Advance Auto parts is closing 700 stores nationwide.
They are closing 500 corporate stores, and 200 independent stores out of their 5000 locations. Simply cutting the fat in today's economy.
All corporate stores are Advance while all the privateers are CarQuests. That's how they broke them out in the acquisition.
Why, or even how, they would close the independent stores is something I find questionable. I run an independent parts store (not a CarQuest) and how closing it could be the decision of anyone but the owner is beyond me. Pull the franchise, yes--but if they're paying their bills on time, why? Close the store? Not their decision.
I will not be surprised if our local Advance closes. Great crew when it opened with a complete idiot for a manager (he'd never worked in parts nor had he ever managed anything). They got rid of the good people--the ones worth their salaries--as quickly as possible after the store was established, and have staffed the place with shirt-staining mouth-breathers for the last 18 years.
I'm sure online buying is a part of it, but I feel most companies have spread themselves too thin. The Dollar General philosophy doesn't work for every business.
The Dollar General philosophy ain't gonna work for Dollar General forever either.
Regardless, in an area of roughly 20K people within a 15-mile radius, we have three CarQuests, two Auto Values, a NAPA, an O'Reilly, and the aforementioned Advance. Five of those stores are within a two-mile radius. I was amazed when they built the Advance, and kinda flabbergasted when O'Reilly went up, because there were two other parts stores at the time (that have since closed). It's not sustainable.