real_aurgathor They are on a bit of a tear with acquisitions - just two years ago they acquired Vast-Auto in Canada : https://finance.yahoo.com/news/o-reilly-automotive-inc-acquire-210000307.html
I’m always hesitant to encourage corporate consolidation as it removes competition - but NAPA I think is ripe for getting bought out - their “model” for stores is definitely not as popular as the O’Reilly / AutoZone / Advance Auto model – every NAPA I’ve been in (dozens over the years) was relatively small store front, old, kinda dark, long line of people waiting at the counter for some obscure part, and always feel a little.. well… put off that you’re there trying to buy something. I consider them a “last ditch effort” if I can’t get the part anywhere else. The open, bright, inviting “big box store” feel of O’Reilly and the others is more inviting, I feel like they are friendlier to the shade tree mechanic who might be looking for ideas, better for just browsing around, etc.
After their acquisition of Vast Auto in Canada they have yet to open any O’Reilly branded stores up here - but word is there are a few coming soon - work is being done on a building that used to be a car dealership here in Kingston ON and the construction guys I know working on it have said they are on a contract from O’Reilly corporate, and they have seen O’Reilly corporate branded stuff in boxes all over the property - signs, marketing material, concept art, etc. - so I’m excited to see if that really happens. Our current primary “equivalents” in Canada are PartSource (which is part of the Canadian Tire group of companies) and CarQuest (which is owned by Advance Auto) - and of course we have NAPA too.
