Southern Distributors, DCês Oldest And Largest Parts Supplier
Founded over 75 years ago by Washington automotive icon L.P. Stuart, Southern Distributors, Inc., is Washingtonês oldest and largest automotive parts distribution company. We buy direct from parts manufacturers and sell to jobbers who sell and deliver parts to dealers, explains A. Wallace Moore, Jr., Southernês current owner and president.
Our lifeblood is having the parts in our warehouses in DC and Gaithersburg, he adds. The main thing for us is having the inventory, and we have several million dollars invested in inventory. When a jobber gets a call from a dealer who needs, for example, an exhaust system for a 15-year-old car, they call us, because they donêt have enough demand to stock that item. We typically will have it in stock, and they pick it up and go straight to dealer.
Unlike appliance parts, which are ordered and delivered over days or weeks, Moore says the auto repair industry is unique in the speed of delivery. When a car needs a part, the whole household is in an uproar. They have to have it that day because they want to pick the car up by 6 oêclock or the world comes to an end, he says.
Moore admits that the business has gotten more complex since he joined the company in 1954, after being president of L.P. Stuart Northeast dealership. It used to be fairly simple with mostly GM and some Ford and Chrysler parts. Today, you have all the domestic and import brands and literally hundreds of models. Itês a very tough challenge because every call that comes in to you is entirely different. It keeps his staff of 30 hopping every day, he notes.
In addition to being in WANADAês health care plan from the beginning, Moore says one of the big benefits of WANADA Kindred-Line membership is staying in touch with my many dealer friends who help me keep us up to date on all the marketplace changes. Iêve got a lot of long time customers, which is the essence of all local businesses.
Wallace Moore can be contacted at Southern Distributors, Inc., 6335 Chillum Place, NW, Washington, DC 20011; tel: (202) 829-6319.
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