Western Auto - Life in America 

After returning home from WWII in Europe, my father worked at Western Auto. He was consistently the number one salesman at his store. Just about everything in our home and garage was from there, our TV's our radios, the lawnmower, the swingset... Whenever Pop had to buy a gift, you could bet it was from Western Auto! He even bought all of our sporting goods there. Pop passed away in 2018, just after his 93rd birthday. He still had many of his Western Auto purchases in storage, even one of the old B&W televisions we used to watch as a family. RIP Pop, we sure miss you!

So sad to see the old stores I grew up with just fade away. When as a child you looked forward to Christmas and going to these stores was a great adventure to see what was new that Santa might bring you for Christmas.

Loved Western Auto stores! They had almost everything. Got everything from my first bike to a BB gun from there with my dad. Bought tires and auto parts later on in life and was sure sad to see them go. Lot of memories for me and I would love to re-live those times for sure! Don't really care for the ways of the world now days.

My daddy would always take me and my sister to the Western Auto at Christmas for Santa ideas. Our bikes wagons, and mowers were from the store for years. I miss those days and my parents so much. 😢

I used to shop at Western Auto and I loved it. I sure do miss it.

We cared about things, back then! I remember those simpler days, when the sky was blue , the grass greener and you could depend on quality products and outstanding service! Thanks for the memories!

There's something about these videos that I really enjoy. I'm 55 years old so I don't remember as far back as maybe some viewers but he touches on a lot of things that I do remember very often and I like the way the videos are paced.

I live here in Kansas City.. and for many years the Western Auto Sign was never on. Recently they turned the big red sign on.. I nearly cried. One of my favorite landmarks in the city ❤️

We had Western Auto when I was growing up in Fort Wayne, Indiana. They were great stores.

Dear Recollection Road I want to personally say Thank You so very much as I'm sure from alot of us out here in you tube land for these much-needed, and much-loved journeys back down memory lane posts during this period of time in history! Your choice of both the visual images as well as the music played is so very calming and brings such a soothing peacefulness that I'm sure so many of us viewer's are feeling and remembering of good days gone by! I want you to know these posting are making a difference and helping me get through this thing called the pandemic. Thank you!

Recollection Road - thanks for bringing back all these memories.

There is still a Western Auto store in Jackson, TN, but it's just because the owners have kept the old sign. It's actually a locally owned store even though the old chain no longer exists. Some drug stores do the same thing with keeping Rexall signs on their stores.

I remember going to Western Auto as a kid in the 60s. My dad would ask me if I wanted to go and I’d beat him to the car. I think he really just went for the ambience. It was fun as a little kid...

I can smell it now. They always smelled of new tires. They had bicycles and go-karts lined up just inside the door.

There was a time in my life when I thought that if Western Auto or Sears didn't have what I wanted, then it must not exist.

When we bought our first house in 1978, we got our stove, refrigerator, lawn mower and lawn chairs from WA. I don't even think they charged extra for delivery and set up.

Bought my first fishing combo a ZEBCO, at WESTERN AUTO in 1967. I paid $11.00 for the outfit. I was so proud , all I wanted to do was go fishing. I really didn't know how at the time. It tool me many years of experimenting and have never given up. I am 63 years old and still fish, I've fished many rivers ,lakes and oceans all over the world. But I'm still dreaming of my next adventure....

I remember going with dad to Western Auto for car parts, oil, etc. And the firearms they sold; Winchester, Remington, etc also included air rifles, Like Crosman. All were sold under the name, " Revelation". I have two Crosman 760 Powermaster Revelations in my collection. They'll always remind me of days gone by, when I saw them on the shelf shopping for car stuff with dad. RIP Pop...

I can remember the tire smell as soon as you walked in the door

To me, the old Christmas catalogs from Western Auto with the flimsy paper and the dark blue night sky with Santa just meant Christmas Season to me.

Thank You Western Auto for all the memories my dad would take me there when l was little l bought my first car radio there in. 1977 😁🤠👍

my father brought me there for my first bike..A still fond memory

1971, Purple banana seat and high handlebars from the store in spring hill, ks. Loved going there, and TG & Y. Sweet lil video.

My parents bought everything there appliances lawnmower tires sporting goods, I bought tires for my first car in the late 70s

The shade tree mechanic relied on Western Auto to keep his steed in good repair and supplied with fresh motor oils, greases, lubricants and other vital fluids and coolants to make the trip across the great expanse of America for leisure and business travel. The Bible salesman whose territory was the greater part of the South was as familiar with the shelves of Western Auto as he was with the gospels of Mathew, Mark Luke and John. His very livelihood depended on his car being in tip top operation.

