So, I heard some chatter, you know, whispers around the garage and a few comments online, making me wonder: is Carquest going out of business? It got me thinking because, man, I’ve relied on them for parts for ages. My old pickup, she’s a classic, and sometimes finding the right bit for her isn’t easy.
My Own Digging Started Casually
It all kicked off a few weeks back. I needed a specific relay, nothing too fancy, but my usual go-to Carquest spot looked… quiet. Too quiet. The parking lot was emptier than usual. I popped in, and yeah, they had what I needed, but the shelves in certain sections looked a bit bare. The fella behind the counter, a guy I’ve known for years, seemed a bit down too. I didn’t press him, just paid for my relay and left, but that seed of doubt was planted.
Then, my buddy Mike, who’s always tinkering with something, mentioned his local Carquest had a “Store Closing” sign up. That’s when I thought, “Hold on, what’s really going on here?”
Hitting the Pavement (and the Web)
So, I decided to do a bit of my own snooping. First, I drove by a couple of other Carquest locations in the wider area. One looked perfectly normal, busy even. Another one, further out, was definitely gone. Like, sign removed, building empty. It was a mixed bag, which was confusing.
Next, I did what everyone does – I started searching online. Not looking for official press releases right away, more like forums, social media, local news snippets. It was a real jumble:
- Some folks were adamant their local store was thriving.
- Others were lamenting closures, saying they’d been customers for decades.
- A few posts mentioned something about Advance Auto Parts, how they own Carquest.
That last point got me thinking. Big companies buy other companies all the time, right? And when they do, things change. Sometimes they keep the brand, sometimes they merge them, sometimes they just… streamline things, which is often a nice word for closing less profitable spots.
Connecting Some Dots (or Trying To)
I remember back when a local hardware chain got bought out by one of the big box stores. For a while, the old signs stayed up, but slowly, things changed. Some stores closed, others got rebranded. It wasn’t like the original company just vanished overnight, but it definitely wasn’t the same.
So, putting two and two together, it doesn’t seem like Carquest as a brand is just completely disappearing off the face of the earth. It feels more like a… a restructuring under the Advance Auto Parts umbrella. Some stores might be closing, especially if there’s an Advance store nearby, or if they weren’t doing so great. Others might be staying open, maybe even getting a facelift or changing how they operate a bit.
I even talked to a parts guy I know who used to work for a different supplier. He said this kind of thing is pretty common. Companies are always trying to be more efficient, cut costs, you know the drill. It often means a bit of a shake-up at the ground level.
So, What’s the Real Deal?
From what I’ve gathered through my own little investigation, it’s not a simple “yes” or “no.” Are some Carquest stores closing? Yeah, seems like it. Is the entire Carquest brand about to go kaput? Probably not. It’s more likely they’re being integrated more closely with Advance Auto Parts.
It’s a bit of a shame, though. I always liked that Carquest often had those slightly harder-to-find parts, or at least staff who knew where to look. It felt a bit more old-school. My local one, the one that looked a bit bare, I stopped by again last week. Still open, but the atmosphere is… different. We’ll see how it goes. For now, I’m just hoping I can still get the bits for my old pickup without too much hassle.
