PHILADELPHIA — Yesterday, Pep Boys celebrated grand re-openings at five newly remodeled stores in Jacksonville, Fla. The re-openings — which featured special retail and service promotions, ribbon-cutting ceremonies, remote radio broadcasts and a market-wide sweepstakes promotion — are part of a major “retail renewal” initiative that the company has undertaken.
Pep Boys’ new look incorporates a new Pep Boys Auto logo and new corporate colors of red, white and blue.
In addition to its plans to remodel all 595 stores through 2007, Pep Boys has introduced new product categories, transportation and garage, and added leading automotive name brands, including Monroe, FRAM and ACDelco, to its inventory. The new product categories, which were introduced in the fourth quarter of Pep Boys’ last fiscal year, were reported to have driven sales comps to 14 percent for the quarter.
According to the company, its newly remodeled stores are seeing an upturn in business. Two recently remodeled San Diego stores have experienced significantly higher year-over-year sales versus other stores that have yet to be remodeled in San Diego, Pep Boys said.
Last month, the company also announced it would offer branded tires such as Continental and General at its network of nearly 600 stores. And, earlier this month, Pep Boys announced a partnership with IBM to develop and install point-of-sale technology in all 595 of its stores and service centers. The new technology will help to enhance customer service and ease the introduction of new retail and service applications in Pep Boys’ stores, the company said.
Pep Boys on the Web: www.pepboys.com.
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