Shut Up and Take My Money!

If you were checking out basses at Main Drag, you might have played my old '74 Jazz:

They took in in partial trade for the gorgeous '66 Jazz I bought from them:

I've bought at least half a dozen guitars/basses from Main Drag and Rivington Guitars. Also done quite a lot of business over the years with Ludlow, Matt Umanov, and the old Rudy's. No need to ever set foot in a Sam Ash or Guitar Center when you've got such great independent shops around here.

I try to do the same with car parts. I do tons of business local shops in NYC and north Jersey. If I'm looking for something specific (like a set of period-correct Carlsson wheels for my 190E or an Alpina steering wheel for my E30) I'll call the owner at Guten Parts and he'll find it for me. If I need new Nomex gloves, I'll go to Driving Impressions where I can try a whole bunch on to make sure the fit is perfect.

With the local places, prices aren't significantly higher than online sources, but you do pay sales tax (and I don't have a problem with that). And it's not just about "supporting local business." There's value added in that they provide immediate customer support; more important, they have a huge amount of knowledge that they bring to the table. I don't need to spend time researching stuff online if they already know what they're doing.

As we know, retail in general is suffering from the ease of on-line buying.  There's still a great speed shop, Bruce's, located nearby in Rockaway, NJ.  They cater to the rod and muscle crowd, so there's little there for me, but it's fun to walk in and browse.  Lots of "hard core" parts on the floor, and they have a dynamometer for tuning.

Another genre that's all but gone from NJ are "foreign" car parts stores.  One of the best in the mid '70s was Aztec Foreign Car parts (stores in Somerset and Springfield).  I used to hang out at the Springfield store.  It was a magnet for sports car guys like myself.  That's where I met David Kayser, later of Chelsea Motoring Literature.  He and I have been good friends ever since.

I am lucky enough to live within 2 miles of Driving Impressions.  That's like a club house for the sports/race car addicted.  There's always someone working on their track day project in the back of the shop, and owner Bob Zecca is always willing to help with my projects.

I feel it's worth the price premium to support the local retail stores.   You get instant gratification walking home with that needed part or tool, a ton of tribal info in the process, and you help keep a facet of the hobby alive.

Happy New Year!

Great article about the truth of retail. My family was in retail for over thirty years before shuttering our business so I’ve lived the ups and the downs of this story.  I’m buying my brake rotors and tires from a local shop here in my area that supports both our community of enthusiasts and families in our community whom they employ.

I agree with being able to hold something in your hand to determine quality. But I disagree with the counter sales help. It must be a lost art today, because when I would go into those places, 99% of the time I knew more about the part I needed, the location it was in, and how long it would take to get. The douche behind the counter usually had no idea and spoke like Jeremy Freedman from the Simpson’s. 

Great article, so true.

I've been buying, almost all online, for my recently acquired 92  Miata. I'm in a small town,  we don't have anything better than Nappa and Autozone. Even with all the info available on NA Miatas online, about one in five of my purchases have been less than I'd hoped, or just not quit right. If I'd been able to handle the part, check it against the car, I'd have got it right much more often.

In San Diego, I can only relate somewhat. There never were any car performance "super stores" out here*; about the closest thing to that was Performance World which carried helmets, suits, and gloves, which was really nice to be able to try them on before buying. OTOH, they didn't have much in the way of go-fast parts for cars. They weren't a huge store so it was understandable that they couldn't afford to stock parts for every car someone might want to work on. They could order parts, but that reduced the situation to not much better than ordering via mail (this was pre-Interwebz).

You have (had?) to travel to Los Angeles to the larger stores that were more likely to have the stuff on-hand.

*I'm ignoring drag racing shops.

it's a shame, our local import shop closed two years ago after suffering severe losses after Hurricane Sandy. In the trailer out back was the entirety of a Fiat dealership's parts department. He bought it all when the dealer stopped carrying Fiat (and they pulled out of the country) all gone because the place was built right on the edge of the marshes and they were literally up to the rafters in salt water from that storm.

They tried to reopen, but between the loss of their stock and the damage to the building, just could not do it

I miss those stores too, they had their own smell and feel. Internet is like a USB stick compared to a Vinyl record, better in some ways but lacking warmth and interaction

Your thing is guitars. Mine is hardware. 

Man, I miss old time hardware stores.   Digital natives have no idea what they are missing. 

(BTW, my Dad owned a music store, so I spent a heck of a lot of time in one)

Great article!

Harry’s Hot Rod Shop in Grand Prairie, Texas is still in business.  Harry’s used to post contingencies at the local drags, sponsor some racers, and was featured at some Monster Truck shows.  I worked with the event director on the Monster trucks for several years. 

Machine shops:  Reher/Morrison in Arlington, or I just use my longtime friends shop.   We have a couple of lathes, Kwik Way boring bars, Sunnen homes and pin fitters.  If I can’t find it I’ll just make it. 

One thing that used to be HUGE was going to a shop, having them order something then you went back there to pick it up. That has almost 100% disappeared. I spent thousands of dollars that way back in the '90s and early 2000s.

Here in my neck o da woods I've noticed a steady increase of perf/custom fab shops popping up. 'FastnLoud' wannabes perhaps, speed shops laden with shiny do dads, not so much, but most seem to be busy and very willing to take your $$$$.

Two shops come to mind in the Milwaukee area- Borchardts Speed Automotive for the drag and circle track guys, and Pegasus Auto Racing Supplies for the road course guys.

