All of the Pep Boys auto parts stores around here, did a huge clearance and closed up. A couple of months later, they reopened as Autozones. The Pep Boys tire and auto centers stayed open through all of that.
One of their techs told me that Autozone bought up Pep Boys and all of them would do the conversion.
Carl Icahn owns Pep Boys. He's closed and sold off stores that lost money to whoever wanted them. Autozone and Advance bought some. Some are probably still empty.