In the early 70s the Western Auto had a Matchbox toy car display. It was always stocked with lots of Matchbox. Every time I went there I checked to see if they had got new Matchbox. My dad bought a Homelite chainsaw, I still have it, but not any of the Matchbox toys.

My great uncle worked for Western Auto starting out at the Shepherd Drive store in Houston, Texas in 1958 working his way up to the corporate offices in Temple, Texas he retired in 1988 after it was sold to Sears. He worked for a few years at the Southeastern Corporate Offices in Jackson, Mississippi.

Except for todays technology, I can attest that as a kid born in the late 50s and growing up in the 60s it was a better time. I could see things starting to change for the worse by the mid to late 70s.

My Dad and an Uncle both worked for Western Auto in the 60's and 70's. The local competition was a chain called OTASCO. I was forbidden from going there when I was a kid.

My dad loved Western Auto. He would go there often and I would usually tag along. Good memories.

I miss western auto at Christmas 🎄I loved going and looking around with my dad I miss my dad too

I miss Western Auto.

I loved going into Western Auto to look at the bicycles as a kid all you could smell was rubber tires in the air. Good ole days 😪

Went there with dad every Friday night when we went to town. Miss those days.

Dad bought me my first baseball mitt at Western Auto in the Woodlawn Shopping Center and my bike too. I must have put several thousand miles on my Western Flyer.

Dear Recollection, Thank you so much. I’m amazed at all the comments. I tripped across your post, this is not my usual subject,except to say that my Dad had a franchise W.A. in Westmont N. J. in the 60’s. He was an auto mechanic all of my young life and decided to run the store in the front while his mechanics he brought with him worked in the 3 bays in the back. In Jersey, he was up against stiff competition from Penn Jersey and Pep Boys. My Pop was a self made man , moved onto Standard Register ( business machines and computers). Loved my dad as much as anyone can. Cool holiday memories for Western Auto. Always R.I.P. Dad. Peace, Rocky

My grandparents lived in Vevay, Indiana and there was a Western Auto in the town square. I remember in the late 60s or very early 70s the store closed and they had toys and bicycles that were 20-30 years old in the store and warehouse that were sold. I remember being in the store and there were bicycles hanging from the ceilings that looked like they were there for years. It was an old-time hardware store.

You could buy almost anything there. Including firearms and ammo. I miss the old times. Service with a smile.

We had a Western Auto in Lansdale, PA. It was kind of a typical small town. The Western Auto was at one end of the downtown shopping district. My first "new" bike came from Western Auto, it was in the mid-'60s. I remember how the downtown bustled on Friday nights and especially during the Christmas season. This was before the shopping malls and then the "box stores" arrived. It's all just faded memories now, but I do remember the fellow who ran the Western Auto. He was a bicycling enthusiast and his Western Auto had pretty much anything you needed for your bicycle and they even did bicycle repairs.

I also miss Western Auto.We had one in Brawley Ca where now is Inferno restaurant.I got my 1st tricycle there.It was a bright Red.They had guuuud stuff.

I wish I could go back and live in these times instead of today. Things were so much better then.

I lived the Western Auto Life! My Dad was the youngest Manager ever at 19 he ran the Valley Boulevard Store in Alhambra California and was given the new store in National City near San Diego Around 1968 so we moved down to Chula Vista. It had an Auto Service Bay and all the great stuff. Santa Claus flew in to the parking lot in a Helicopter and gave out toys from the store to the kids! I still have my ''Revelation .22 Rifle'' and ''Wizard'' socket set as well as shovels, a hedge trimmer and more. My first bike was a 20'' Western Flyer in candy red with a white seat with silver sprinkles and a Sissy Bar! I basically grew up in that store and surrounded with Western Auto gear at our house. America seemed like it would just get more incredible every year then.....

I remember western auto it was a great store my first pocket knife came from there as a kid

Again, the old cliche, "how time files!" Watching these videos about businesses in my lifetime make me ask myself 'what was I doing during that time?". And then I begin to appreciate how precious life is. Thank you and everyone who has been involved in creating these and other videos from Recollection Road!

I got my 1st bicycle from Western Auto, in 1958. My dad also had an outboard motor from them. A little 3 and a half horse Wizard. It lasted for 35 years, until he died. I sold it at a garage sale after he died. It was still working.

