Advance Auto closing stores

[truckin 79]

I am somewhat surprised but not completely as I often order most of my parts off of Amazon, Ebay or Rockauto. I know people are trying to keep their cars going longer because new cars cost so much but Advance parts always seem to charge way more then the internet. I only go brick and mortar when I need the part now but I usually plan ahead on my repairs. It sounds like whatever stores are closing the are liquidating their inventory rather then sending it back to the warehouses

[Tom]

Never been to one. Don't see em around here.

[old Rusty C10]

cant say as i really care.. advanced is over priced and the quality of some parts is horrendous.. particularly starters and alternators. When i had the tow company and did repairs, we ended up sending to our own rebuilder, and they were as good as a brand new dealer item for a whole bunch less

[Dead Parrot]

The one in Stillwater OK closed a couple years ago. Funny how the various yellow pages type web sites still list it. Location is now some kind of car wash place.

Last I saw, one about 32nd and May in OKC was still open.

They were my 3rd or 4th place to check.

[MJN]

A sad part is they bought up CarQuest stores some years back and now those are closing too. Always went to the local CarQuest store while in college, they had great counter people and their own machine shop but that store is one Advance is now closing up.

[LS short box]

We have one in our town. Besides parts the have a small machine shop. Never have used them but they been a pretty good amount of time.
They have either the PPG or Dupont paint distributor. I'm thinking that's what keeps them in business.
Nothing against Advance but NAPA is my first choice and second is Oreilly's. Both offer vet discounts.

[dave6672]

I live in a town of 4000 people and we have/had five parts stores (Autozone, O'Reilly's, Advanced Auto, NAPA, and a regional place). I've never figured out how they all stay in business. However, our Advanced Auto is closing soon. I did fill up on PB Blaster, car cleaning products, etc., etc. since it was all 50%-70% off.

[D.B]

The Advance Auto in Keller, Tx closed up several years ago. They put it between the Auto Zone and O'Reilly's. So, all three auto parts stores were within a couple of blocks of each other. Nothing special about them, they seemed to be just like the other parts houses.

[WorldsCrappiestTruck]

The price / availability of parts from the web….combined with parts stores full of button-mashing halfwits that don’t know a thing about parts, cars, or customer service…..I think have most brick & mortar parts stores on borrowed time regardless of Brand.

The only people shopping there are either broke down and need parts NOW, or don’t know any better and can’t order online.

When I think in the past year of what I bought to build an LS ‘68 C10 from the ground up, and keep my fleet of turds running……99% was planned ahead, I shopped around and had it shipped in. Time wasn’t the #1 factor. The 1% was because I was stranded beside the road.

I think more and more people are falling into that type of purchasing style. Cars these days are more reliable, they don’t just lay down and strand you like old rigs.

[HO455]

Interesting as Auto Zone bought out the regional chain Baxter Auto Parts about a year ago. Baxter's was my go to for automotive electrical wire and components and Royal Purple oils. They stocked 8 or 10 colors in most wire guages. Plus many of their employees had worked there for decades. As soon as Auto Zone bought them all that stuff disappeared and they turned into another generic store with counter people who know nothing.

[truckin 79]

Advance Auto gives a 10% discount as well for Military service I dont think Napa does though but have not ever asked. The larger picture is what does this say about car repair and the hobby in general. Parts are already getting hard to find and now one less parts store to add to the supply chain. I will say I worked at Advance Auto when I was younger only it was called Western Auto. I have kept all my paper receipts although most are faded now and hard to read. I still warranty parts out if I have the receipt but most of the parts have lasted me a long time.

[HO455]

NAPA gave me a military discount last week on some parts for my S10. I will add that NAPA is weird in the way they apply discounts. In that it is never a set percentage. We used to do several thousand dollars a month with the local store. Some things would have a 30% discount and others would have a 2% discount. My company tried to negotiate a company wide set discount but they wouldn't do it and so we ended up going with Schucks which is now O'Reilly.

The other oddity at NAPA is that many local stores don't interact with their website. I was told that the website is owned and operated by a different entity. This causes problems with accuracy of the store inventory and, don't order from the website and have it delivered to a local store without talking to the store first. It may turn into a hassle getting your part as I was told the local stores are expected to handle the website ordered parts for free hence the poor attitude that some stores show towards the internet customers.