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Icahn in NJ: Pep Boys finishes a store, Auto Plus buys some more

Under Carl Icahn

The company that owns Pep Boys - Manny Moe and Jack has resumed adding stores in New Jersey after consolidating the company's North Philadelphia management under top managers from Georgia-based Auto Plus store chain. Both chains are owned by billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who paid over $1 billion for Pep Boys last winter.  

Pep Boys, which operates 800 stores and garages nationwide, in July opened a 5,500-square-foot store on the White Horse Pike on the way into Absecon, N.J., under a build-to-lease agreement, says Rob Samtmann, broker at Equity Retail Brokers, Plymouth Meeting, who represented Pep Boys in the deal.

"That's a holdover" from before Icahn's time, Santmann told me. "It took awhile for that to come out of the ground." He's not aware of any more new stores from the chain now in the pipeline.

The group that includes Pep Boys has continued to buy existing stores. The company said Aug. 8 it has bought Hapi Auto Parts stores in Hillsborough and Lebanon, in north-central New Jersey, from the Nunn family. The stores will be rebranded as Auto Plus locations, CEO Brent Windom said in this statement. Auto Plus already has eight stores in the market area; Pep Boys has one.

In February, Pep Boys announced a partnership with King of Prussia-based Maaco, the auto-painting chain owned by Charlotte, N.C.-based Driven Brands. More in Repair Driven News here.