Almost every community has one or more convenient automotive chain stores. These stores often offer the best retail prices and the convenience of one-stop shopping for all your automotive needs. Since they cater to the automotive do-it-yourselfer, these stores are almost always-open weekday nights, Saturdays, and Sundays, when the automotive jobbers are usually closed.
Chain stores are the automotive "supermarkets." Hardly a week goes by that they are not running advertised specials or a seasonal promotion of some type. The ads normally appear in the local newspapers and offer substantial savings on both name and store brand items. In contrast to the traditional jobber stores, where most merchandise is located behind the counter, you can walk through the auto chain stores and browse among most products, picking and choosing from a large stock of brand names.
Prices in the auto chain stores will normally be competitive with the discount stores and mass merchandisers, and they will usually be slightly lower than the jobber will. Counter personnel working in the chain and jobber stores are usually familiar with their products and common automotive problems and can offer good advice.