Chief Auto Parts

Chief Auto Parts was a United States-based auto parts store chain that had stores located in the states of Tennessee, Texas, Nevada, Arizona, Arkansas and California. Chief was founded in 1955 in Norwalk, California by Vern Johnson and Lorin Tuthill.[1] The chain grew to 119 stores, mostly in California, by the time it was purchased by Southland in 1979. It was purchased by Southland Corporation in 1979,[2] along with Citgo and Movie Quik. The company was based in Dallas, Texas and operated as a division of Southland Corporation until 1990. The company expanded in 1985 by acquiring locations in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Alabama by purchasing Honey's Auto Parts in Nashville.[3] At the same time, Chief also acquired 77 Checker Auto Parts locations in Oklahoma and Texas from Lucky Stores when Lucky decided to withdraw Checker from those areas.[4]

The division was then sold to General Electric. Chief merged with Memphis, Tennessee based AutoZone in 1998.[5][6][7] From 1992 until its merger with AutoZone, the company's CEO was David H. Eisenberg.

Former stores

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."

Popular culture

In the show MXC, Chief Otto Parts is the name of a character portraying a Native American.

References

  1. ↑ Stambaugh, Sandie; Aylward, Larry (December 1, 1992). "Chief Auto Parts. (Chief Auto Parts Inc.)(includes related articles) (Company Profile)". Aftermarket Business.
  2. ↑ "Southland Will Acquire Apache Corp. Subsidiary". Wall Street Journal. November 7, 1978. p. 15. Link via ProQuest.
  3. ↑ "Honey's Changes Name". Bowling Green Daily News. October 20, 1985. p. 3D.
  4. ↑ "Lucky sold 77 auto-parts stores to Southland Corp.". Los Angeles Times. January 8, 1985. p. E2. Link via ProQuest.
  5. ↑ "Autozone Plans to Buy Chief Auto Parts". New York Times. 12 May 1998.
  6. ↑ O'Dell, John (May 12, 1998). "AutoZone to Acquire Car Parts Rival Chief". Los Angeles Times.
  7. ↑ O'Dell, John (July 1, 1998). "AutoZone Purchase of Chief Auto Is Complete". Los Angeles Times.