For more than half a century, Carquest Auto Parts, located at 524 Lumberton Road, has been there for its customers every automotive need.
Carquest has been locally owned by Kenny Breakfield for 14 years and run by General Manager Hoyt Jones.
Jones relies on his eight employees to be knowledgeable in all areas in order to best serve the customers.
“I couldn’t do it without them. We all work together and everybody can do everything. Not one person does one job. Everybody makes hydraulic hoses, whatever needs to be done we all do it. Whenever a customer walks through the door, they don’t have to wait on one specific person,” he said. “We got three people delivering at any time with stuff going all over the place. We have some good, dedicated employees that are good people.”
On top of carrying auto parts for cars, trucks and 18-wheelers alike, Carquest is able to help in a myriad of areas.
“We make hydraulic hoses; have a delivery service, do Oxy Acetylene, mix car paint, try to get people waited on — if we don’t have a part, we hunt it and find it — we do everything we can to make the customer happy and keep them coming back. We do automotive and big trucks,” Jones said. “We have steel and metal that we sell out back, too. We have Oxy Acetylene for welding and torches.”
Jones believes that Carquest’s customer service has been the key to its success.
“What I strive on is treating the customer like I’d want to be treated. The customer is always right. If you have a problem with someone, you just try to smooth it over and not make anyone mad. It’s our customer service really that has led to our success,” he said. “We make sure we can get the part always. If we don’t have the part, we’ll go and pick it up from wherever we have to go get it.”
For more than three decades, working in the automotive field has been a passion of Jones’.
“We do wiper blades, batteries and lights, but no mechanical work.”
“I’ve been in it all my life. I actually worked at another part store for 21 years and been here 14 years. My dad owned a mechanic shop, so I’ve just always been in the automotive field. It’s what I enjoy doing. I enjoy helping people. A lot of them come in in a bind, hunting something and can’t find it,” he explained. “Just the other day, there was a customer who went three places looking for something and was told it wasn’t worth the time and didn’t want to fool with it. He was just looking for some fittings for a brake cylinder, so I went in the back — it took me about 30 minutes — but I got him fixed up. That’s how you keep customers coming back. You want to make the big sales, but you have to make the little sales and help them first.”
Carquest employees also will assist in replacing wiper blades, lights and even travel to change a battery.
“We try to do what we can do if somebody needs something,” Jones said. “We’ve helped individuals out that need a battery or something if they tell us where they live somewhere in town. We’ve gone out to Walmart several times and changed batteries out in the parking lot. Just whatever it takes.”
Jones added that being a part of the fabric of a small town makes a big difference with helping customers because of the relationship that gets built over time.
“It makes a big difference. If you don’t know them or don’t know how to talk to them, it could be hard to help. People like to come to a place where they can come, drink a cup of coffee, shoot the bull while they get their parts if they’re not in a hurry. A lot of people that come in here enjoy talking and drinking coffee,” he said. “A lot of the customers know each other, too. It’s not uncommon to have four or five of them in here talking; it’s just a good atmosphere and we keep coffee here all day. When they need parts later, they always come back and see us.”
Going forward, Carquest Auto Parts of Columbia wants to continue to improve and adapt to the changing times.
“Long term, we just want to continue to improve. We’re about to do some remodeling here inside and out with new signage and things like that. We try to stay updated as CarQuest does whenever there’s a new paint scheme or something like that comes out,” Jones said. “We’re just trying to better the business and keep it growing.”
Carquest is open Monday through Friday from 4:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. and Saturday 4:30 a.m. until noon. It can be reached by phone at (601) 736-6301 and customers can purchase parts online to be picked up at the store.
Pictured Above: Richard Kemp, Tom Reppel, Hoyt Jones and Ty Saucier are part of Carquest’s team. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
