San Jose, Calif.—To provide faster service to its jobber store customers in the South Bay, Speed Warehouse in Hayward recently opened a new branch warehouse in San Jose, said Speed Warehouse’s General Manager Mike Montgomery.
The new warehouse carries 1,000,000 in traditional replacement parts and is a will-call pickup facility only, Montgomery said. The company will also use it as a delivery hub for its main Hayward location, he said.
The decision to establish the new location was based on several factors, Montgomery said.
“When a large warehouse distributor with a location in the area closed its doors, we saw a definite void in the South Bay market,” he said.
“There’s a big demand for a local parts supply in San Jose, and we wanted to be there to fill in the gaps for the jobber stores we work with, as well as to possibly attract new jobbers along the way.
“We listened to what they were telling us, and it was basically that they need access to a large inventory of parts that is nearby and that they can get within hours instead of days,” he said.
One of the biggest reasons for establishing the new warehouse was Winchester Auto Parts, a five-store chain and one of Speed Warehouse’s largest customers in the South Bay, Montgomery said.
“Winchester is a key existing account, and they are definitely a big reason why we’re down there,” he said. “We met with them early on in the process of building the warehouse to find out what their needs are so that we can have the parts they want when they need them.”
The new warehouse currently carries 75 parts lines but hopes to gradually ramp up to around 200, Montgomery said. The facility employs five people and sells parts only to the jobbers, he said.
Steve Cameron, the owner of Winchester Auto Parts, is pleased with the new warehouse and the numerous options it offers his stores, he said.
“When our former parts source closed, we started looking for an alternative, and it just worked out that Speed Warehouse was looking to come into this area right around the same time,” Cameron said. “They had a solution that worked for both of us.”
Winchester Auto Parts opened its doors on Winchester Avenue in San Jose in 1976 and now has three locations in the South Bay and two in Santa Cruz.
The company employs 75 people, including two salesmen who handle strictly wholesale accounts, Cameron said. The new warehouse appeals to Cameron for several reasons, Cameron said.
“Of course, the proximity of their location is No. 1,” he said. “Then, there’s price and access to inventory; those are very important as well. We’ve built a reputation for being able to source any part—we either have it or can find it fast—and this warehouse will enable us to obtain parts more quickly.”
It’s all about speed in today’s jobber market, Cameron said. “In wholesale, if they can’t get it today, they don’t want it,” he said. “Our major strength has always been to get it to them. So this new warehouse will help us to continue doing that.”
