Advance Auto Parts is rolling out of California.
The auto supply company, with more than 150 stores in this state, is closing all California locations and hundreds of others across the Western U.S.
In all, it is closing more than 700 stores and distribution centers in California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada and Arizona, a move that comes as the company aims to “improve the productivity of all our assets and to create shareholder value,” Shane O’Kelly, the company’s president and chief executive, said in a news release.
In last week’s third-quarter earnings call, O’Kelly said the company will focus on top-performing stores and ditch stores that are struggling.
“We made the decision to close certain non-performing, nonstrategic stores in the U.S. to better position our assets based for long-term sustainable growth,” he said. Instead, Advance Auto Parts will work to “improve store concentration in our strongest markets.”
94 shuttered stores in Southern California
Like other auto parts stores, this store sold items for do-it-yourself car repairs, with everything from batteries to fuel injector O-Ring kits to air filters stacked on its shelves.
The company, based in Raleigh, N.C., has 94 stores, with more than two-thirds concentrated in San Diego, Orange and Los Angeles counties.
- Los Angeles County: 36 stores
- San Diego County: 14 stores
- Orange County: 14 stores
- San Bernardino County: 13 stores
- Riverside County: 10 stores
- Ventura County: 4 stores
- Imperial County: 3 stores
While the company reported a narrower loss of $6 million in the third quarter, down from a loss of $62 million in the year ago period, it saw net sales from continuing operations drop by $100 million compared to the same period in 2023. Same-store sales decreased by 2.3%.
The company, founded in 1932, has been in turnaround mode for the past year as it tries to reverse sliding sales and return to profitability. It recently sold Worldpac, an automotive parts wholesaler, for $1.5 billion as it reworks its business model.
The company did not say how many jobs will be lost in its latest announcement.
Even as it closes these stores, the company said it plans to open 60 stores by mid-2027, O’Kelly said in the earnings call.
The region is home to many alternatives including Pep Boys, AutoZone, O’Reilly Auto Parts and Napa Auto Parts.
The almost 70 billion U.S. auto parts manufacturing industry declined 1% in 2023 and has declined an average of 3% per year between 2018 and 2023, according to data from IBISWorld, a market research company. It cited competition and imports as the prevailing reason.
But the larger U.S. auto aftermarket industry is poised to grow. It reached $218.82 billion in 2023 and “is estimated to surpass around USD 336.79 billion by 2033,” Precedence Research, a market research and statistics firm, wrote. This growth is linked to demand for tires, batteries and do-it-yourself repair automobile jobs.
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