Advance Auto Parts overview
Advance Auto Parts, Inc. is a North American automotive aftermarket parts provider headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina. It serves professional installers and do-it-yourself customers through Advance Auto Parts and Carquest stores, independent Carquest locations, commercial delivery, and e-commerce. At January 3, 2026, the company operated 4,305 stores and served 809 independently owned Carquest stores.
Founding history
The company's FY2025 Form 10-K traces Advance Stores Company to 1929. A separate company history marks April 29, 1932 as the date Arthur Taubman acquired the three-store Virginia business, which had two stores in Roanoke and one in Lynchburg. The two dates describe different events: the predecessor's origin and the start of Taubman ownership.
Business model
Advance sells replacement parts, batteries, maintenance items, accessories, chemicals, and tools. Its blended-box model serves professional repair businesses and DIY customers from the same stores. In fiscal 2025, parts and batteries represented 64% of net sales, accessories and chemicals 21%, engine maintenance 14%, and other products 1%.
Fiscal 2025 results
Fiscal 2025 was a 53-week year ended January 3, 2026. Net sales from continuing operations were $8.601 billion, compared with $9.094 billion in fiscal 2024. Consolidated net income attributable to Advance was $44 million, while income from continuing operations was $68 million. The distinction matters because Worldpac is presented as discontinued operations.
Leadership and strategy
Shane O'Kelly joined Advance as president and chief executive officer in September 2023. The company's multi-year plan focuses on merchandising excellence, supply-chain transformation, and store operations. Advance completed its planned store-footprint optimization during fiscal 2025, when it opened 39 stores, closed 522, and ended the year with 4,305 company-operated locations.
Acquisitions and Worldpac sale
Acquisitions helped build the current company. Advance acquired Western Auto operations in 1998, Discount Auto Parts in 2001, Autopart International in 2005, General Parts International in 2014, and the DieHard brand in 2019. General Parts brought Carquest and Worldpac. Advance then sold Worldpac to Carlyle in November 2024. That transaction was a divestiture, not an acquisition, and refocused Advance on its store-based professional and DIY model.
Headquarters and public listing
Advance became publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange in connection with the 2001 Discount Auto Parts acquisition and trades under AAP. North Carolina announced in 2018 that Raleigh would become the corporate headquarters. The FY2025 Form 10-K lists the principal executive offices at 4200 Six Forks Road in Raleigh.
Competitive position and risks
Advance competes with national and regional auto-parts chains, independent stores, automobile dealers, mass merchants, warehouse clubs, and online retailers. Its operating assets include a broad local store network, hubs, commercial delivery, Carquest, and the owned DieHard brand. The FY2025 filing identifies supply-chain execution, inventory availability, employee retention, tariffs, technology implementation, and intense competition among the risks to the turnaround.
