Private labelling
Western Auto was known for its private labelled Western Flyer Bicycle and Performance Radial GT tire brand. Other Western Auto private-labeled brands included Davis tires, Tough One batteries, TrueTone electronics, Citation appliances, Wizard tools, and Wizard typewriters — the latter as re-branded typewriters manufactured by Brother Industries of Nagoya, Japan. Western Auto was also the parent company of Auto America and Parts America stores, and acquired National Tire Warehouse (NTW) stores. They also used the Wizard name on outdoor equipment including lawn mowers, tillers, outboard engines and boats for a short time, along with automotive parts such as batteries and tires.
Firearm sales
Sometime in the 1940s or 1950s, Western Auto started selling rifles and shotguns in its catalogues. As with other chains at the time, such as Sears, Roebuck and Co., Montgomery Ward, and J.C. Penney, Western Auto's firearms were sold under a proprietary brand name. Often called "store brand" firearms, they were produced by reputable name brand manufacturers, such as O.F. Mossberg & Sons, Remington Arms, Savage Arms, Winchester Repeating Arms Company, and High Standard Manufacturing Company. Western Auto firearms sold under the "Revelation" brand name, and were generally models from the brands Savage, Marlin Firearms, or Mossberg.
Other than markings, Revelation models were identical to standard production models. They were the most basic models produced by the various manufacturers, and featured plain birch or walnut stocks. However, metal bluing remained good and nearly all models were provided with iron sights and mounting provisions for scopes. Once valued lower than "name brand" equivalents, store-brand rifles, shotguns, and revolvers have essentially reached price parity with their more universal counterparts. Firearms were one of many lines added to the store in a product diversification effort. By the end of the 1950s Western Auto was similar to a Sears store, equipped with a catalog order center. Auto parts comprised a small percentage of the company's sales by the mid-1960s, and had nearly disappeared by the 1970s.
Beneficial
In 1961, Western Auto was sold to the Beneficial Finance Corporation. Beneficial retained ownership until 1985, when the company was purchased in a leveraged buyout led by Western Auto management and Wesray Capital Corporation.[3]
Streamlining business operations
In the early 1980s, in response to the success of Wal-Mart, Western Auto Retail converted all of the company-owned stores to what it called "FLAG" stores, which sold exclusively automotive parts and accessories. These stores were largely located in more urbanized areas much like their successors today. Western Auto Wholesale strongly urged its associate stores to become at least 50% automotive, but most refused because the customer base of their locations, in "small town America", demanded a wider range of merchandise. This disagreement by the associate stores would later save the company.
In February 1986, Western Auto purchased 40 White Stores in Texas from Canadian Tire for US$24.5 million.[4] In February 1987, Western Auto purchased Wheeling, West Virginia-based Tire America. In October of that year, it purchased Dale City, Virginia-based National Tire Warehouse.[5][6]
Sears Roebuck & Co. purchase
In 1988, Sears Roebuck purchased Western Auto from Wesray Capital.[7]
In 1995, Western Auto acquired 84 auto parts stores in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia and Tennessee from the bankrupted Nationwise Automotive chain for an undisclosed amount[8] and later acquired Wheels Discount Auto Supply and its 82 auto parts stores in New York and Pennsylvania from its then owner Fay's Drug for $37 million.[9][10]
Also during 1995, Sears began to convert the Western Auto stores to the new parts-only Parts America format by eliminating the automotive service bays.[11] By 1998, Sears had almost finished converting the 600 remaining company owned Western Auto stores into Parts America branded stores.
Advance Auto Parts merger
After weeks of speculation in 1998,[18][12] parent company Sears sold what remained of Western Auto to Advance Auto Parts of Roanoke, Virginia. The business deal was not what experts in the after-market automotive industry expected.[18] Specifically in return, Sears Roebuck became "one of the largest shareholders"[18] after obtaining a 40% stake in Advance Auto Parts, and by merging their two store networks, which included Western Auto's wholesale and retail operations. More precisely, the existing store network of Advance Auto Parts, comprising 915 stores in 17 U.S. states,[19] merged with 590 U.S.-based Parts America Stores in addition to 40 Western Auto stores in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.[18]
