Tad and Wanda Cummins partner with NAPA
With May marking the 100th anniversary of NAPA Auto Parts, headquartered in Atlanta, Tad and Wanda Cummins take pride in their own parts business which deals primarily with NAPA as a supplier, C & N Auto and Truck Parts located in Cleveland
Named after the couple’s two sons, Clay and Nathan — who currently work at the business and are the probable heir apparents — C&N has been run by the couple after Tad bought it in 2008 from George Fortenberry
“I worked with NAPA for 21 years before buying the business, traveling all over the Southeast,” he said. “So, I already had a relationship with the company going into taking over the store, and it’s a good one. I knew it would be a profitable and strong business for my family. There are no franchise fees, no contract exclusivity — I just have to pay a monthly fee to use NAPA’s catalog. We are independent, though. My computer is tied in to their main one and I place orders before I go home every day before I go home based on what I need,” he said.
Then, six nights a week if the weather permits, a truck delivers parts and freight to the store located at 303 South Davis Avenue.
Tad bought the business on October 1, 2008 and Wanda subsequently lost her job on the 31st of that same month, during the nation’s economic downturn. “She immediately came on board and to be honest, I work for her,” said Cummins with a smile. “I had wanted to buy George’s store eight years earlier, in 2000, but Wanda didn’t think it was time then. She says now that’s the only regret she holds now — that we didn’t buy it sooner.”
Besides Clay and Nathan, Cummins’ longtime friend Roy Stringfellow also works at the store. “We went to high school together,” said Cummins. “Roy was working at Needle Specialty when he found out I was going to buy this store and asked to come to work with me. That was a month before I signed the papers. So, he was the first one on board with me and Wanda.”
C & N Auto and Truck Parts is one of the few locally-owned auto and truck parts dealers in the area, said Cummins, who lives in Drew where he grew up. “People buy from people. I think that has made and kept us successful. Plus, many customers have my cell number and they can, and have, called me late at night if they needed anything ASAP I’ll come back to the store and open it up for them. They come first.
Parts are all the same, at the end of the day. What’s in the box is the same product everywhere. Customers buy from people they know and count on. And I’m glad they can count on us — we always make sure they can,” continued Cummins.
When Cummins bought the business in 2008 there was $250,000 worth of inventory on the premises. Today, he has just over $1 million. “I’m proud of that fact. I have pretty much what you might need here at the store and if I don’t, again, I can order it and have it very quickly. In this business, we’re still recovering from what Covid did to inventory and demand, but it’s not as bad as it was, for sure.”
C & N Auto And Truck Parts business is split 50/50 now between automotive and ag equipment, said Cummins. “In fact, seventy-five percent of the filters I sell are ag, for the tractors and power units.”
Cummins said that NAPA actually started 100 years ago in Memphis and he began his career with them working from the same building where the company launched.
“We’ve won numerous awards from them over the years,” said Cummins. “They’re a good company to work for but, as it happens sometimes, they’ve changed how they operate over the years. It’s a lot more corporate these days then when I was there. I’m what you’d call a NAPA ‘jobber’ — a local guy who’s been with them for years and knows parts and the industry inside out. There’s not a whole lot of us in the Atlanta headquarters anymore.”
At one point, NAPA offered Cummins a job in the Atlanta corporate office, but he turned it down. “Honestly, I just didn’t want to leave the Delta,” he said.
Among the accolades C & N Auto and Truck Parts have won are numerous NAPA’s Five Star awards, including one this year the Cummins’ just recently found out about. “We’re getting a free, week-long trip to the Dominicans for winning this year,” he said. “It’s a national recognition and you have to meet certain criteria to win, which we’ve done several times.”
The award from NAPA Cummins is most proud of, however, was one he received in 1989 as the Mid-South Division Sales Representative of the Year. “Out of 3600 people,” he said. “They gave me a $10,000 bonus as a prize. Wanda and I had been married just two years at that time, so it was huge for us and for me, personally and professionally.”
Cummins said he loves the job and business and plans on staying aboard as owner for 5 more years.Then, the plan is for his two sons to take over the family business. If they are able to, he said.
“I’m not giving my boys anything and they know that,” said Cummins. “They’re going to have to buy this business and earn it, or someone else will. They can go borrow money just like I did. Now, NAPA financed me 100 percent when I bought the business — because I was an employee and, of course, Clay and Nathan are, too — so they have that advantage going for them.”
All in all, Cummins said it’s been a great career. “I’ve been doing what I know and love for many years, most of them with my family beside me. It’s been a good run and I appreciate all of our customers.”