Mom and Pop parts store closed

[RICKG]

Sad time in this small town-the old parts store here closed it's doors.

You know the place, the place with the stools in front of the counter where
guys sit for hours shootin the breeze even tho they weren't gonna turn a wrench that day.

You know the guy behind the counter, with his greasy ballcap and ever
present cig hangin from the corner of his mouth. Never could get the hang
of that gol-dang computer but would work pure magic when he hit that
row of parts books. Make and model year?? Psshaww!! Show him what ya
got and he'll tell you what it's off of.

Cant be sure but I suspect it had something to do with the NAPA store movin into the new strip mall at the edge of town.


Sure gonna miss that old geezer

[DJ]

Another one bites the dust! We got a couple of Napas"s in town, the one I go to is an old one. I know the owner quite well,and asked him why the stools were gone. He said it encouraged the customers to hang around and bs a bit Seems some of his customers have been going to the new stores in town. Old fashioned service is getting rare.

[aforests]

I noticed all the stools were gone in parts stores around town here as well. Sign of the times... They want you spending money and not 'wasting' employees time, or what I would say, building a relationship...

[oilleaker1]

The new world sucks! Now if there is any possibility that a company might incur liability risk, they won't sell the item to you. They now ask what you are going to do with it? Glad I lived most of my days when times were good. John

[Bretto]

Bummer, probably driven out a bit by the online shopping thing to.

[wesk]

John,
Is Johnson Machine still open in Rapid City? Also there was a salvage and resto shop specializing in Jeeps over on the east side of Rapid.

[oilleaker1]

Johnson Machine, Yes, is open. Salvage yard with jeeps? Never heard of it. Interesting. John

[wesk]

More a specialized jeep resto & repair shop but usually had a dozen parts jeeps inside their fence. I picked up a 71 windshield there with bottom wipers I put on my M38A1 in 1988. The stock windshield was the victim of an unlatched hood as I headed down the west bound on ramp to I-90 from Ellsworth. The hood stayed put to exactly 48 MPH then wham!



You can't see the wipers but you can see the one piece glass.

[oilleaker1]

Is that a civil defense sticker on the drivers side cowl? There is a State surplus yard in Boxelder that has military trailers and vehicles for sale on GSA from time to time. I bought my Deuce on GL at Ellsworth. Drove it home after some work to get it running. I'm also having my Black Hills Jeep Run for a week in June again. June 22nd-26th. Just old jeeps, no rock crawlers. Come and join the fun. John

[wesk]

Yes it is John. When I was stationed at Ellsworth I bought a home in Blackhawk on Elmwood Drive. My neighbor was a Rapid City Cop. We were shooting the bull about my daughter's 73 Mustang I was rebuilding and he mentioned an old jeep in his garage he was going to sell because it was tough getting it started. When I first saw it it was a very stock A1 with no top, NDCC tires and that paint job. He bought it at auction from the Pennington County CD. That orange A1 spent a lot of time in the hills, the badlands and was a daily driver from Blackhawk to Ellsworth.

I seem to recall the jeep shop was over near Omaha & Campbell.

[jimm]

I noticed all the stools were gone in parts stores around town here as well. Sign of the times... They want you spending money and not 'wasting' employees time, or what I would say, building a relationship...

Shoot - I forgot all about the stool thing. Last non-chain parts store that I know of around here went out of business at least ten years ago. They probably had stools. Same people behind the counter every time you went there. My last memory of business there is going in and telling them I needed an oil filter element for a '53 Ford flathead V8 and the parts guy didn't even have to look up the number. And that was in 1990-something!

Definitely no stools at NAPA, Car Quest, O'Reilly, Auto Zone, etc. And no relationships, either. I used to try patronizing the NAPA store, thinking it would be more competent than the discount chains and, by chance, was closer to my house, but I gave up on them because they're just computer data entry people, too, and less competent at doing that than I am. I get almost all my parts for my modern vehicles online now from Rock Auto where I can see all the brand and pricing options they have to offer. I have a backup vehicle, which gives me the luxury of being able to wait a few days for the part to arrive on my doorstep. Saves me time overall.

[oilleaker1]

How about them entering all your personal ID info. on their computer, wanting to know if you want one of their chain credit cards to earn points, be on their special deal mailing list, sending irritating constant emails to you, on and on corporate America crap? I don't like the cold stainless steel counter with a parts person who doesn't know what a coil mounting bracket for a Jeep is. I'm lucky that our NAPA still has stools and coffee. They know your voice on the phone, and you in turn have nick names for the parts guys . They laugh with you. They even deliver to your shop. They have my business for as long as I'm around. John

[RICKG]

Cant be sure but I suspect it had something to do with the NAPA store movin into the new strip mall at the edge of town.



(

Got the rest of the story today. A year or so ago my pal "Joe", sales being slow, sold 99.99% interest to a small regional chain I'll call "Parts Be Damned" all the while believing in improvement in increased sales, advertising and such. I remember "Joe" sayin "ya gotta grow to survive".
Well that didn't happen and PDB shopped it around w/o "Joe" knowing.
"Joe" suffers from that rare malady in business called TRUST. Seems the NAPA store at the strip mall caught wind and told PBD we'll buy the inventory outright as long as you close the doors on Mom and Pop.
"Joe" didn't have a clue when the controlling interest came and closed him up.

I hope Joe catches up on some fishin and such.

...Another pal of mine next door to the old store was approached by the movers to borrow his forklift and he responded "I'd rather you would just leave town"

Sorry for the long wind but this sucks. PBD and No Auto Parts Available gets Rick's middle finger salute.

I wish I could get my hands on (or my arse) on one of those stools..

[whydahdvr]

Thought I would share another complaint about the modern auto parts stores:
I was calling around on Thursday looking for the air filter and cabin filter for my 2008 LR3 HSE. I called both NAPA and AutoZone. AutoZone had the air filter in stock for about $10 but had to order the cabin air filter, running about $15.
NAPA had the air filter in stock but not the cabin filter and both were around $45. I asked the NAPA guy why theirs was priced so much higher than AutoZone thinking that he would give me a good reasons, or at least a sales pitch, why their's was a better product. He told me to buy the AutoZone air filter! He had no explanation for why their's was price $30 higher!
Anyway, I can only imagine just how much harder it's going to be for older non-modern cars as the years go by.

[RICKG]

Bottom line guys.. If you are lucky enough to have a Mom and Pop parts, grocery, hdwe, mercantile,you name it in your town, support them before the corporates take them out.