Somewhat off-topic - Wheel Pros Has Filed for Bankruptcy

[Periwinkle]

Sorry if this is too off-topic, I can delete if there is no interest. Wheel Pros (rebranded as Hoonigan) has files for bankruptcy protection. They own American Racing among other brands:

https://www.wheelpros.com/brands/

Here is an article on it for any interested:

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/business/2024/09/09/clearlake-backed-wheel-maker-files-for-bankruptcy-protection/

To be honest I'm not sure what kind of impact this will have (if any) but I found it interesting as someone who was recently looking for new wheels prior to deciding on used.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Hoonigan was a Ken Block trademark.

They must have sold the rights after he killed himself snowmobiling in Utah.

I wonder what capital investment or asset management group is going to snap it up and exsanguinate the corpse?

[thelastkeg]

Man that's a 5 dollar word.  I had to google "exsanguinate."  Kudos if you're actually able to retain words like that.  I've tried, but just can't seem to recall them.  

[ArdWrknTrk]

Edit: My sister worked in the morgue for years. I learned by osmosis!  

Well, these people are vampires, sucking the last vestiges of life out of the companies they take over.

[viven44]

Like Eddie Lampert did with Sears, Roebuck and Co ?

I still fume over what has been lost, despite not having grown up here. Going from selling entire homes in a mail order catalog to wasting away into obscurity...

[ArdWrknTrk]

Gary worked for Sears when K-Mart bought them out.
'Crazy Eddie' lived here in Greenwich, and was actually kidnapped and held for ransom!  

[Gary Lewis]

I can tell you the day that he bought Sears - late on Nov 14h.  We, Computer Sciences Corp, had won the outsourcing contract with Sears in Feb.  (I was standing under the Eiffel Tower on Feb 14th when I got the call that we'd won.)

Janey and I bought a house in Elgin and moved in on Nov 14th.  On the 15th, Janey's birthday, I left home at ~6:00 AM and was listening to financial news on the radio when it was announced.  I got to work and the Sears staff was in shock.  They knew of Lampert as his notoriety preceded him.  And they were all absolutely sure he would cancel the outsourcing contract.

I didn't think so because I knew how many zeros were in the cancelation clause as I worked on the contract.  But somehow he got it done, and although I know he had to have paid a bunch, I could never find out how much.

The Institutional Investor site says "Eddie Lampert Shattered Sears, Sullied His Reputation...".

[85lebaront2]

What it boils down to, is very simple. A businees is making good money has decent management and has a good customer base and maybe even has brand recognition. In the case of Sears (who i worked for in 1966) Kenmore, Craftsman, Allstate to name a few. Almost all of which had products produced by other companies for Sears. Lawn and garden equipment, Murray, MTD and AYP. Murray was (and is) extremely cheaply made, MTD will make a push, riding or yard tractor pretty much however you want it, AYP (American Yard Products) is now Husqvarna. They have now gone way downhill, and are gone.

My son was working for Advance Auto in 1995-96 when they were bought by a group of "New York Investors" basically Doctors and Lawyers who had little if any experience in the retail world, and definitely not in auto parts. They and their investment advisors, looked at staffing vs sales and decided they only needed 2 people on the floor or maybe 3. A shop would call in a parts order to the commercial sales (if they had one) and come pick it up or have it delivered. In the area he worked, around 4:30 - 6:00 weekdays they would have a run where the store would be full of customers, with onlt 2 or 3 employees, couldn't go out and check a battery or charging system, people needing to have parts looked up would get frustrated and go across the street to AutoZone or just go home and try to order it.

[ArdWrknTrk]

And now Advance has Craftsman, Die Hard and for whatever insane reason has branded all their fluids 'Fram'

[salans7]

85lebaront2 wrote

My son was working for Advance Auto in 1995-96 when they were bought by a group of "New York Investors" basically Doctors and Lawyers who had little if any experience in the retail world, and definitely not in auto parts. They and their investment advisors, looked at staffing vs sales and decided they only needed 2 people on the floor or maybe 3. A shop would call in a parts order to the commercial sales (if they had one) and come pick it up or have it delivered. In the area he worked, around 4:30 - 6:00 weekdays they would have a run where the store would be full of customers, with onlt 2 or 3 employees, couldn't go out and check a battery or charging system, people needing to have parts looked up would get frustrated and go across the street to AutoZone or just go home and try to order it.

Things weren't any better in 2013-2014. I worked for an Advance Auto store that was originally the only auto parts store in the area for years. Autozone came right before I started and immediately took half the sales. Then Walmart came and took the oil change sales, some battery sales, and that of the piddly things on the sales floor. Despite this, Advance never dropped the sales goals for my store. About 6 months after I started, they implemented a new sales goal policy where you were written up if you did not meet your sales goals for the period. I worked the late shift (2-9pm), so of course I never made my sales goals since they were astronomical. Once you hit 4 writeups, they terminated you. I made it to three write ups, and then put in my notice so that my last day was the day prior to when they would have likely terminated me. Only one person from my store ended up not getting termed, mainly because he only worked 10 hours a week and his position wasn't included in the sales goals requirements.

