LEWISTON — A Missouri-based company is buying VIP Parts, Tires & Service’s parts business with plans to operate inside existing VIP stores.
O’Reilly Automotive spokesman Mark Merz said that company already has branches in 39 states but none in New England. Its purchase agreement with VIP is expected to close by Dec. 31.
Current parts employees will become O’Reilly employees. No layoffs are planned. Merz said it was too soon to comment on hiring.
VIP will continue to offer tire sales and service. It’s an unusual arrangement for O’Reilly, Merz said, but one the company is looking forward to.
O’Reilly, a publically traded company, has 3,896 stores. VIP, privately held, has 56 in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
“We’ve acquired a great team and we’re anxious to get in there and get the stores rebranded to O’Reilly (Auto Parts) and get our inventory in there and start serving New Englanders,” Merz said.
New signs will appear sometime next year. He said to expect a wider parts selection.
Officials at VIP were in a meeting late Tuesday and couldn’t be reached for comment.
kskelton@sunjournal.com
Copy the Story LinkSend questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.