MOUNT VERNON — O’Reilly Auto Parts wants to expand its footprint, but residents will be happy to hear the company does not want to add a service center.
“We’re the professional parts people,” Paul Engel, a civil engineer speaking on behalf of O’Reilly Auto Enterprises said at last week’s Mount Vernon Municipal Planning Commission meeting.
“It’s a very quiet business. They operate typically 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., and there’s no service. It’s all just come in, buy your parts, and go on your way.”
Engel noted the current store at 806 Coshocton Ave. is “in a bit of disarray.”
“We’re proposing to rezone the two lots to the west of our current store and build a new store,” he said.
The lots at 804 Coshocton Ave. (parcels 66-07885.000 and 66-05577.000) are zoned R-1 (single-family residential). Engel requested the commission to approve a General Business zoning.
The commission did so. Mount Vernon City Council will have a hearing on the rezoning request at 6:45 p.m. on Tuesday, May 26, in the municipal center at 236 S. Main St.
Plans call for O’Reilly to expand from 6,000 square feet to 7,500 square feet. A second entrance will be added on the western portion of the 804 Coshocton Ave. lot.
Engel said the new store will sit about 30 feet off of the western property line. The company will add shrubbery and trees as a buffer between the new store and the residences west of it.
“Also, we won’t have any lights on that side. We won’t have any windows that shine anything that direction. It’s just going to be the nice material face of the building,” he said.
Parking will remain on the east side of the store.
(Below is a PDF of the proposed site plan.)
Expansion will likely add jobs
Engel said the expansion likely would bring new jobs.
“The reason why is we’re going to get a bigger store. There are a lot of costs going on with new cars these days. So people are maintaining [their cars], and we need to build stock,” he said.
The front area of the store is for customers; the rear is for parts storage.
“We just have a huge demand on the mechanics side. What most people don’t realize is about 60 percent of the business is service to mechanics,” Engel said.
“That helps keep competitive costs down when your car breaks down. So with that, we need more help.”
The company’s standard model is five to eight full-time employees. Engel said the Coshocton Ave. store has around eight full-time employees.
Engel said customers have reacted positively to a new store.
“They like the two accesses for getting in safer. They also like the fact that the property to the west is kind of struggling a little bit, the current one that we’re buying, so this will clean up some of that stuff. They’re really happy that the squatters are gone,” he said.
Engel said the beauty about O’Reilly Auto Parts is it started off as a family business and essentially still operates that way.
“They own all their properties, and if you have an issue with the site, you can contact them, and you’re talking to the owner of the land. This is a corporation that is founded in family values,” he said, adding that he is consistently impressed with how they do business.
