Advance Auto Parts plans to close over 700 stores by next year

Kimberly Redmond//November 18, 2024//

North Carolina-based Advance Auto Parts serves both do-it-yourself customers and professional installers. - DEPOSIT PHOTOS

Kimberly Redmond//November 18, 2024//

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Citing sluggish sales, Advance Auto Parts plans to close hundreds of stores by the middle of 2025.

As part of an effort to revive its struggling business, the North Carolina-based retailer said it expects to shut down 523 corporate-owned locations and four distribution centers. Advance Auto Parts also said it will exit 204 independent locations. Within New Jersey, the chain has over 110 stores.

Automotive aftermarket parts seller Advance Auto Parts serves both do-it-yourself customers and professional installers. Currently, it operates more than 4,700 outposts in the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It also serves 1,125 independently owned Carquest-branded stores.

Specific locations and the number of potentially affected employees were not disclosed. A spokesperson for Advance Auto Parts did not immediately respond to a request for more information.

The announcement came alongside the company’s latest earnings report, released Nov. 14. For the period ending Oct. 5, Advance Auto Parts posted a loss of $6 million on revenue of $2.15 billion. The company also lowered its full-year revenue outlook for the second consecutive quarter.

Making changes

The nearly century-old chain has been engaged in a turnaround plan for the past year as part of an attempt to reverse sliding sales and return to profitability. That strategy includes streamlining operations and consolidating its supply chain to lower costs and improve productivity.

Advance Auto Parts noted several other goals, such as converting certain stores and distribution centers into “market hubs,” accelerating the pace of new store openings, standardizing store operating models and adjusting merchandise strategies.

Earlier this month, Advance Auto Parts completed the $1.5 billion sale of Worldpac, its automotive parts wholesale distribution business, to investment firm Carlyle.

In a statement last week, Advance Auto Parts President and CEO Shane O’Kelly said, “We are pleased to have made progress on our strategic actions, including the completion of the sale of Worldpac and a comprehensive operational productivity review of our business.”

He went on to say, “We are charting a clear path forward and introducing a new three-year financial plan, with a focus on executing core retail fundamentals to improve the productivity of all our assets and to create shareholder value.”