Groceteria.com Message Board

Who remembers the Auto Parts Club chain ? They were part of that big "club store" craze that was in the late 80's thru the late 90's ( Home Club, Pace, Price Club)

I worked at the Oakland Ca. store from pre opening ( July 91 ) until they closed it due to horrendous shrinkage in October 95. I then went to the Redwood City store for about 6 months and managed their delivery service. I then decided to move on and work elsewhere. The last time I saw a store open was 97 - 98 maybe and that was the Concord Ca. store. The chain then went belly up.

If you have any memories, photos or info, please share !

There was an auto parts club store in San Bernardino circa 1991, the name of which escapes me. It was like Pep Boys on steroids. They were open for probably 2-3 years. It was located south of I-10 near Waterman on the corner of Redlands Blvd and Club Way next to Camping World. HomeClub was across the street and behind it there was an HQ Office Supplies (later Staples) and a club store called Buyers Club. This area was a prime example of the club craze, even the streets were Club Way and Club Center Drive.

In Sacramento there was an auto parts club store in the late 80's in what had been a former Rhodes/Liberty House store in South Gate mall. Don't recall exactly what the name of the place was though.

There was one of these in Reno, NV. I thought it changed its name to Auto Depot by 2001 or so. I may be confusing this with the Office Depot in the same center that opened in the early 90s as Office Club.

_________________
Photobucket now allows for comments on each photo! http://s196.photobucket.com/albums/aa113/StoreWest/

Yes, the one in Reno did go by the name of Auto Depot. At the time the Corporate clowns were trying to come up with a non membership version of their own store. It didn't make much sense to me then or now for that matter. If you charge a membership fee, that money goes strait to your profit margin, whether the customer uses it or not.
The Sacramento area stores were in Rancho Cordova and South Sacramento.
The Rancho one was a former Grocery store and is now a grocery outlet, last time I went by there.
The South Sac store was on Mack Rd. in the former Bruener's warehouse that was connected to the former furniture stores show room. It has returned to a furniture store of several versions as they seem to be always "going out of business" The showroom is a Lamps Plus or something similar. You can still see the old APC's tire shop doors on the side of the building facing the freeway.
Auto Parts Club never had a store at Southgate.

Rancho Cordova - is that the Grocery Outlet at Zinfandel/Folsom?

The South Sacramento one, how far is that from the Mack/99 interchange?

_________________
Chris Sampang
http://dtcwrt.earlracing.com/stores/ - NorCal Stores

A) Yes, same place.

B) If you take the Mack Rd. East exit off SB 99, it's right there as you go thru the clover leaf.

I think that was a Sporting Goods "Club" store, "Sports Club"?? I'm not sure of the name.