Western Auto stores

[nurdlinger]

There was a Western Auto store in the Belmont Shopping Center at 8-Mile and Conant in Detroit when I was a kid in the 50s. It was the only store that had a catalog that I could reach on my bicycle, so that led to a lot of studying and checking stuff out in the store. I always assumed there were others in the area, but I don't really know whether or not any others existed. I bought dozens of bicycle tires and tubes, plus other parts like fenders from that store.

 

[hydralique]

"Who remembers Western Auto's main competition during the time they were in business (hint..it's a color)?"


White's Auto Parts, or something very similar. Western Auto always seemed a bit bigger and better, rather like Sears-Roebuck vs. Montgomery Ward albeit on a much smaller scale!

 

[passatdoc]

Of course, maybe there WERE Western Auto stores in SoCal, I just don't remember seeing any. Perhaps it simply reflects my parents' preferences (for auto parts, mainly my father's preferences) which tilted toward the Pep Boys. I also remember Kragen stores as a kid and until very recently---they were acquired a few years ago by O'Reilly Auto Parts, a company I'd never heard of until now.

The other issue is that sometimes we bought auto supplies (oil, washer fluid, etc.) at stores with a more generalized merchandise line: K-Mart, Target, etc.

 

[whirlcool]

O'Reilly auto parts is a big chain. They tend to gobble up smaller chains and add them to their own. They bought out Hi-Lo auto parts in Houston.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

O'Reilly bought out our Murray's Auto Parts chain in most of the South-East Michigan-area...

I, too, have never heard of Western Auto, either, other than in CONSUMER REPORTS, of which the product would be branded "Wizard" or "Citation", or "Wizard-Citation", and in the event of a featured product being a washer or dryer, don't recall seeing more than a black & white photo of anything more than an agitator, a tub or a drum...!

The chain never existed near me, or I haven't been in any areas 'round the US where they did exist, short of maybe seeing a shot of one in a movie, most likely depicted in the 1950's, an era I missed-out on existing in...

-- Dave

 

[passatdoc]

who built Wizard appliances

I am assuming that Western Auto didn't build their own appliances and that a major manufacturer built Wizard appliances for WA, in the same way that Sears had appliances built under their Kenmore label. Correct?

 

[dirtybuck]

A Few Responses

Hydralique...Yes, the answer was White's, but they were known as a (if I remember correctly) "auto and home center". I'll NEVER forget the POS edger my dad brought from them in the early 60's. The blasted thing NEVER worked from day 1. I think it was an "all sales final" buy, and they refused to refund his money. Needless to say he wouldn't conduct business with them unless it was absolutely, positively necessary (and I still don't think it happened).

Franksdad...There was a Goodyear roughly 2 blocks from where we lived. This was in El Paso in the early 70's. The building seemed to almost occur overnight with the way they rushed on it. A neighborhood pool sat on this lot. Barely after the pool closed down for the season in 1970, it was drained and a few items removed from the site. Not even a week went by with the bulldozers and construction crew coming in and tearing it up to start building the store. If memory serves, I seem to remember them selling some GE appliances.

Passatdoc...From numerous pics I've seen of the Wizard washers, it appears that Borg-Warner (Norge) was the manufacturer for Western Auto (just like they made Montgomery Ward Signature washers).

Whirlcool...O'Reilly's is based out of Springfield. Their corporate offices are here along with the distribution center. I received a recent "shock" a few weeks ago while looking at a few things in El Paso on Google Street Map. There was a little "mention" that a business was an O'Reilly's on one side of the street. I sat back and thought WHAT? Turns out that they had bought out the Checker Auto Parts establishments.

 

[beekeyknee]

Corporate Headquarters

Western Auto's corporate headquarters were in Kansas City on Grand Ave. , just north of the railroad tracks. When the company went out of business, the new owners wanted to tear down the giant electric sign on top of the building. The people of KC put up such a fuss that they agreed to keep and maintain the sign. It's very bright and you can see it from some distance away. It faces southwest, toward Union Station and the Liberty Memorial.