Western Auto
Encyclopedia
Western Auto Supply Company was a specialty retail chain
of stores that supplied automobile parts
and accessories. It operated approximately 1200 stores across the United States
. It was started in 1909 in Kansas City, Missouri
, by George Pepperdine, who later founded Pepperdine University
. The building that once housed its corporate headquarters, located at 2107 Grand Boulevard in Kansas City, Missouri, was transformed into loft condominiums. The Western Auto sign remains atop the building and is illuminated nightly.
business for replacement auto parts. The first retail store was established in 1921, and grew quickly as automobiles became more and more common. At one point, there were over 1,200 company-owned stores nationwide, usually located in metropolitan areas, and more than 4,000 associate stores (private franchise "dealer" locations), usually located in small cities and towns. The associate store program was the first of its type, pioneering the way for other future modern day franchise operations. The company had five regional distribution centers in the United States, with the one located in North Carolina
serving its stores in Puerto Rico.
Western Auto was known for its "Western Flyer" bicycle
and "Performance Radial GT" tire brands. Other Western Auto private labeled brands popular with consumers included "Davis Tires" (likely named for Don A. Davis, a Western Auto president), "Tough One" Batteries, "Wizard" Tools, "TrueTone" electronics, and "Citation" appliances. Western Auto was also the parent company of Auto America and Parts America stores, as well as acquiring National Tire and Battery (NTB)
.
or 1950s
, or possibly earlier, Western Auto started selling rifles and shotguns in its catalogues. As with other chains at the time, such as Sears, Roebuck and Co., Montgomery Ward
, and J.C. Penney
, Western Auto's firearms were sold under a proprietary brand. Often called "store brand" firearms, they were firearms produced by reputable name brand manufacturers, such as O.F. Mossberg & Sons
, Remington Arms
, Savage Arms
, Winchester Repeating Arms Company
, and High Standard Manufacturing Company
. Western Auto firearms sold under the "Revelation" brand name, and were generally models from the brands Savage, Marlin Firearms
, or Mossberg.
Other than markings, Revelation models were identical to standard production models. They were the most basic models produced by the various manufacturers, and featured plain birch or walnut stocks. However, metal bluing
remained good and nearly all models were provided with iron sight
s and mounting provisions for scopes
. Once valued lower than "name brand" equivalents, store-brand rifles, shotguns, and revolvers have essentially reached price parity with their more universal counterparts. Firearms were one of many lines added to the store in a product diversification
effort. By the end of the 1950s Western Auto was very much like a Sears store, even equipped with a catalog order center. Auto parts comprised only a small percentage of the company's sales by the mid-1960s
and had all but disappeared by the 1970s
.
, in response to the success of Wal-Mart
, Western Auto Retail converted all of the company-owned stores to what it called "FLAG" stores, which sold exclusively automotive parts and accessories. These stores were largely located in more urbanized areas much like their successors today. Western Auto Wholesale strongly urged its associate stores to become at least 50% automotive, but most refused because the customer base of their locations, in "small town America", demanded a wider range of merchandise. This disagreement by the associate stores would later save the company.
, AutoZone
, and O'Reilly Auto Parts
, proved too much for the company's lack of product focus. By the beginning of 1997, fewer than 850 company-owned stores remained. At that point, the associate stores were the bread and butter of the company, with their more diversified name-brand lines including appliances, electronics, hardware, bicycles, go-karts, and outdoor equipment/parts, and their reach into small-town America. Sears removed NTW and Tire America from Western Auto and then sold the company to Advance Auto Parts.
sold the remnants of Western Auto to Advance Auto Parts
of Roanoke, Virginia
. However, the business deal was not quite what experts in the after market automotive industry expected. Specifically in return, Sears Roebuck became "one of the largest shareholders" after obtaining a 40% stake in Advance Auto Parts, and by merging their two store networks, which included Western Auto's wholesale and retail operations. More precisely, the existing robust store network of Advance Auto Parts, comprising 915 stores in 17 U.S. states, merged with 590 U.S.-based Parts America Stores in addition to 40 Western Auto stores in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
.
