You Can Tell You're at a REAL Auto Parts Store When...

The Fresca button on the pop machine gives you a PBR.

 

-The only air fresheners are those little pine trees, and the display is so old it's turned yelow.

-The shoot you a free pair of cotter pins when you buy bearings and seals.

-The fan by the counter is furry.

-They've got the machine to test crab distributers

-You can get those cork gaskets for glass bowl fuel pumps from the rack on the counter

Flatman (jonesing for the good ol' days)

 

You know you're NOT at a real auto parts store when the punk kid at the checkout counter calls you "dude" at least 3 times while scanning your items. Happened to me today at Advance Auto Zone.

Fortunately we also have two "real" auto parts stores in town for when I need more than oil, filters and wiper blades.

 

the dogs an important touch,

also they don't just look at you as another buck to be made, thats important one two.

 

Ha! Our AutoZone in town has one person that works there that knows anything about pre-72 cars. I like the Taco Bell theory. I wondered why they always asked what kind of sauce I wanted when I bought oil??!?

When we set up our store we wanted to make sure that all of those "auto part store nightmares" didn't happen. (although we do have a computer. BUT we do have a book rack that we tend to use alot more). Pics look a lot cleaner than it really is





out back:

 

I had a good chuckle over the non-detergent oil and Fresca/PBR comments.

So true.

I'm sure this has been discussed before or at least should be, but how many of you did some time working at parts stores? I have to imagine the number is quite high.

I was the young jackass working at an independent family owned store that went to an Auto-Value and then was sold off to later become a NAPA.

In college, I was the long-haired jack-ass delivering parts for Car-Quest. I had the most supportive boss ever. He understood what it was like to chase pussy, drink beer and raise hell. In fact, most of his customers did too! Great Guy, Great Job! I'd like to say I learned a lot from that job but I don't remember those days too well.

 

Radar (the owner) is rebuilding a 72 sporty and a 360 AMC right inside the front door.
You can still smell the rubber from the burnout you did in the back on Saturday night Monday morning.

 

The closest auto parts store to me is less then a mile away and is one of two KOI stores owned by the same family. Hours are 7-5:30 M-F, 8-3 on Sat. If you call before they close, they'll wait for ya.

I stopped in last month with that early Chevy dual quad set-up and before I could get the thing on the counter, three of the four guys had the carb kit number and the fourth one was going down the back isle to get them. All four knew what it was and what year. I bought several things that day, one of which had to be dropped off from the sister store and would be there before closing. I stopped in the next day to pick it up and they gave me a free hat, 'for having to wait' Now that's service you never see.

They also have the Boston baked bean gumball machine, the all day coffee brewing, duct-taped stools, tire AND piston ashtrays and someone's grandma working there. It's like a little slice of Heaven.

Vance

 

Austin's Pro Max is another REAL parts store

 

Yep........I spent 11 years in a small time parts store working the counter and running the repair shop downstairs.Had the daily bullshit sessions, practical jokers, lonely women , etc. It was a fun job but the owner was a numnutz.

 

Duct tape on counter stools? Ha, There's not a parts store in town that still HAS counter stools!

How about when you only need 3 inches of fuel line, and when you go for your wallet they say "Come back when you need something." That's my kinda place.

btw 3 or 4 years at Advance Auto, asst manager in training (whoopedy doooo...)

 

1) No computer
2) No calls to store #39 to see if they have spark plugs, simply because this is the only store.
3) They still use a cash register
4) No cheezy TV commercials using lame celebrities, in fact, no advertizing at all!
5) The counter guy has rotten fingernails. (Don't ask me why, but I've noticed this a lot. Must have something to do with the ink in the catalogs or something)
In the early 70's I worked at a Chevy dealer as a parts guy. Great experience learning how to actually use catalogs and cross reference. Saturdays were known as Corvette day, because thats when all the Vette queers came in. The parts manager would always make a game out of raising the price to these people just to see how much he could actually charge for furry seat covers and genuine GM whitewall cleaner.

 

-Before you pull out your wallet they ask "want me to put that on your tab?"

 

..when you have to drive by twice and think to yourself "..is that someone's house..a shop..or a junkyard..?!"

when the guy gets done gettin you what ya need he goes into the back and you can hear and smell a grinder goin

when the guy behind the counter says "well,when i did that to MY car..." and he's talking about a car like yours and not a trans am

when the door stop is an old intake/steel rim/etc..

when you're their first customer of the day and the guy already looks like he just rebuilt an engine with his bare hands

they have a muddy truck next to the main door with a cherry picker,torch and winch on it

when they have full ashtrays and posters of the budweiser girls in full view

when the cash register is the newest "computer" in there

when the counter guy looks like he has boots older than you...and you thought you were old!

..that's all i can think of in one sitting!
creepy

 

The higher the count of Jesse James images and/or WCC logos, the less likely you are in a real auto parts store.

 

You want a bad auto parts experience? Come on up to Canada and head to ANY Canadian Tire store. I'm positive they only hire parts people who were too stupid to flip fries at McDonalds.

