Sales up 10 percent over the previous year? Six new full-time positions created? Looks like someone forgot to tell Buy-Rite, a local dealer in truck parts and now NAPA auto parts, that there’s a recession on.
“Business is booming,” said store manager Vince Stokes.
In fact, a recession favors the parts industry because consumers are more likely to repair their existing vehicles than buy new. But rather than cruise on a market trend or on their 35-year reputation as the go-to parts store for heavy duty trucks, Buy-Rite is shifting into a higher gear.
The Skyline Drive store is now Hopkinsville’s place to find the high profile NAPA brand.
In November 2007, Pembroke farmer Jeff Davis purchased Buy-Rite Parts-Supply Inc. from long-time owner Larry Myers. The two friends had joked about the deal while hanging out at the NASCAR Spring Series in Bristol, Tenn. Then one day, Myers got serious. He wanted to retire. “Was Davis willing to take it over?” he asked.
After inspecting Buy-Rite books, Davis wanted in. For years, the farmer had been relying on Buy-Rite to cut hydraulic hoses to nonstandard sizes or to replace hard-to-find engine parts in a hurry. He could not afford to let his tractors and trucks sit idle for too long. Davis was sure there were many businesses across the region that recognized the value of Buy-Rite’s services.
Once the store was his, Davis sought the right man to run it. He hired Stokes away from semi-truck dealer Tri-State International. Stokes had worked at Buy-Rite a few years back so he certainly knew parts retail. But more importantly, he was a truck guy.
As Stokes explains it, it takes much longer for someone to learn the truck parts business than to learn automotive.
From bumper to bumper, car parts typically bear the same brand name as the car. A Ford Focus’s doors, axles and engine, for instance, can be easily referenced with Ford numbers. It would only take a few months for a salesman to learn the ropes for assisting on orders.
Not so with parts for dump trucks, heavy duty equipment and semis, Stokes explains.
“Once you get outside the cab, there’s not one manufacturer,” he said.
A semi with a Kenwood cab might have been fitted with a Dana rear end, a Spicer transmission and a Cummins engine. It’s the many different combinations of brands that make the business take so long to learn. Stokes said he doesn’t expect guys with less than five years’ experience to really know their stuff.
Buy-Rite’s sales staff has more than 100 years of combined experience. That’s a competitive edge in both knowledge and contacts, Stokes says. The store is able to cultivate a wide variety of customer relationships.
“Between the 10 of us (salesmen), we know a lot of folks,” Stokes said.
On a typical Thursday afternoon, James Williams bellied up to Buy-Rite’s sales counter holding a foot-long hose that belonged to a grease gun. He showed the damaged hose to salesperson Bryan Thomas and asked him to cut a replacement.
Williams’ job at fertilizer supplier Agri-Chem brings him in several times a week. From bulky components in an 18-wheeler to tiny parts for tools, Buy-Rite can be counted on to get the part quickly.
Stokes says the store motto is “We don’t say no to a customer.” Even when the part is difficult to find or the customer isn’t knowledgeable enough to provide many clues, Stokes instructs his staff to give it their best effort.
“It’s rare that the customer leaves without the part in hand or the contact info to get it,” Stokes said.
That commitment has won over businesses near and far. Buy-Rite’s regular customers include local manufacturers and farmers, Fort Campbell motor pools and truck dealerships in Nashville.
The company might have been content to remain in the heavy-duty truck niche, had not a big opportunity fallen into their laps. Last spring, representatives of the coveted NAPA brand asked Buy-Rite to sell their line of automotive parts.
Devotion to NAPA, officially known as the National Automotive Parts Association, runs deep. But the brand has been absent from Hopkinsville for five years when Motor & Electric Machine Shop closed.
That forced NAPA devotees to drive to Cadiz or Clarksville to get alternators, filters or other high-quality parts.
Davis and Stokes weighed the NAPA offer carefully. Crossing over into the automotive market would put them in direct competition with O’Reilly and Autozone, both of which had established stores in the area.
They were pretty sure that the NAPA brand itself would bring customers in the door. But the question was whether they could provide the same level of customer service that they did in trucks.
Enter Ronnie Cowan. Cowan had more than 20 years selling NAPA parts. In fact, around town he was known “Mr. NAPA.” And best of all, he was available. An injury had temporarily put Cowan out of work.
Stokes invited Cowan to be Buy-Rite’s NAPA sales rep. Cowan didn’t take long to sign on. He was in a Buy-Rite uniform when the company officially opened its NAPA line on Sept. 1.
Cowan said the NAPA name has worked like a charm. Daily, customers come in asking for the parts.
Davis keeps an eye on Buy-Rite’s books but spends the majority of his time farming and tending to a welding business in Pembroke. He doesn’t worry about the day-to-day operations because he doesn’t have to.
Stokes, Cowan and the staff of 14 have taken care of business. |
