02 May 2022

Auto Parts

The little town we now live in has a population of... 6,000, down from a peak of 7,000 before all of our industry closed down. While Real Estate BOOMS in much of the rest of the country, our community is in the doldrums.
And that's okay.

We have a WalMart, a Pizza Hut, a Mickey D's, decent Mexican and Chinese restaurants and three "Mom and Pop" eateries. Our cost of living is NOT through the roof.
It's a good place to live.

My question today is about parts for automobiles-
We also have an "Autozone", an "Oh-Oh-Oh O'Reilly's" and on our Main Street we have an inconspicuous "Bumper to Bumper" store.
South of town, not far from Autozone, they've just opened a "NAPA" store.

How many Parts stores can a town of 6K people support?
I guess we're about to find out.

6 comments:

Jess said...

If I had to guess, you live within one hundred miles of a large metroplex. People will drive what seem like impossible miles to avoid living in such disasters of public officials, will find a way to finance the travel, and keep their families away from the tainted urban blight.

Houston, only a few dozen years ago, had acres of open land outside the inner loop. The small towns adjacent were mostly untouched by the strip malls, fast food restaurants, and square miles full of cookie cutter houses. Old money was managed by new children, which led to selling large sections of land to satisfy estate taxes, or finance a lifestyle that had nothing to do with agriculture or ranching.

The changes were astounding. Beltway 8 was built, and this didn't handle the increasing traffic load. Currently, the Grand Parkway is well under construction, and is filling as it is built. Where it was a twenty minute drive from this area to reach the urban areas, that's quickly changing. The Houston metroplex is now over 10,000 square miles, and growing.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Some business decisions are jowl shakers.

glasslass said...

Our little town of 9,000 has 5 auto parts stores.

Old NFO said...

Our little burg (5600) has two auto parts stores. Depends on how much foot traffic they get, or whom is trying to undercut whom...

Ed Bonderenka said...

You say O O'Reilly's But Autozone has screwed me so often on sending me away with the correct part number and the wrong part inside that unless O'Reilly's couldn't supply it, I wouldn't go to Autozone.

Greybeard said...

Ed, I read your comments about "Autozone"/"O'Reilly" some time ago and took them to heart.
Funny, in price-comparing since I find that O'Reilly is cheaper, along with providing better service!
Thanks for the nudge.