Advance Auto Parts Closing 60% of Milwaukee Stores
Nationwide effort to shutter 700 stores falls heavily on city.
New AutoZone store at 2329 W. North Ave. in 2021. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
Aftermarket automotive parts retailer Advance Auto Parts is closing almost two-thirds of its stores in the city of Milwaukee.
The closures come as part of a company strategy, announced Thursday, to close 727 of its approximately 4,800 stores. In its quarterly earnings report released last week, the publicly traded company revealed the restructuring plan, which includes closing four distribution centers that could cost the company up to $750 million. Third-quarter same-store sales declined 2.3% year-over-year, with revenue falling to $2.1 billion.
In Milwaukee, stores at 1920 W. National Ave., 2329 W. North Ave., 4934 W. Fond du Lac Ave., 4330 S. 27th St., 7690 W. Appleton Ave. and 5762 N. Teutonia Ave. will close according to a WARN notice posted Monday to the Department of Workforce Development website. No other Wisconsin store closures are listed. The Milwaukee closures are scheduled to take place from January through early March.
The company, according to a statement, hopes the restructuring plan will boost its operating income margin by 5% by 2027. It reported an operating income of $403,000 in the third quarter and a net loss of $6 million.
Stores will remain in the city proper at 1331 W. Burnham St., 1304 W. Oklahoma Ave., 7440 W. Brown Deer Rd., and 5816 W. North Ave. A number of suburban stores will continue, including in Saint Francis, West Milwaukee, West Allis, Oak Creek and Greenfield.
Other closures have already happened. A June property listing for the former-store at 4810 N. Teutonia Ave. says it will be sold as a vacant building. As of October, the property was vacant, though it still appears on the company’s website as an operating store.
Nationwide, the closures are to be split between approximately 500 company-owned stores and 200 independent locations.
In Milwaukee, the stores all appear to be located in leased locations. That includes the three-year-old store at 2329 W. North Ave. Assessments for the properties, often free-standing, 7,000-square-foot buildings, range from approximately $620,000 to $1.8 million.
Advance Auto Parts is just the latest retailer to shed hundreds of stores. Walgreens has closed six Milwaukee stores in two years as part of a nationwide downsizing. Nationally, Family Dollar is shuttering 677 stores, Walmart is closing 259 stores and Big Lots is dropping 360 locations. Coresight Research, before the Advance Auto Parts announcement, reported that retailers have announced 6,189 closures across the country in 2024.
Existing members must be signed in to see the interactive map. Sign in.
If you think stories like this are important, become a member of Urban Milwaukee and help support real, independent journalism. Plus you get some cool added benefits.
Thanks for including the information on property status — e.g. leased space; hopefully that allows the conversation about impact to move beyond one driven only by a simplistic reading of the addresses.