The merger between Western Auto and Advance Auto substantially expanded Advance's network to over 1,500 retail stores in 36 states. Additionally, Sears Roebuck received a cash payment of $175 million USD, while Advance Auto's investors provided a further $70 million USD directly to Advance. Freeman Spogli & Co.
organized an investment fund that was among the group of investors that provided Advance with the $70 million cash infusion. Despite the 40% acquisition by Sears Roebuck, both companies maintained their Standard & Poor's "single-'B'-plus corporate credit rating". Analysts continued to speculate on the "financial flexibility" of Advance Auto at the time expecting the company to "take advantage of other opportunistic acquisitions".
A few of the associate stores converted to Sears Dealer stores. The remainder of the company-owned stores, located primarily in the eastern United States
, were then converted into Advance stores. The remaining associate stores were promised a great and long future in the tradition of Western Auto, a promise that was not kept. Advance gave little support to the associate store operation and as a result most dealers found themselves purchasing 70%+ of their merchandise from other suppliers and simply using the Western Auto name.
Dealer stores were permitted by Advance Auto to license the Western Auto name free of charge until 2006. Stores who decided not to operate within Advance's limitations would be in violation of trademark-infringement laws.
Even though Advance ordered all Western Auto signs removed from dealer stores by 2006, there are still stores operating under the name and violating trademark-infringement laws across the country. To this day Advance has not brought any legal action against stores operating under the Western Auto name, but as complaints from the customers of these rogue stores increase there is a likelihood that this may soon change. Advance tried to stop the Spanaway, Washington, old Western Auto associate store from using the sign, but because the western state Western Auto's were originally started as Gamble's stores, and the name and brand owned by Gamble-Skogmo, and Western Auto (Kansas City) bought that chain, and the associate stores slowed converted over to Western Auto's, there was a clause in their associate store contracts that protected those associate stores. A Washington state Superior Court judge in Pierce County ruled against Advance and allowed the Spanaway store to continue to use the name.
The Western Auto name is still used by Advance Auto Parts in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
, where it is the largest such chain, even though the Western Auto name is being phased out store-by-store into Advance stores.
until the end of the 1997 season
, Western Auto sponsored NASCAR
driver Darrell Waltrip
's race team. The specialty retailer also sponsored Al Hofmann
's Funny Car
in NHRA
from 1994 to 1996
Chain store
Chain stores are retail outlets that share a brand and central management, and usually have standardized business methods and practices. These characteristics also apply to chain restaurants and some service-oriented chain businesses. In retail, dining and many service categories, chain businesses...
of stores that supplied automobile parts
Auto part
This is a list of auto parts, which are manufactured components of automobiles:-Body and exterior:Body components, including windows and trim:-Engine cooling system:* Air blower* Coolant hose* Cooling fan* Fan blade* Fan clutch* Radiator...
and accessories. It operated approximately 1200 stores across the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It was started in 1909 in Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, by George Pepperdine, who later founded Pepperdine University
Pepperdine University
Pepperdine University is an independent, private, medium-sized university affiliated with the Churches of Christ. The university's campus overlooking the Pacific Ocean in unincorporated Los Angeles County, California, United States, near Malibu, is the location for Seaver College, the School of...
. The building that once housed its corporate headquarters, located at 2107 Grand Boulevard in Kansas City, Missouri, was transformed into loft condominiums. The Western Auto sign remains atop the building and is illuminated nightly.
Store history
Western Auto originally started as a mail orderMail order
Mail order is a term which describes the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote method such as through a telephone call or web site. Then, the products are delivered to the customer...
business for replacement auto parts. The first retail store was established in 1921, and grew quickly as automobiles became more and more common. At one point, there were over 1,200 company-owned stores nationwide, usually located in metropolitan areas, and more than 4,000 associate stores (private franchise "dealer" locations), usually located in small cities and towns. The associate store program was the first of its type, pioneering the way for other future modern day franchise operations. The company had five regional distribution centers in the United States, with the one located in North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
serving its stores in Puerto Rico.
Western Auto was known for its "Western Flyer" bicycle
Bicycle
A bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist....
and "Performance Radial GT" tire brands. Other Western Auto private labeled brands popular with consumers included "Davis Tires" (likely named for Don A. Davis, a Western Auto president), "Tough One" Batteries, "Wizard" Tools, "TrueTone" electronics, and "Citation" appliances. Western Auto was also the parent company of Auto America and Parts America stores, as well as acquiring National Tire and Battery (NTB)
National Tire and Battery
National Tire and Battery is an American brand of auto service centers. It was formerly owned by Sears until it was spun off in 2003.Sears created the brand in 1997 by consolidating the Tire America and National Tire Warehouse brands, adding the "B" to include its DieHard brand of batteries...