 

You Can Tell You're at a REAL Auto Parts Store When...

They know mopar part numbers and have parts in stock.


or..they have stools by the counter.

 

This is a great post. the parking lot is full of burnout marks.
I gained a customer for life when the old guy said"lets see if this kid knows anything"{I was 43 at the time,makes him around 70ish }and promptly ask for speed parts for a flathead. I pipe off with"8ba,59ab,or v860?" couldnt chase him off with a baseball bat after that!
I still buy my parts from B&B auto parts, dorman bins in front of the counters, belts and hoses hanging from the rafters. it was a good place to work, the pay was average for parts stores.if the big chains would pay better wages, they might attract better help,and keep it! "ya want fries with that ?oops ... sorry deeeuuude. that was my last j.o.b. hu huh uh" Dylans right... the times they are a changin' ......not for the better
R.R.

 

I handed the kid at the counter my old belt with part# on it and the sleave it came in with the # on it and Gates on it. And he can't get the right one 195 well I guess 190 was close enough just a little shorter.

 

All the posts I have in this thread are mainly about the only shop I go to.
Townsends Auto Parts in Watsonville

This is were I have to tell you the story of a boy and his Model A Ford. And a new found respect for a REAL auto parts store.

I was 18 when I bought my 31, wich was a verry straight, good running, stock machine......It was the night before a friends(and club mate) wedding.
We(the club) had planed on all of us driveing our cars to the reception. So the night before I was busy waxing the 50 year old brushed on black paint.
Then giveing the motor new oil, 'just cause' when I noticed the fan/waterpump belt was ready to fall apart.
So the next morning I took my old belt into said auto parts store looking for a replacement. Bill asks "what is this off of, its old?" "my '31 Ford" I told him.
He then pulls out his tape and measures my belt while walking to the back.
"Got one, five bucks and its yours kid"
So off I go with a smile and new belt.

Try doing that at Kragens or AutoZone.

Since then I have never shoped at any other shop in Town.
this was only two years ago.

 

AWW boston baked beans!!! I laughed when i read that one! I just realized I have never been in a real auto parts store the closest thing is the NAPA it smells like old oil there is one guy who knows what he is doing they have a gasket set for a olds 350 in stock i think that get as close as i have ever been. Crap the autozone has a polish rack 30 feet long! All the stuf you can get yourself is mostly useless neon or led windshield washer sprayers.

 

bingo!

 

Man, you guys are making me cry. This post is sad in more ways than one, it doesn't just apply to us as old car guys, it's about the general malaise this entire country is in.
There is no incentive for private enterprise, it's virtually impossible to succeed as an independent and this in a nation that was once the land of opportunity.
There's no incentive to read, write or figure out change from $20.00 for a $4.56 purchase, machines do it for you.
There's no need diagnose a problem when a computer tells you what electronic part went kaput.
There's no incentive to learn a unified language because nobody's interested in being friendly to anyone but their own kind.
There's no incentive to offer good personal service when it's almost impossible to get fired, and even if you do you can collect unemplyoment for months or cry discrimination and become a millionaire thanks to 1-800-CALL-A-LAWYER.

Litigation, not initiative will get you further these days.

There's no incentive to take an individualistic approach to how your business operates because government nazis have determined what is best for you and your employees.

Personally, I'm not too pleased with the way things are, and auto parts stores are but the tip of the iceberg, this goes to the very core of what America is becoming, and it's not what made it great.

 

You Can Tell You're at a REAL Auto Parts Store When...

You DON'T drive an hour round trip, only to get the WRONG part, then return it to the greeting of;

"Awwwww, My BAD Dude"

 

When all the signs are in English and they don't sell cell phone accessories.

 

can someone please explain game theory to me again?

the incentive is still there,
it just get buried a little deeper all the time.

by the ones playing the game.

 

Well Paul, you're right there, in fact the incentive is stronger than ever, but it has to do with profit above everything else. And the customer is at the bottom of the rung.

I went to Sears the other day and a guy was busy tagging items behind the counter. After waiting for a good long while the guy in front asked the pimply faced teenager if it would be a dereliction of his duty to wait on us.....he finally did. The thing is, this kid could have waited on us the whole time but he has no concept of a time when the customer truly came first. The whole idea of customer service is utterly alien these days, in fact it's really a surprise when you get it. What heve we become? Sears used to have a halo of goodness around them, now the name means nothing, that is really sad.

FWIW, we have but one decent parts store left in Orlando, Central Auto Parts, and they're in a neighborhood that's up for 'urban renewal', whatever that means. If and when they're gone, that'll be it.

It's a damn crying shame.

 

...you don't have to walk through a forest of 6 inch exhausts for 1.4 Honda Civics!
...you don't see a 14yr old outside struggling to fit a battery to a 9yr old Peugot for over half an hour! (happened today) lol
... no-body asks "are you ok there sir" every 30 seconds.

 

When they speak English!