I actually worked at the local Western Auto store in Atascadero CA. In 1976. I was 13 years old and was in charge of assembling the bicycles for the Christmas season. I would even park all of them neatly out front diagonally along the front of the store. I still have a few tools from that store to this day! Very fond memories when America was still great. Kids these days have no clue.

I still have and use my Western Auto roto-tiller every spring to get my garden ready. I bought it way back in 1974 and it's still going strong. I also own a 20 inch Western Flyer bicycle I received as a Christmas gift nearly 60 years ago. Finally, I also power my fishing boat with the still running 1952 Wizard *Super Twin* outboard motor I inherited from my father. I miss buying quality built American products from local companies such as Western Auto, back before all the Chinese junk and mercenary big box stores ruined everything.

Our small town Western Auto in the 1960s sold everything from shovels to model airplanes.....and you could browse as long as you wanted without being pressured to buy something. I do miss the slower pace of those days.

I have a small metal tool box with a t handle breaker bar and a socket set that has the Western Auto logo on the inside, though now barely visible. It used to belong to my Grandfather. I hope to be passing it on to my grandson soon.

I remember Western Flyer bikes, those roller skates,etc. In memory...I can almost remember the smell of walking into those stores. There was often wooden floors, shelves full of auto parts, hardware, camping supplies, and guy stuff. It was a great time for me as a kid.

Anybody out there in their '60s and up probably stood in a Western Auto Store at some point in their young lives. I was from Muncie, and we bought many things there. It was a rite of passage for any young boy to go into W-A with his dad. Miss it all.😢

My first guitar came from western auto. Guitar amp and cord was less than 60 dollars

When I was a little kid, the local Western Auto was one of my favorite places to go, when we went to town. Maybe it's weird, but one of my favorite things about being there was the smells in the different parts of the store. New tires, paints, oils & fluids for cars, even the power tools area had it's own smell. The owner, Mr. Philips was a genial man who knew his stuff inside & out. His son kinda followed his dad's lead, he works at the local Ace Hardware store, and is a genial guy who knows his stuff.

I miss the good old days.

I recall seeing Western Auto everywhere in my youth, meaning the 60s and 70s. I remember they even had winter sleds, back when I lived in the Chicago area. My Dad regarded them as highly dependable for anything automotive. Thanks for this video.

I mowed lawns for my first job. Got my mower at Western Auto. Back in the 60's. Got my first bike there too.

Really great to see this video, took me back to the early 50's when I bought so many items from their store on the Tamiami trail at SW16th avenue in Miami, FL, I lived just down the street. Thanks, Walt in Miami

My first 22 bolt action rifle has Western Auto on the barrel. My 40 year old son says he wants it for sure.

Thanks for the old memories

I vividly remember the Western Auto store that used to be at 7029 N. 57th Avenue in Downtown Glendale, AZ. I remember the number 9-shaped sign it used to have. It's still there, but it's now a Sherwin-Williams. It was always a treat to visit the store back in the early 70's to see all the wonderful things they had. I even learned marksmanship with Western Auto branded Power Line air rifles from that store. It was also a source of Christmas presents too. Wonderful grade school memories from the 70's. I always thought of Western Auto during the scene in "Back to the Future II" when the Time Machine was struck by lightning and it left that number 9-shaped trail.

My Uncle bought his first TV @ Western Auto 1949&our family watched the Indy 500 on it in 1949,My Cousins bikes were all W Auto's. The store was really nice.I went to the last one in my city1973...74... owner lived above store...he was kind of a rear end so never went back..

The Western Auto store near me closed sometime in the 80s, I still have the Mossberg 12ga bolt action shotgun I bought there years ago. As kids, we used to go there and buy the carbide miner's lamps and we'd all run around in the dark with our "flaming flashlights". Flashlights were easier, but these were way cool.

Let me add my own thanks to you for these wonderful videos. They are bittersweet in many ways, but they certainly bring back wonderful memories of far better times from a world gone away now. I believe our own Western Auto shut down by the end of the 1970s but recall it warmly.

Great stuff! My dad worked for Western Auto in El Monte California. I got a job right out of high school 1980 working at the Western Auto store in Alhambra Ca. in the tire shop.

I loved Western Auto Auto...they had everything a true sportsman needed! Great Store!

I loved our Western Auto Store. I remember the lawn mowers, the bikes, the wagons, the toys. And it's where I bought my first baseball glove. Great place to hang out!

