North Hollywood Auto Parts was founded by Albert Adams and is now run by his great-great-grandson, Ken Miller.  The business purchased Burbank Auto Parts about 15 years ago, Miller said.

 "One of the ways that we survived was by getting bigger."

The two stores have a combined inventory of about $2 million, Miller said, noting that because they are only five miles apart, it is very easy to transfer inventory between them. 

 
He said the stores have a slightly different product mix because the customers around Burbank tend to prefer brand-name products, while customers of the North Hollywood store are sometimes more price sensitive.  "For just about every product we carry, we offer a second option," he said.

Miller said 80 percent of the company's business is wholesale, with the remaining 20 percent being retail.  "We serve about a five- to seven-mile area around each store," he said.  "We try not to stretch out too far so we can serve the customers we have."

The North Hollywood location has six countermen and 12 delivery drivers operating out of a 12,000-square-foot store, while the Burbank location has seven people on the counter and 13 drivers operating out of an 8,000-square-foot store, Miller said.  "Our counter staff is really tremendous, and we have very low turnover," he said.

"We really view ourselves as a warehouse distributor," Miller said, noting that the stores buy 80 percent of their parts direct. 

They are also members of APA -- Professional Choice, which helps with sourcing some lines, he said.

The majority of the stores' customers are single-location independent repair shops or repair chains such as Midas, Goodyear, and Firestone, Miller said. 

 
Despite the challenging economy, Miller said the company's sales were up in 2007 and are holding steady in 2008.  To manage that, he said they have been exploring new markets.

"We're always looking for new things," he said.  "We have been looking for customers other than traditional repair shops.  We have started to work with a lot of fleets that have one in-house tech doing basic service work.

"You can't just say the economy is slow," he said.  "You have to go out and do something."

One type of parts that the stores stock that are often overlooked by their wholesale customers are basic collision repair parts such as lights, grilles, and mirror assemblies.

Miller said the company offers regular promotions for its repair shop customers to try to help increase their sales and, in turn, purchase more parts.  He said they recently finished a buy-three-get-the-fourth-free shock promotion and were running an incentive on fuel pump modules when Parts & People visited.

"Some shops really get behind these programs and promote them, and you can see that it improves their sales," Miller said.

  
Another market in which the company has been seeing some growth over the past five to six years is performance parts, he said.  "Every month it's becoming larger as a lot of the speed shops have disappeared," he said. 

The stores keep an inventory of products from companies including MSD, Edelbrock, Holley, Mr. Gasket, K&N, and Energy Suspension, Miller said. "We have access to just about everything and can get it here very quickly if we don't have it in stock."
As business has slowed, Miller said he thinks performance products are an overlooked opportunity to improve sales at many shops.  "A lot of this stuff is very simple," he said. "It just bolts on.  With K&N, you're just dropping in a filter.  Our customers are already doing injectors, putting in performance injector systems is very straight forward."

For shops that are interested in offering performance products, Miller said the stores have point-of-purchase materials available.  "A lot of the time, manufacturers are more than happy to provide poster, countermats, and sometimes even product displays," Miller said, adding that some of the more sophisticated displays may cost a few dollars.

Miller said there is also some training available for traditional and performance products that can help technicians and service writers better identify and sell products.  "KYB will do a one-hour ride-control seminar after work," he said. "We've had several shops go through that, and their shock sales are definitely up."

Miller said he also believes that it is important for businesses in the industry to be involved in their trade associations to keep up on the issues that may affect their businesses.  For him, that is the California/Nevada/Arizona Automotive Wholesalers Association, for which he is a board member.  He said he is the third generation of the family to be involved in the association. 

His father, Bob, was a board member, and his grandfather, Merlin Adams, is a former chairman of the association, he said.

"The benefits for us include the interaction with different manufacturers, getting an insurance package at a reasonable price, and discounts on our invoices and credit card program," Miller said.  "The group is also heavily involved in legislative lobbying, and there is a definite need for that.

"I think that a lot of people don't know how much they do and how important it is to belong," he said.