The story
The Carquest marketing alliance and distribution network was formed in 1974 by O. Temple Sloan of General Parts, Dan Bock of Bobro Products, and Joe Hughes of Indiana Parts Warehouse. In response to competition from high-volume retail stores, Sloan believed "that programmed distribution through a cooperative alliance would be the most effective means to remain competitive." According to a 1994 Bangor Daily News article, the company was "made up of 14 distributing companies operating 64 Carquest Auto Parts Stores throughout the United States" at that time.
General Parts was the largest member with General Parts owning 1,400 out of Carquest's 3,400 auto parts stores across North America by 2011. O. Temple Sloan Jr. started General Parts in 1961.
Founding member Bobro was later sold to White Plains Automotive in 1984 and renamed B.W.P. Distributors. BWP was later acquired by Advance Auto in 2012. Dan Bock later served as president of Carquest.
Founding member Indiana Parts Warehouse was acquired by the third founder General Parts in 1991. Indiana Parts had served 90 locations.
Carquest acquired Worldpac in 2004, but kept its operations separate.
General Parts received $258 million in 2011 for selling 33 of the company's distribution centers and office buildings in a long-term sale-leaseback deal.
In June 2012, Carquest Auto Parts relaunched its Carquest.com website, offering buy online, pick up in store commerce.
In December 2012, Advance Auto Parts acquired warehouse distributor B.W.P. Distributors, which supplied the Northeastern United States. On October 16, 2013, it was announced that Carquest would be acquired by Advance Auto Parts, Inc in an all-cash transaction estimated at $2 billion. The deal was finalized on January 3, 2014. Carquest members now include Advance Auto Parts, Automotive Warehouse of Hawaii, CAP Warehouse of Nevada, and Muffler Warehouse of Idaho.
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In 2021, Advance Auto Parts announced plans to open retail stores under the Carquest name.
From Wikipedia’s article on Carquest, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3