.... there’s a recent build here - OreillyAuto - nice store 40 car parking lot ...,

HUGE real estate lot cost ... building had to have cost near a MILL -

NO MORE than 5 cars EVER in the parking lot ...

Older AZ and Advance stores the same way .....

Wow

3 AutoZones, Advance, OOO O'reilly and Napa along with a CarQuest all within 10 miles....

None of which are really busy.

AutoZone, O'Reilly and NAPA all within sight distance of each other. Wish there was an independent store with guys that knew how to use a parts book. I have had issues at each with the corporate approach to stocking parts. What works in big cities and metro areas surely does not work in rural areas. The most common issue is in this area many people drive and work on older vehicles. Most common reply to part requests it will be here on Tuesday. Fuzzy dice, wax, additives of all sorts, steering wheel covers, sensors and relays of all sorts are stocked.
My most recent dealing at the NAPA store went thus: I asked for a basic battery for a lawn tractor "cheaper the better". They had only 1, for $147, I balked and asked for a cheaper one, he said he didn't have any others, I started to leave he said wait I may have another one, $117 after looking at the computer. I said something did not seem right as I looked on line and web said you had a "xyz" , can't recall number) on hand he looked at me puzzled and I started to leave the kid at the far end of counter had been listening in and said "wait, we have that one it's $79", The first guys glare at the kid could have raised smoke of the side of the kids head, I paid the kid and thanked him, walked past the other guy with what I came in to get.
These local stores do not give case discounts, look at me as though I were talking a foreign language if I ask if there is a "racers net" price for specialty speed parts.
Te worse thing is most of the older guys know the old days, the kids don't have a clue and think they are doing a great service by installing wiper blades. Then there is the whole issue of poor tolerance bearings and re-man parts that is spelling the demise of flaps's

My son is parts pro for comercial at Advance.He is always busy.The store does a lot of buisness.We have Orileys, AZ, Pep Boys, NAPA etc here and we arent a big araea.More then a few of each also.They all seem to do a healty buisness.Rocky

Depends on what part of town you are in.

Lower income areas have tons of parts houses and they always seem to be very busy. Sometimes even guys working in the parking lots trying to keep their stuff running or passing safety/emissions.
Middle income there are still quite a few of the usual parts houses, but they are less busy and seem to mostly sell car wash stuff and windshield wiper blades. They seem to be busy on the phone though supplying local repair shops.
Upper income parts of town there are none to be found.

When I was 16 years old I got a job at a local Kentucky Fried Chicken that never appeared busy. Little did I know the people wheeled in, grabbed a 21 piece bucket of chicken and wheeled out. With today’s auto parts stores like Auto Zone, Advance Auto, Orilies, etc, you are an idiot if you walk into your local store to place an order when you can go online, find the parts you need, (probably the right ones) place the order, and go pick it up ten minutes later getting the 30 percent discount, speed points discount for your next order, and almost zero wait time. In and out works for me.

Never got a 30% discount at Advance, best I got was 25% Those 30% discount" code"s were not valid. AZ has a 15% but only orders over $100.00. There are no Oreilys around here but plenty of radio commercial, guess they like to waste money.

"local" parts stores have pretty much disappeared here . . . more "large" stores strategically placed. . . . I pretty much go to Napa main warehouse for what I look for, or get from my parts buddy at dealership (for newer cars I have) . . . used to have a Napa a couple blocks from home, back in 80's - manager there had anything I needed when I was working on my 74 Duster360 !! But over time, his stock got reduced and reduced and then store was closed . . . of course as was previously said, looking up onliine, and getting stuff "pulled and ready" for pick up is nice. Or have to say it - Rockauto delivered right to the front door ! . . . even with the delivery charge, they are still lower price . . . sign of the times . . . ?!?!?!?

i have a pretty good stock of trinkets that could possibly cause my daily driver [99 carrotvan] to die, therefore if it happens, i can have it back up and running quickly.
anything else, i can plan for. that allows shopping around for the best deal.
i quit going to the one parts store in town that NEVER had anything but "the wax of the week", and they could get you what ever you wanted "tuesday". they then charged you UPS fees.
no thanks !

Delivery is big around here so most stores do it. Our local Walker Auto Parts store wised up years ago and rolled the dice and came up golden. they realized they couldn’t go head to head with the big boys so they put on a two bay addition and hired a mechanic. They could then offer installation of the parts they sold and followed that up with state inspections. The Napa followed this up and did the same thing. The mechanical part worked out so well he unloaded the Napa store and both do well now. Side by side partners.

i used Advance exclsively until about 10 years ago when they stopped stocking most aprts for 60-70's vehicles. Almost everything became factory direct which equaled 7-10 days. So I jumped over to Napa and they started heading the same direction afew years back so currently with Oreilly's which appear to have most of what I need in stock or less than a day away

Parts stores in my area (about 10,000 population, mostly lower income) are all busy, and all have commercial sales.
That's a NAPA, O'Reilly's, CarQuest and AutoZone.
In-store, getting correct parts in a timely manner means finding the sharpest guy.
That hasn't always meant the oldest guy, but a minute observing will tell you who the sharpest guy is.
I try to get friendly with that guy, and generally end up on their computer or in their parts books for a lot of stuff.
Actually pretty much have the run of the local AutoZone, since I helped open it & co-managed it for a couple years.
Typically, non- or out-of-stock parts are maybe a day away, often a few hours.
You can definitely tell the well-off from the regular folk by what they're buying.

X2. Waited a week for a single field alternator for a 68. I had a hunch they were gonna send me a dual field alt and they did. Waited another week for the correct one. Reman unit from CHINA. the hot terminal had a metric thread and bolt!! , but it works.

The same here Doc barely anyone in the lot. But the stire has 8 or more little trucks that deliver to local shops as a parts jobber

I haven’t been to one in a long time. I can buy the same garbage on rock auto at a huge discount and I don’t have to deal with 1000 questions from a clueless kid at the counter.

The smaller locally owned stores are almost extinct. Around here, those that are left are no better to deal with than the chain stores.
I usually order my stuff from rock auto. The stores have NOTHING in stock for the older cars anyway. I'm not making 2 trips to the store...one to order the part and then have to go back later in the week to pick it up. I can order it online (for less money usually) and it gets dropped off at the house a couple days later.

Had to order a thermostat and gasket for my dad's road runner a few weeks ago. Not one to be found in stock locally...ridiculous.

The money makers for all theses stores is the 'Corporate Account Sales' and delivery.

When I was an Automotive Technology student (at 37 years old) going for VA required retraining, I set up the Carquest account for my local Community College that was being ripped off by NAPA. Everything but Brake and Clutch parts, 15% of sales, we had been ordering 85% directly from NAPA but for the same Carquest part it was 25% less. By switching to Carquest my college saved $25,000 in the first year. Yes the college was adding the 'LIST' price to all repair bills so the lower cost up front did add to the profit margin. All the profits went into a scholarship program.

a few x-tra bucks for scholarship programs are perfectly acceptable, but the rest is just a big rip off.
don't get me wrong. i'm not about not allowing a profit to be made, an outfit has to, to remain in business. it's just the "name brand price" charged for "offshore trash" that rubs me the wrong way. then add in UPS charges from your warehouse ? i'm going elsewhere !