O’Reilly Has Quickly Dominated the Connecticut Auto Parts Industry

Do you find yourself humming "O-O-O- O'Reillyyyyyyyyy.....Auto Parts" at least 10 times a day? Are your tires as shiny as your mom's diamond ring? Welcome to Connecticut: Land of O'Reilly Auto Parts locations everywhere.

O'Reilly has quickly and not so quietly assumed the lead position as the retail auto parts store champion of Connecticut. It's seems like only yesterday that I heard their infamous earworm of a jingle, but it's been over a decade since the Springfield, Missouri based corporation made their first expansion push into New England.

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As of 2023, O'Reilly operated over 6,100+ auto parts stores across the United States and Mexico. In the past five years, we've seen an incredible expansion of O'Reilly Auto Parts stores across all of Connecticut. I thought that Dollar General was behind the biggest Connecticut land grab of the 2020's, but it turns out that O'Reilly is in the lead. There are now close to 50 O'Reilly locations across the state, with most concentrated along the 95/91 corridor. News is just breaking today, and the monopoly may get worse.

Connecticut's auto parts retail landscape is O'Reilly's playground, and according to cnn.com, one of their main competitors here is in a bit of trouble. Advance Auto Parts has just announced plans to close up to 700 of it's stores across the US because of an awful earnings report. Advance is O'Reilly's main competitor here, and although none of the doomed 700 Advance Auto locations have been announced, there is enough market overlap in our bigger cities to trim some of the excess locations.