Slumping sales nationwide have jolted Advance Auto Parts and prompted the store chain to sketch out plans to slash well over 1,000 jobs in California and more than 100 Bay Area positions.
The auto parts retailer disclosed it has decided to eliminate 1,683 jobs in California, including 123 jobs in the Bay Area, according to official WARN notices the company sent to the state Employment Development Department.
Last week, Advance Auto Parts announced it would close 727 stores and chop an unspecified number of positions nationwide. The retailer is expected to close at least 135 stores in California, according to filings with the state’s labor agency.
While it appears all of the company’s retail operations in California will be closed, Advance Auto intends to shutter 14 Bay Area stores and 85 in Southern California, WARN notices show. Store shutdowns also will take place in the Sacramento area, nearby regions of Northern California and the Central Valley.
The largest shutdown is occurring in San Bernardino, with the closure of a distribution center operating under the Pep Boys name. This will result in the loss of 171 jobs. A Carquest distribution center in Bakersfield also will close, a move that will eliminate 66 jobs – Carquest is an Advance Auto brand.
Here are the locations of the Bay Area store shutdowns and the number of positions being affected. The sites affected include Advanced Stores Co. retail brands Advance Auto Parts, Carquest Auto Parts and Pep Boys:
— San Leandro, 14847 East 14th St., 15 job cuts.
— San Jose, 2730 Story Rd., 12 layoffs.
— Vallejo, 182 Plaza Dr., 10 staffing reductions.
— Union City, 30085 Industrial Parkway SW, nine job cuts.
— Pleasant Hill, 520 Contra Costa Blvd., nine layoffs.
— Gilroy, 210 East 10th St., nine staff cuts.
— San Jose, 3780 Stevens Creek Blvd., nine jobs lost.
— Hayward, 24005 Clawiter Rd., eight layoffs.
— Pleasanton, 7051 Commerce Circle, eight job cuts.
— San Carlos, 1087 Old County Rd., eight staffing reductions.
— Sunnyvale, 164 East El Camino Real, seven layoffs.
— San Jose, 400 East Trimble Rd., seven job cuts.
— Santa Rosa, 1038 Petaluma Hill Rd., six staffing reductions.
— Rohnert Park, 4801 Redwood Dr., six layoffs.
In some cases, the job cuts will occur in February. In other instances, the layoffs will take place in March, WARN letters show.
Over the one-year period that ended in September, Advanced Auto Parts earned $43.9 million on revenue of $11.91 billion. However, for the three months that ended in September, the company lost $6 million on revenue of $2.15 billion.
These closures have erupted in the wake of a quest by Advance Auto Parts to expand its footprint. In 2021, Advanced Auto announced plans to lease 109 retail sites where Pep Boys had been operating and then gradually convert those stores to Advanced Auto Parts outlets.
The ominous prospect of the loss of more than 1,600 retail jobs in California arrives on the heels of the disclosure of the current employment picture in the state.
California lost 5,500 jobs in October, state officials reported recently. The Bay Area added 800, bucking statewide employment numbers.