A. Lee Graham lgraham@bizpress.net
Advance Auto Parts Inc. plans to open about 10 stores in Dallas-Fort Worth this year as the auto parts retailer enters a competitive North Texas market. “We will have about 10 stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth market by the end of the year and will continue to open more stores next year,” said Shelly Whitaker, a spokeswoman with the Roanoke, Va.-based company. Exact locations have not been disclosed, but new stores already have opened in Haltom City, Irving and Garland.
The Haltom City store welcomes customers at 2300 Haltom Road, with the Irving store at 1120 E. Irving Blvd. and the Garland location at 103 S. First St. “We select locations that are convenient to where our customers live and shop, as well as the garages where they take their vehicles for repair,” said Whitaker, confirming the Texas stores as part of a national rollout expected to add between 120 and 140 new locations by year’s end. The North Texas openings came as somewhat of a surprise to a Fort Worth real estate broker. “I heard they were coming several years ago, but they didn’t come. When their broker called me, I was pleasantly surprised,” said Huck Newberry of The Newberry Co., which represented the property owner, B @ B 9 LLC, in the Haltom City transaction. Terms of the lease were not disclosed. When the company leased the Haltom City property, the building encompassed 10,000 square feet, which the firm subsequently expanded to 14,000 square feet. Advance Auto Parts oversees 5,276 company-operated stores, 105 Worldpac branches and served about 1,400 independently owned Carquest-branded stores in 49 states as of April 19, 2014. More information is available at www.advanceautoparts.com.