This was A. J. Lowery’s Western Auto store, a landmark in Hazlehurst for many years. It closed in 2014.
Verlon Gilbreath recalls: By the 1950s and ’60s Western Auto was relying less on auto parts and dealing more in general merchandise. Mr. Lowery’s store was a unique place for young boys during that time. It had Western Flyer bicycles with every accessory and part that you could want. There were Revelation rifles, shotguns, cleaning kits and ammo. For wanna-be mechanics there was an assortment of Wizard tools. The store also had a good display of appliances and some electronics.
What made Mr. Lowery’s place special was his trust in young people. He gave quite a few of us our first experience in paying ‘on time’. If you could show that you had a part-time job and acted like a decent sort of person he would let you make weekly payments on your purchase.
Many small towns had associate stores, like Mr. Lowery’s. Company-owned stores were mostly in cities. Sears bought Western Auto in 1987 then sold it to Advance Auto Parts in 1998. Today in the U.S. there are still a few former associate stores displaying the name Western Auto for nostalgic purposes only.
My dad owned a Western Auto Store from 1964 to 1974 in Batavia, Ohio. He also in the late 60’s changed to True Value. But when the big malls came he just auction everything off. Had a lot of great times and memories
My Dad owned the Geneva Ohio store. I’m searching for the circle arrow sign.
several years ago I was part of a crew that
reroofed this place it is really cool they were redoing even the bead board ceiling
By the 1950s and ’60s Western Auto was relying less on auto parts and dealing more in general merchandise. Mr. Lowery’s store was a unique place for young boys during that time. It had Western Flyer bicycles with every accessory and part that you could want. There were Revelation rifles, shotguns, cleaning kits and ammo. For wanna-be mechanics there was an assortment of Wizard tools. The store also had a good display of appliances and some electronics.
What made Mr. Lowery’s place special was his trust in young people. He gave quite a few of us our first experience in paying ‘on time’. If you could show that you had a part-time job and acted like a decent sort of person he would let you make weekly payments on your purchase.
Many small towns had associate stores, like Mr. Lowery’s. Company-owned stores were mostly in cities. Sears bought Western Auto in 1987 then sold it to Advance Auto Parts in 1998. Today in the U.S. there are still a few former associate stores displaying the name Western Auto for nostalgic purposes only.