.
Firearm sales
Sometime in the 1940s1940s
File:1940s decade montage.png|Above title bar: events which happened during World War II : From left to right: Troops in an LCVP landing craft approaching "Omaha" Beach on "D-Day"; Adolf Hitler visits Paris, soon after the Battle of France; The Holocaust occurred during the war as Nazi Germany...
or 1950s
1950s
The 1950s or The Fifties was the decade that began on January 1, 1950 and ended on December 31, 1959. The decade was the sixth decade of the 20th century...
, or possibly earlier, Western Auto started selling rifles and shotguns in its catalogues. As with other chains at the time, such as Sears, Roebuck and Co., Montgomery Ward
Montgomery Ward
Montgomery Ward is an online retailer that carries the same name as the former American department store chain, founded as the world's #1 mail order business in 1872 by Aaron Montgomery Ward, and which went out of business in 2001...
, and J.C. Penney
J.C. Penney
J. C. Penney Company, Inc. is a chain of American mid-range department stores based in Plano, Texas, a suburb north of Dallas. The company operates 1,107 department stores in all 50 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. JCPenney also operates catalog sales merchant offices nationwide in many...
, Western Auto's firearms were sold under a proprietary brand. Often called "store brand" firearms, they were firearms produced by reputable name brand manufacturers, such as O.F. Mossberg & Sons
O.F. Mossberg & Sons
O.F. Mossberg & Sons is an American firearms manufacturer, specializing in shotguns, rifles, scopes and firearm accessories. From the 1940s through the 1960s, it also produced a line of .22 caliber target and sporting rifles....
, Remington Arms
Remington Arms
Remington Arms Company, Inc. was founded in 1816 by Eliphalet Remington in Ilion, New York, as E. Remington and Sons. It is the oldest company in the United States which still makes its original product, and is the oldest continuously operating manufacturer in North America. It is the only U.S....
, Savage Arms
Savage Arms
The Savage Arms Company is a firearms manufacturing company based in Westfield, Massachusetts, with a division located in Canada. The company makes a variety of rimfire and centerfire rifles, as well as marketing the Stevens single-shot rifles and shotguns...
, Winchester Repeating Arms Company
Winchester Repeating Arms Company
The Winchester Repeating Arms Company was a prominent American maker of repeating firearms, located in New Haven, Connecticut. The Winchester brand is today used under license by two subsidiaries of the Herstal Group, Fabrique Nationale of Belgium and the Browning Arms Company of Morgan, Utah.-...
, and High Standard Manufacturing Company
High Standard Manufacturing Company
High Standard Manufacturing Company Inc. is an American manufacturer of firearms, based in Houston, Texas. The company was originally founded in Hamden, Connecticut in 1926 as a supplier to the numerous firearms companies in the Connecticut Valley.-History:...
. Western Auto firearms sold under the "Revelation" brand name, and were generally models from the brands Savage, Marlin Firearms
Marlin Firearms
Marlin Firearms Co., formerly of North Haven, Connecticut, is a manufacturer of high power, center fire, lever action, and .22 caliber rimfire rifles. In the past, the company made shotguns, derringers and revolvers...
, or Mossberg.
Other than markings, Revelation models were identical to standard production models. They were the most basic models produced by the various manufacturers, and featured plain birch or walnut stocks. However, metal bluing
Bluing (steel)
Bluing is a passivation process in which steel is partially protected against rust, and is named after the blue-black appearance of the resulting protective finish. True gun bluing is an electrochemical conversion coating resulting from an oxidizing chemical reaction with iron on the surface...
remained good and nearly all models were provided with iron sight
Iron sight
Iron sights are a system of shaped alignment markers used as a sighting device to assist in the aiming of a device such as a firearm, crossbow, or telescope, and exclude the use of optics as in telescopic sights or reflector sights...
s and mounting provisions for scopes
Optical instrument
An optical instrument either processes light waves to enhance an image for viewing, or analyzes light waves to determine one of a number of characteristic properties.-Image enhancement:...
