Arrow Speed Warehouse celebrates 50 years in business

                Kansas City, Kan.--When Arrow Auto Parts opened its doors in 1957, it was just a small parts store in Kansas City, Mo., that sold speed and performance parts as well as traditional auto parts, said Jon Wyly, executive vice president. Today, Arrow Speed Warehouse continues to offer specialty parts and accessories for cars and trucks, he said, noting that the company now operates out of a 100,000-square-foot warehouse on the Kansas side of the river, offers more than 300 product lines, and employs 500 people. Since 1985, when Owner Ron Coppaken purchased the company from his uncle, Leonard Glass, the business has seen steady growth and has become a leader in the industry, Wyly said. Arrow Speed has six other strategically located, fully stocked warehouses throughout the Midwest to offer customers next-day shipment. The warehouses are in Tulsa, Okla., St. Louis, St. Paul, Minn., Houston, Dallas, and Nashville.                 Wyly said he associates much of the tremendous growth and accomplishment of the company with the employees of Arrow Speed Warehouse. "We think a big part of our success is that a lot of our employees are enthusiasts," he said. "They are out there using the parts, racing on the weekends, and fixing up their cars. That is a heck of a different environment than the corporate environment, where you are hiring people who don't know one thing from another and don't care about the car parts. We have never been so big that we could afford to staff up without regard to the quality of people. So we are looking for energy and enthusiasm and dedication, and that is really a culture we have built around here."                 Although employees have played a key role in the success of Arrow Speed Warehouse, Wyly said the company also made some necessary moves in the market to remain competitive in the industry.                "In 1995, we launched a program called Power Pricing, which essentially was a marketing initiative to go out and really learn what was going on competitively in the marketplace and get ourselves positioned with correct pricing and bigger inventories," he said. "It was a giant step in re-establishing our reputation in the business."                Wyly also highlighted the importance of technology in the industry. He said that five years ago, Arrow Speed Warehouse was behind in technological development and had to take action. Today, it is recognized as a leader in technology application in the industry, he said.                "I shudder to think of where we would be if we hadn't addressed the importance of technological development when we did," Wyly said. "Today, we are doing 15 percent of our business filling Internet orders. If you would have told me that 10 years ago, I would have laughed at you. So it is all part of the big picture of paying attention to where the trends are going, trying to stay ahead of that as best you can, and capitalizing on it."                Wyly said he has also seen a distinct evolution in the parts and accessory market in the last two decades.                "Twenty years ago, when I was pounding phones and selling parts, we were doing 75 percent of business in performance business, hot-rod parts, speed parts, and 25 percent in truck parts," he said. "Today that balance is at 50-50 and may be more like 55-45 to the truck side." Keeping up with market trends is integral to the success of Arrow Speed Warehouse, which recently became the only warehouse distributor to win the SEMA WD (warehouse distributor) of the Year Awardfive times, Wyly said. In 2005, Wyly was recognized as the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Person of the Year. Wyly said businesses in the automotive industry must be informed about what is going on in their markets and capitalize on opportunities. "The guys that are failing today are ones that are saying, 'I am a speed shop, and that is all I am ever going to be.' You have to look outside the box," he said.