Loved going to Western Auto. Could get anything from a bycle to a carburetor rebuild kit.

I got my first 10 speed bike at Western Auto in Grants Pass OR, I still have it in the shed.

The sign in KC is really cool. I remember when it didn't work for awhile. Glad they fixed it

We had a Western Auto in my home town in central KY years ago. I got a "BMX" bike from that store when I was around 10 years old, back in the 70's.

I grew up in Key West Florida and was the assistant manager at the NAPA Auto Parts store in the 70’s, our only real competition was Western Auto.. To get to next closest auto parts store was 47 bridges and 120 miles away in Miami.. lol

I remember getting a red white and blue Bicentennial edition 20 inch WesternFlyer bicycle at Western Auto in the Summer of 1976 🙂

I just walked by Western Auto yesterday in KC and was wondering why they went out of business, Now I know. Thank you.

We went to town an the guys would head over to Western auto they had every thing a small town needed tv' s tools kitchen goods my first rifle was a 303 British war surplus rifle I was 14 still have it they tires oil auto service I could go on an on

Loved Western Auto. I go my HULA HOOP THERE!!!!

Having a lifelong obsession with music, my parents bought me a Western Auto Truetone 8 track deck in the late 70s. I had it up until 2000 and it still worked.

Growing up in small-town Eloy in central Arizona, the Western Auto was the main store. From auto parts, radios, toys, lawnmowers, records and tools. It was the place to be!

I remember as a 8 year old kid, way back in 1973 when my dad took me to Western Auto and bought me my very first rifle, it was Winchester Youth Model 98, 30-30, When my son turned 8, I handed that rifle down to him, and a few years ago, he handed that rifle down to his son, my Grandson.

They used to sponser Darril Waltrip, Nascar,back when. Great stores,sad it is gone,forever.

In the mid 1970's my uncle and I walked into a Western Auto store and purchased a Marlin 30-30 rifle right off the shelf cash and carry. It was no big deal.

You could go to Western Auto to check your TV's cathode ray tubes and buy a replacement tube. Youths could customize their bicycles with a variety of reflectors, handle bar grips, inter tubes, decals, and tires.

I still have my first fishing rod and reel I bought in1967 and it still works.

My first bicycle was from Western Auto in 1967

I knew for some reason I have an affinity with Advance Auto Parts. I loved Western Auto when I was a kid. Even though we did not have a car, I could get bike parts and camping gear for Girl Scouts.

In several of the still pictures you could see reference to many items featuring the Wizard brand name. Like the Craftsman brand at Sears, the Wizard brand name was sold exclusively through Western Auto but the items were not made by them. I have a couple of vintage tools with the Wizard name on them. They were very good quality tools with a great warranty and affordable prices, like Craftsman or Powr-Kraft at Montgomery Ward.

Great video, my first bike was a western flyer. Western auto was a great store.

Sad to see all these store go bye bye. I bought a used bicycle in the 50's from the local Western Auto Store in Lebanon, Ohio. Gone are Sears, Montgomery Words, etc. What are we coming to be.

I like the music scores in these videos, very soothing. Good music for remembering.

We still have one in my hometown Anniston Alabama

Boy Sears sure did mess up alot of companies on the way to their own demise...

Remembering the simpler days. I miss them.

I remember my dad taking me Western Auto on my birthday. Son you can pick out anything you want for your birthday. Evel Knievel bus and windup motorcycle made me a happy little guy. 😎❤

My dad bought a TrueTone stereo console (solid wood with a Glaser-Steers record changer!) back in 1959-1960. Still have fond memories of it!

Three years ago, I installed an unused c.1940 Western Auto clutch disk in my 1930 Ford pickup, which is driven almost everyday. No issues. W.A. carried some great USA-made items and I surely miss them.

At age 21 my father became a manager of a Western Auto store in Santa Cruz. Later we moved to Santa Maria where he was the manager of that Western Auto.

I loved Western Auto I would go every weekend with my Dad to look around

Are store was at the corner of sandusky and central in delaware Ohio, the sullivan family ran it. I remember going to the store with my father, I can still remember how the old wood floor would crack and pop as we would shop in the store. We continue to shop there and the new store just down the street until they closed

More talk is what we want! Thanks for all your great vids!

Cuba, MO on Rt. 66, two doors from Bank Bank still where.

Growing up in the 1960's 70's all our "Buzz" bicycles were bought from Western Auto..My dad would buy all his auto parts there too..What a great place it was to go to