. Once valued lower than "name brand" equivalents, store-brand rifles, shotguns, and revolvers have essentially reached price parity with their more universal counterparts. Firearms were one of many lines added to the store in a product diversification
Diversification (marketing strategy)
Diversification is a form of corporate strategy for a company. It seeks to increase profitability through greater sales volume obtained from new products and new markets. Diversification can occur either at the business unit level or at the corporate level. At the business unit level, it is most...
effort. By the end of the 1950s Western Auto was very much like a Sears store, even equipped with a catalog order center. Auto parts comprised only a small percentage of the company's sales by the mid-1960s
1960s
The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...
and had all but disappeared by the 1970s
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
.
Streamlining business operations
In the early 1980s1980s
File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...
, in response to the success of Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
, Western Auto Retail converted all of the company-owned stores to what it called "FLAG" stores, which sold exclusively automotive parts and accessories. These stores were largely located in more urbanized areas much like their successors today. Western Auto Wholesale strongly urged its associate stores to become at least 50% automotive, but most refused because the customer base of their locations, in "small town America", demanded a wider range of merchandise. This disagreement by the associate stores would later save the company.
Sears Roebuck & Co. purchase
In 1987, Sears Roebuck purchased Western Auto, which resulted in greater tire selections, and in Craftsman tools and DieHard batteries being sold at Western Auto stores. Sears valued the freestanding Western Auto stores as outlets for Craftsman and DieHard. However, the heavy competition from other mainstream discount auto parts stores, Advance, Carport, NapaNational Automotive Parts Association
The National Automotive Parts Association was founded in 1925 to meet America's growing need for an auto parts distribution system. It is a retailers' cooperative that distributes parts to both corporately and independently owned auto parts stores.NAPA's parent company is Genuine Parts Company , ...
, AutoZone
AutoZone
AutoZone is a retailer and distributor of aftermarket automotive parts and accessories. based in Memphis, Tennessee.-History:Originally a division of Memphis-based wholesale grocer Malone & Hyde, the company went under the name Auto Shack...
, and O'Reilly Auto Parts
O'Reilly Auto Parts
O'Reilly Auto Parts , originally known as O'Reilly Automotive, Inc., is a publicly traded chain of auto parts stores that started with one store in Springfield, Missouri in 1957. It has since grown to include more than 3,469 stores in 38 states. The corporate headquarters of O'Reilly is located in...
, proved too much for the company's lack of product focus. By the beginning of 1997, fewer than 850 company-owned stores remained. At that point, the associate stores were the bread and butter of the company, with their more diversified name-brand lines including appliances, electronics, hardware, bicycles, go-karts, and outdoor equipment/parts, and their reach into small-town America. Sears removed NTW and Tire America from Western Auto and then sold the company to Advance Auto Parts.
Advance Auto Parts merger
After weeks of speculation in 1998, parent company SearsSears, Roebuck and Company
Sears, officially named Sears, Roebuck and Co., is an American chain of department stores which was founded by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck in the late 19th century...
sold the remnants of Western Auto to Advance Auto Parts
Advance Auto Parts
Advance Auto Parts , headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, is the second-largest retailer of automotive replacement parts and accessories in the United States. AAP was founded in 1932 and had 2008 sales of approx. $5.1B...
of Roanoke, Virginia
Roanoke, Virginia
Roanoke is an independent city in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. state of Virginia and is the tenth-largest city in the Commonwealth. It is located in the Roanoke Valley of the Roanoke Region of Virginia. The population within the city limits was 97,032 as of 2010...
. However, the business deal was not quite what experts in the after market automotive industry expected. Specifically in return, Sears Roebuck became "one of the largest shareholders" after obtaining a 40% stake in Advance Auto Parts, and by merging their two store networks, which included Western Auto's wholesale and retail operations. More precisely, the existing robust store network of Advance Auto Parts, comprising 915 stores in 17 U.S. states, merged with 590 U.S.-based Parts America Stores in addition to 40 Western Auto stores in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
.
The merger between Western Auto and Advance Auto substantially expanded Advance's network to over 1,500 retail stores in 36 states. Additionally, Sears Roebuck received a cash payment of $175 million USD, while Advance Auto's investors provided a further $70 million USD directly to Advance. Freeman Spogli & Co.