There are actually a couple of relatively new speed shops near me. One is attached to a body shop. The other is affiliated with a car dealer that specializes in classics and whatnot (as well as typical cars).  The latter shop also has a dyno. There is a clutch and flywheel shop near me that has been around since the 60's. I would argue the rise of imports made local speed shops difficult. Let's face it, when all a store really needed to stock was Ford and Chevy bits (and maybe a few Mopar bits, but probably not), keeping a decent inventory wasn't a huge financial commitment. Then imports came along. And computers. A lot of speed shops didn't adapt quickly enough.

Sadly, most of the indy music stores around here are gone, which is a shame. 

Bike shops are a double-edge sword for me. I have been buying bikes parts online and via mail-order since the early 80's.  As a result, I install them myself. Even bikes I've bought from stores are often bought unassembled to save a few $ and I do that task at home.  I do try to buy parts and whatnot from a few shops, but it's hard.  I go to one shop and buy stuff there mostly because the owner puts a lot of his own time into a trail system I ride on a lot.

classicalgas said:

 

 

Great article, so true.

I've been buying, almost all online, for my recently acquired 92  Miata. I'm in a small town,  we don't have anything better than Nappa and Autozone. Even with all the info available on NA Miatas online, about one in five of my purchases have been less than I'd hoped, or just not quit right. If I'd been able to handle the part, check it against the car, I'd have got it right much more often.

You could also try contacting the online equivalent of the local speed shop - there are specialists who know your car really well. The battle the speed shops played against "the internet" is the same struggle that specialist shops deal with when competing against anonymous eBay sellers and discount warehouses. They have the knowledge to get you the right parts. Support these specialists or they'll go away.

For your 1992 Miata, you can ask a guy who literally wrote not the book on the car, but three of them. 

BTW, I've found that 99% of the time someone says "shut up and take my money", they don't know how to deal with you saying "OK". 

@ DSW - If you were on the Island, then you must have gone to S-K Speed-originally in Rockville Centre and now in Lindenhurst, I think.

onto other hobbies. in Ocean City NJ was FL Abbots Sailboats. He was an all around Ships Chandry and builder. While he stopped building with the sunfish and moth, he still stocked parts. It got to the point where his rudders and centreboards for the sunfish were so much better than Alcort's, they sent a cease and desist letter to him as he was cutting into their business.

Anything you needed to know or needed to buy for a sailboat, he had it. Building is still there, but empty, Fran has been dead for a few years now and everything just sits

I enjoyed this column so much that I registered in order to sign on and tell you that. It reminds me of a column I wrote for AutoWeek many, many years ago called "The Parts Man." It was spurred, I suppose, by my time behind the counter at the Rally Stripe, a sports-car parts emporium in Anchorage.

Ah, the good old days!

Scott H:  relative to Don Roberts - way back in the early '70s I lived in Flagstaff and ran SCCA events in Phoenix.  One time at an "autocross" at Phoenix International Raceway (they used a few cones to show you the line on the infield road course, and the lower half of the banking) we heard this wonderful sound from the part of the road course that was over the hill, outside the oval.  Roberts was testing two Cobras for a customer, a 289 FIA roadster and a Daytona Coupe, both real cars not copies.  So just for fun, he entered the Daytona in the autocross.  Of course he took FTD, but he also spun it into the infield in a big way on his second run near the old turn 9, just missing a big saguaro.  Can't see anyone doing that with a real Daytona these days.  Don also had a really quick MGB as I remember.

And welcome Satch, the reason I kept my Autoweek subscription for many years, the same for Hemmings Sport and Exotic.  You were one of my inspirations to start writing , first here at GRM for many years, then elsewhere in a variety of fields.  33 years and 180+ articles later I'm in your debt.  I also remember the Piggue of Plastique at an SCCA Pro Rally in Nevada, where we were running a turbo Corvair.

Slainte.

I really miss going into a shop and saying "I need a thermostat for a small block chevy" and their only question is "165 or 180 degrees?". Now you have to know the VIN, if the vehicle has AC, is it a 283,305,307,350 or 400 and after answering all that, they still won't have it. I went to Canadian Tire to get an inline fuel filter for my 1971 Suburban and they absolutely could not provide me with one because their computer only showed the one attached to the carb. 

captdownshift said:

I blame it on guys who work in speedshops but only utilize them to fill 2 big bottles of nitrous and opt to overnight everything else from Japan.

And Motovicity.

LOL! I know it took over a year, but I finally got the joke. 

Satch_Carlson said:

I enjoyed this column so much that I registered in order to sign on and tell you that. It reminds me of a column I wrote for AutoWeek many, many years ago called "The Parts Man." It was spurred, I suppose, by my time behind the counter at the Rally Stripe, a sports-car parts emporium in Anchorage.

Ah, the good old days!

The 'Satch Carlson' get out !!!! Some of the finest funniest snarkiest editorials came from this very man...and in my estimation nothing has come close since your  leaving AW.....LM and his son are some of the most self righteous shiny happy people ever,.............. the only saving grace with that periodical(AW) IMHO was dear miss Denise McLuggage a true WOMAN way before her time. Satch, I hope you continue to contribute...peace out 

In reply to 2GRX7 :

I grew up in Lynbrook about a 15 minute bike ride from S-K. I spent lots of time and a bit of money there and around the block a tiny hobby shop north of the train tracks that had lots of old imported model cars kits.

We just visited Blick’s Art store in Chicago today and one of the store clerks gave my 15 year old daughter 20 minutes of brush and paper advice.  She wants to always go here to get her art stuff.  

Now I know why they are called starving artists.