Chief Auto Parts was a United States-based auto parts store chain and had stores located in the states of Tennessee, Texas, Nevada, Arizona, Arkansas and California. Chief was founded in 1955 in Norwalk, California. It was purchased by Southland Corporation in 1979, along with Citgo and Movie Quik. The company was based in Dallas, Texas and operated as a division of Southland Corporation until 1990. The division was then sold to General Electric. Chief merged with Memphis, Tennessee based AutoZone in 1998.[1] From 1992 until its merger with AutoZone, the company's CEO was David H. Eisenberg.
The former Chief stores were converted into AutoZone stores or closed. Chief was considered another convenience concept of 7-Eleven; many of the stores were open 24 hours a day. Many Chief stores were adjacent to 7-Eleven stores, or were in stand-alone buildings. 7-Eleven called them "convenience auto parts stores."
In the show MXC, Chief Otto Parts is the name of a character portraying a Native American.