What happened to Western Auto? 1962 catalog - Truetone transistor radios, Wizard brand time capsule

What happened to Western Auto? Why aren’t they still around? Well, when a store fails, it is assumed that it wasn't meeting the needs of its community. But when an entire chain of stores fails, there is something else afoot.

It's called financial manipulation. In the 1980s Western Auto's management took the company into that Wall Street world of acquisitions, mergers, spinoffs, leveraged buyouts, and restructuring. They were told, and like so many, they believed, that these financial dealings are inevitable--that they are healthy and that these deals MUST be done. They were told this by the very people—the money people—who profit by these deals. That's how these financiers make their money--not by producing something of value, but by churning money. What happens to regular people caught in that meat grinder of restructuring is rarely considered. But what to my mind is even worse— and never mentioned—is what that consolidation does to the rest of us. To all of us. The public. The public who used to have the CHOICE of going to a fun and interesting place like Western Auto. The public from whom that choice was taken away as a result of Western Auto being sliced, diced, and eventually discarded.

Oh sure, I get it. Things change. People shop elsewhere. Companies decline and fail. But think of the stores that aren’t here anymore—all those choices you no longer have. Did these companies die or were they snuffed by the money people for their own gain? The great department stores like The Broadway, Hudson’s, Robinson’s, The May Company, Bullocks, Buffums, Marshall Field’s, and dozens and dozens more— they’re all THIS now. I guess we should be grateful Macy’s still exists and hasn’t been swallowed up—yet—by this. (Walmart) or this (Amazon). Think of the great choices we used to have in home improvement: Lumber City, Angels, Ole’s, Standard Brands, Builder’s Emporium, not to mention scads of independent lumber yards where you could talk to salespeople who actually knew stuff. Now it’s this (Home Depot)… or this (Lowe’s).

We talk about the mom and pop stores—and protecting them from the predatory practices of their corporate competitors. And that’s good. I am ALL FOR the mom and pops. But the likes of Western Auto and all those other sorely missed stores were not mom and pops. Sadly for them, and for all of us, they were big enough to attract the money people—to make it worth their while. And now those stores are no more. What do we have to do to put a stop to this? Occupy Wall Street?

And right now, even as I speak these words, American stalwarts Sears and J.C.Penney are being picked apart by these money sharks, giving us even fewer choices. I was always told that capitalism was supposed to be about giving people more choice, not less.

Sadly missed: Western Auto out of Kansas City Missouri. Founded in 1909. They once had 1200 stores across the United States.