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.
I grew up in my family’s wholesale hardware business in Savannah in the late 1960’s and ’70’s. After college (UGA), I came back home and ran the credit dept. At that time, we had 1,000 retail customers in eastern SC and GA and northern FL — many of them Western Auto Stores run by local families. I did not know that Sears bought the chain in 1987; I had to close our firm in 1983 due to a widespread economic downturn. Many of our local customers across the three-state region also closed during this time.
Jarman & Hammock was a long-time customer of ours in Hazlehurst, and later Googe’s Superette was one too. I don’t think we sold to Wilson’s Hardware, but both it and the Western Auto would have been important economic mainstays of that town. A shame to see them all go. I hope Wilson’s remains in business.
Rafe Semmes
Midway, GA
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.