Freeman Spogli & Co.
Freeman Spogli & Co. is a private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout and recapitalization transactions involving growth companies in the retail, direct marketing, catalog and distribution sectors....
organized an investment fund that was among the group of investors that provided Advance with the $70 million cash infusion. Despite the 40% acquisition by Sears Roebuck, both companies maintained their Standard & Poor's "single-'B'-plus corporate credit rating". Analysts continued to speculate on the "financial flexibility" of Advance Auto at the time expecting the company to "take advantage of other opportunistic acquisitions".
A few of the associate stores converted to Sears Dealer stores. The remainder of the company-owned stores, located primarily in the eastern United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, were then converted into Advance stores. The remaining associate stores were promised a great and long future in the tradition of Western Auto, a promise that was not kept. Advance gave little support to the associate store operation and as a result most dealers found themselves purchasing 70%+ of their merchandise from other suppliers and simply using the Western Auto name.
Demise of the Western Auto distribution network
In October 2003, Advance Auto notified the Western Auto Supply Company that by January 2004 it "would no longer supply merchandise and services to the stores in its distribution network". This decision brought an end to the Western Auto brand name after nearly a century in business. Some Western Auto store owners knew that such a decision by Advance Auto was inevitable after noticing "a trend of discontinued brands, lack of computer point-of-sale system updates, and shipments of fewer and fewer types of merchandise". Advance Auto Parts' spokesman, Shelia Stuewe, speaking on the matter stated "that the logistics of distributing appliances, home and garden supplies, auto parts and hardware to over 300 independent dealers scattered across 33 states became too much for the company to continue."Dealer stores were permitted by Advance Auto to license the Western Auto name free of charge until 2006. Stores who decided not to operate within Advance's limitations would be in violation of trademark-infringement laws.
Even though Advance ordered all Western Auto signs removed from dealer stores by 2006, there are still stores operating under the name and violating trademark-infringement laws across the country. To this day Advance has not brought any legal action against stores operating under the Western Auto name, but as complaints from the customers of these rogue stores increase there is a likelihood that this may soon change. Advance tried to stop the Spanaway, Washington, old Western Auto associate store from using the sign, but because the western state Western Auto's were originally started as Gamble's stores, and the name and brand owned by Gamble-Skogmo, and Western Auto (Kansas City) bought that chain, and the associate stores slowed converted over to Western Auto's, there was a clause in their associate store contracts that protected those associate stores. A Washington state Superior Court judge in Pierce County ruled against Advance and allowed the Spanaway store to continue to use the name.
The Western Auto name is still used by Advance Auto Parts in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
, where it is the largest such chain, even though the Western Auto name is being phased out store-by-store into Advance stores.
Auto racing
From 19911991 in NASCAR
The 1991 NASCAR Winston Cup Season began February 10 and ended November 17. Dale Earnhardt of Richard Childress Racing was crowned champion at the end of the season. It was his fifth championship.-1991 Team Chart:-Busch Clash:...
until the end of the 1997 season
1997 in NASCAR
- 1997 Team Chart :- Busch Clash :The Busch Clash, a race for polewinners from the previous season, and drivers who have won the event before, was run on February 9 in Daytona Beach, Florida. Terry Labonte drew the pole...
, Western Auto sponsored NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
driver Darrell Waltrip
Darrell Waltrip
Darrell Lee Waltrip is a 3-time NASCAR Cup Series champion , 3-time runner-up , winner of the 1989 Daytona 500 and 5-time winner of the prestigeous Coca-Cola 600 ,...
's race team. The specialty retailer also sponsored Al Hofmann
Al Hofmann
Al Hofmann was an American dragracer and drag car owner in the funny car division from Umatilla, Florida. He raced in the National Hot Rod Association...
's Funny Car
Funny Car
Funny Car is a drag racing car class. In the United States, other "professional" classes are Top Fuel, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle. Funny cars have forward-mounted engines and carbon fiber automotive bodies over the chassis, giving them an appearance vaguely approximating manufacturers'...
in NHRA
National Hot Rod Association
The National Hot Rod Association is a drag racing governing body, which sets rules in drag racing and host events all over the United States and Canada...
from 1994 to 1996