|
|
Posted by Keith in Washington [24.41.41.111] on Monday, July 26, 2010 at 12:03:29 :
It has happened again. One of the two auto parts stores in town got bought out by O'Reilly. Schuck's auto has been around here for 50+ years. They mergerd with Al's Auto Parts and it went down hill a little. Now O'Reilly bought them and redid the store. I have been there a couple of times and so far I am not impressed. They reduced stock (some of the crap they took out needed to go out the door). However, they are no longer carry some major brands like Wix filters (can special order) and have put in brands I have never seen before. They often only have 1 of most items on the shelf (lights, paint, gas caps and many other commonly used things). No more car covers, aftermarket carbs and etc.
I went in there the other day for an air filter. I could not find it in any major brand. All they had was an unknown brand that was cheap and had very few pleats in the filter paper. I went to the counter and they could not get it in Fram and it would take a couple of days to get it in Wixs. They also tried the "What application so I can look it up in the computer" question which I said it will not work as nothing is original and they assured me that they could find it. They thought they had me, but I handed their cheap filter to the guy at the counter and walked out. As I left they said there was a NAPA up the street. I said I know and I am headed there. NAPA as usual had a good filter on the shelf.
I thought I would give the "new" guy a try. I know that they are big in other parts of the country. Now that there only seems to be two Brand stores in the area, it seems that one went down the drain and the other is still doing OK. NAPA will be getting basically all of my business now except for what I buy online.
Oh by the way my NAPA parts guy stopped me yesterday at the Northwest Goodguys Car Show as I was driving out of the awards area to pick up my award for my WC53 Carryall. We had a nice chat and talked about next week at Hot August Nights.
How do you guys rate O'Reilly's? Am I off base or do you guys have better luck than I have had? It is a new store and they put all their own people in who seem to tote to the company line.
Follow Ups: