house that sells just about anything one could want except for Shell Rotella synthetic oil for some reason.

But you can get parts for everything from atvs to large trucks.
 
AZ is the last shop on my list to get what I need. Too much junk and employees that know nothing unless the computer tells them.

O'Reilly stores are hit or miss. I have two I have no problem shopping at and often do. A little grey hair behind the counter doesn't hurt!

My local Napa gets a lot of business. Most of the parts guys know what they are talking about and seem to actually care that the young guys actually learn something along the way.

Each has there target, and Autozone apparently doesn't cater to me.
 
I go to AutoZone for 1 main reason: that rewards card thing.

At the one I go to, they have 1 guy in particular that has the "look" of a real parts man, but he may need help tying his shoes. He's an older guy, and I have worked with him 6 or 7 times now, and he has NEVER gotten me everything I needed on the first try. Yesterday, I needed some heater hose, and neither of us knew what size for sure, and I didn't think to look at the old hose before I went up there. Their computer system didn't know (or perhaps it did and he didn't know how to get at the information) so his solution was to stare at the computer for a while. I Googled it from my phone. It was 3/4".

The funny part is that the store's general manager looks like he's a 9 year old Emo scene kid minus the piercings, but in reality he's easily the most competent and efficient AutoZone or O'Reilly's parts counter guy I've ever seen.

Shame on me for judging books by there cover, I suppose.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

T
Carrier Infinity furnace/AC 10-year runtime report stats
Replies
10
Views
4K
zzyzzx
W
20,000 miles in a CX-5 GT-R
3 4 5
Replies
92
Views
22K
Tshane3000
CarbonSteel
  • Locked
2018 Mercedes GLC43 AMG Coupe - 1st 5,000 Miles
2
Replies
23
Views
8K
silverrat
wwillson
  • Locked
Gumout Q&A with Rusty Waples - Answers
Replies
1
Views
13K
Garak
S
Overview of AWD Systems
2 3
Replies
57
Views
21K
Al
Back
Top Bottom