Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 15, 1995 TAG: 9502160012
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
The company said it will begin converting them to Advance Auto Parts stores beginning next week. The stores, 15 in the greater Atlanta market and one in Tifton, Ga., will be closed temporarily for remodeling and restocking and will reopen by mid-March.
With the addition of the Nationwise stores, Advance Auto Parts will have more locations than any other automotive parts retailer in the Atlanta area. Advance will have 35 locations with more than 50,000 parts and accessories in that market. After-market retailers target consumers buying parts directly rather than sales of parts to sellers of new cars and to mechanics.
Advance Auto Parts is one of the top five automotive retail chains in the United States and is one of the fastest growing.
The 63-year-old company has stores in Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky and Ohio.
The company previously has acquired Nationwise stores in Roanoke and some in North Carolina.
Advance chairman Nicholas Taubman said the industry is consolidating. "A number of chains are absorbing others," he said.
Advance Auto Parts generally has expanded by opening its own stores rather than by buying other companies' outlets.
In the case of Nationwise in Atlanta, Taubman said, Advance saw an opportunity. But "we do not acquire companies," he said.
by CNB