I won't feel sad when Advance goes belly up. They did it to themselves.

[Ifitaintbroke]

I work for the "better parts store" (not Autozone). My now former manager (got promoted) started with Advance, and from what he's told me, it definitely sounds like they are run by people who know nothing about parts or even retail in general. One of my current coworkers used to be a manager for them, and she doesn't know what a carrier bearing is, or understand the difference between 2 or 4 wheel drive. She used to run a store quite literally by herself, with no help.

My current employer is a fantastic company to work for. They are still run by the original family, and ALL managers, store, district, regional, and beyond, all the way up to the CEO, started out on the parts counter. They will not hire someone as a manager who does not have parts experience. I have talked to very high positions in the company. We have a social media type thing that allows us to communicate with Store Operations. I once went on there and ranted a bit about a certain "performance" fuel pump that we carry that has a high failure rate. In less than 2 hours, I came in the store from putting in a battery, and was told that corporate was on the phone for me. I was greeted by the product manager for all of our performance parts (the guy who actually determines what goes on our shelves), and he patiently explained to me why we carry that specific pump, despite the failure rate. The guy is a gear head himself, and I was on the phone with him for over 7 minutes. Awesome stuff.

[viven44]

I assume you can't disclose what he told you ? I bet there is a good reason why that pump is still being sold!

[Ifitaintbroke]

I can. The reason is because even though we warranty a lot of them, we still make a massive profit. I won't give the exact figures, but it's over 7 digits per year. He said that he hates those pumps and would replace them if he could, but there aren't any better options on the market.

[viven44]

I love your store's ability to take retail orders online and make stuff show up real quick (8AM, 10AM the next day or even 3PM the same day) from the hub or from other stores. That is a real differentiator from Autozone.

[Rembrant]

Periwinkle wrote

Sorry if this is too off-topic, I can delete if there is no interest. Wheel Pros (rebranded as Hoonigan) has files for bankruptcy protection. They own American Racing among other brands:

To be honest I'm not sure what kind of impact this will have (if any) but I found it interesting as someone who was recently looking for new wheels prior to deciding on used.

Funny, I thought Hoonigan was mainly into making windshield banners and decals lol. It's a catchy word in the drift era...and it sort of became a thing all on its own.

They'll likely restructure, and likely drop or eliminate some of the brands. I'm a fan of the old brands...or brands that make wheels for old vehicles. American Racing, Pro-Comp, US Mags, etc. Any company that is still making wheels in the 5x5.5 pattern is supplying an "old" market...I hope they don't kill them off tbh.

In fact, 5x5.5 aside, any company that is still making 15" wheels is supplying an old market lol.

Didn't I read that they also owned 4WheelParts also?

At the risk of getting into politics...and please don't...but with the increased costs of everything these days, from groceries to gas, the aftermarket companies must be taking a hit. We have been told repeatedly (in the industrial world I live and work in) that a recession was coming, but it still hasn't really shown up. But at the same time, anecdotally at least, people do seem to have less money for "mods" these days.

Economy issues aside...what about demographics? Are the younger folks still as interested in cars & mods as we are (and were)? I wonder about that. Two very good friends of mine had old cars that they bought 30+ years ago (one a Corvette, and the other a Trans Am). Both guys held on to these cars for many many years hoping the sons would have interest in them. Unfortunately they did not, and the cars were eventually sold. Were they cheesy malaise era cars? Yes, sure...but they were still the hotrods of their day regardless.

Anyway...I wonder about this stuff sometimes...maybe I think too much lol. The demographics are changing fast. We are swinging from a Boomer society to a Millennials dominated society almost overnight (Us Gen-X kids were kind of forgotten in the middle lol).

There...time for my 2nd coffee;).

Cheers gentlemen!

[ArdWrknTrk]

Good morning Cory!
I don't think you can mention old brands without including Cragar, Western and Halliburton...
Cyclone, Hurricane and Torque Thrust are all iconic styles.

I'm waiting for reports to trickle in from the event at the mothership.  👂

[Rembrant]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

Good morning Cory!
I don't think you can mention old brands without including Cragar, Western and Halliburton...
Cyclone, Hurricane and Torque Thrust are all iconic styles.

I'm waiting for reports to trickle in from the event at the mothership.  👂

Good morning Jim, greetings from your Northeast!

When I heard about this Hoonigan situation, my brain automatically switched to economics and demographics lol. Can you tell that I'm a Freakonomics and Econtalk fan and regular listener???...lol.

I hate seeing companies fail, especially if they're involved in my beloved hobby;).

[ArdWrknTrk]

And yet, a lot of them DESERVE to fail!