O reilly auto parts who owns

At the end of O'Reilly employed 3, nonunionized individuals at its parts stores, distribution centers, and headquarters, but a major expansion was imminent. The St. Hi-Lo's properties also included a ,square-foot distribution center in Houston. As soon as the deal was complete, O'Reilly began converting Hi-Lo stores to the new owner's systems and strategies. Chub O'Reilly said that this was a major challenge, in part because the company had to replace Hi-Lo's older computers with new IBM computers.

With good advance planning, however, this conversion took place rapidly as about Team O'Reilly members left headquarters to supervise the changes at the Hi-Lo stores. The Hi-Lo acquisition, by far the largest in O'Reilly's history, propelled the company into the ranks of the nation's top ten auto parts chains.

At the end of the first quarter ending March 31, , O'Reilly operated stores in nine states: Arkansas 17 , Illinois one , Iowa ten , Kansas 46 , Missouri , Nebraska 11 , Oklahoma 78 , Louisiana 17 , and Texas The company planned in to add another 38 stores, as well as its fifth distribution center in Des Moines, Iowa, a warehouse with , square feet. O'Reilly also planned to open 80 new stores in O'Reilly's competitors in the do-it-yourself market included chains such as Pep Boys, AutoZone, Parts America formerly called Western Auto , independent stores, car dealerships, and large discount stores like K-Mart that carried auto parts.

O'Reilly felt in that it was prepared to expand and thus help consolidate what it called in its K SEC Report a "still highly fragmented" industry. The ability of chains like O'Reilly and its major competitors to engage in efficient purchasing, inventory, and advertising because of economies of scale gave them a major advantage over small independent parts dealers.

The chains also could spend more money on training their store personnel, a necessity as cars became more and more complex with the use of microcomputers and other high-tech electronics. The days of the simple "grease-monkey" were long gone.

O'Reilly's inventory management and distribution system was a good example of a modern high-tech operation. Each O'Reilly store was linked by computer to a distribution center.

Bar codes enabled the company to record automatically when a part was sold and then order a replacement part from a distribution center. O'Reilly had an inventory of more than , SKUs stock keeping units , so the necessity of such a computerized system was obvious.

Like other firms, O'Reilly worked to make sure its computer systems were prepared to deal with the "millennium bug" and thus be able to recognize the year The firm's management expected the Y2K project to be "substantially complete by early ," according to its annual report.

To keep its customers happy, O'Reilly started its "Right Part, Right Price, Right Now" policy, which gave customers a five percent discount on the retail price if one of the company's 15, most commonly requested items was not available immediately. Items usually were available from another store or a warehouse within 24 hours. According to O'Reilly annual reports, "The Company believes that its principal strengths are its ability to provide both the DIY and Professional Installers same day or overnight availability to more than , SKUs.

O'Reilly served its professional installer customers by using vans or small trucks to deliver parts and supplies, granting trade credit to qualified individuals, employing sales representatives specializing in the professional installer market, and conducting seminars on technical, safety, and business issues.

Throughout this time the underlying spirit and philosophy of O'Reilly Automotive, Inc. This remains the policy to which the company is dedicated today. Charles F. F" and Charles H. A major reorganization of company operations takes place at this time. Chub O'Reilly became president of Ozark Automotive Distributors, which moved into a new 52, square foot building with warehouse and office space at S.

Patterson, Springfield, MO. Charlie O'Reilly became president of the O'Reilly store division. David O'Reilly became general manager of the warehousing division in addition to overseeing the financial and computer departments of both companies. Larry O'Reilly became head of sales and acquisitions for both companies. O'Reilly develops the dual-market business strategy enabling the company to maximize sales both in the professional "do-it-for-me" business and in the retail "do-it-yourself" market.

By late , the O'Reilly family decides to take their thriving company public. Headquartered in Houston, TX, the acquisition added a distribution center there and stores across Texas and Louisiana. The O'Reilly sales footprint grew by five states with the Mid-State acquisition in the fall October 1 of With the growth, O'Reilly advanced into the ranks of the top five auto parts chains in the nation. David O'Reilly remains active as Chairman of the Board.

O'Reilly opened 52 new stores during the most recent quarter, including its first in Rhode Island, giving it a total of 4, stores in 45 states as of Sept. The Bond Auto Parts deal was announced in conjunction with the release of O'Reilly's third-quarter earnings.

Is this the secret to O'Reilly Automotive's stock success?