I'm familiar with chain auto parts. They all try and cater to local needs. A store in Texas is gonna have more varieties of A/C stuff on the shelf (we're talking retail parts here, not vehicle specific stuff you buy at the counter). Stores in the rust belt are gonna have more exhaust stuff, etc. I'm only familiar with Napa from a management level and they're kind of the odd one out but as far as the other chains go whether it's corporate calling the shots or store management clearly the work is being done by someone.
Vastly different business model than Dollar General. DG customers, by definition, have to take what they can get. If you don't like what NAPA has, you can go online or to another store.
No, DG customers can shop elsewhere. Everything they sell is available at Walmarts, supermarkets, convenience stores, hardware stores, drug stores, online, etc.
My understanding is that dollar stores tend to pop up particularly where mega-retailers like Walmart are too far for basic supplies. That's obviously not universally true, but for many Americans it's not as simple as going to another store - another store might be a 60 minute round trip that costs $10 in gas that they don't have.
I’ve seen the manager at a home depot make this call in real time. They had a case of umbrellas up on some racking. I heard him say “lets put those umbrellas down now its going to rain this week.” Shifting the store floor to meet demand. When our baseball team won the world series they also changed all the 5 gal buckets to team color and branding no HD logo at all. I wish I grabbed 5 at the time…
