Growing auto parts business to open regional hub in Presque Isle

A Maine business that started in Ellsworth has expanded its footprint in Presque Isle.

Coastal Auto Parts/NAPA Auto Parts recently moved from the corner of Park and Main streets to a new, larger building at 211 Main, next to Griffeth Ford Lincoln.

NAPA started as a group of independent auto parts stores in Detroit in 1925. Today its 6,000 U.S. stores are supplied by parent company Genuine Parts. Coastal, a NAPA associate, bought stores in Caribou, Presque Isle and Houlton six years ago, and four years ago acquired the former CarQuest in Ashland.

With its business growing in Aroostook County, it needed more space, said general manager Matthew Boles. The company plans to turn the Presque Isle store into a regional headquarters.

“We were pretty full at that original location. The layout didn’t flow very well and parking was tough, so we needed a larger spot for our inventory,” Boles said.  “The plan is for that to kind of be a hub for the other Aroostook stores.”

Coastal bought the former Clukey’s Auto Parts main office and warehouse building in 2018. Established by Tom Clukey in 1984, the business was well known for more than 30 years. Clukey died in 2013 and his wife, Gail, sold the store to Genuine Parts in 2015, which ran it for three years.

Over the years, the buildings have housed other operations including a grocery store, paint store and lawn and garden center. Most recently, Dave’s World, a Maine heat pump business, bought the buildings for its first Aroostook location.

When Coastal realized it needed more space, officials worked with Griffeth Ford owner Neal Griffeth, who built the site they now rent, Boles said.

Griffeth also operates Griffeth Honda in Presque Isle and Griffeth Ford in Caribou.

Boles’ father and his stepfather started Coastal Auto Parts in 1981, with the first store in Ellsworth, he said. The elder Boles is retired and now Matthew, two brothers and a sister run the businesses, which include 30 stores from Aroostook County down through Machias and Gray.

All four Aroostook County locations have grown, which Boles attributed partly to the NAPA name recognition, but more to the diverse industries in the area and the company’s ability to serve them along with more traditional automotive customers.

“We have traditionally expanded beyond automotive. We do a lot with the farms and the logging industry and the construction outlets. We will dabble in things outside of what you’d normally think of,” Boles said.

Among other things, the company carries paint, hydraulics parts and filters for specialized equipment. It serves general retail customers as well as professionals, though skews about 80 percent wholesale, he said.

The new building sits on the filled-in area that used to be Presque Isle’s outdoor pool. The old pool building is still there beside it. Staff started transferring inventory to the site in early July and the move was complete a couple of weeks ago.

The community and customers have been positive about the new store, Boles said.

Business was brisk on Wednesday, with store manager Bill Busse and crew handling both in-person and telephone customers, climbing to the second level to retrieve products.

Altogether, Coastal Auto Parts has 36 employees in The County: 13 in Houlton, 10 in Presque Isle, five in Ashland and eight in Caribou, Boles said.

As they make Presque Isle a hub store they’ll add more inventory and likely will hire more staff, he said.

“We never went into the business to own 30 stores, but just to stay competitive with bigger stores,” Boles said. “For us also to reach into other industries has been integral.”