Advance Auto Parts to Open Saturday

Tomorrow is a good day for car owners, and for those who want to see economic development in the .

At 8 a.m., Advance Auto Parts will open its doors at the corner of Douglas Road and Route 30. That corner once housed a dilapidated Mobil station, but now it is home to Advance Auto’s brand new structure, which cost an estimated $2.5 million to build, according to Charlene Coulombe-Fiore, executive director of the .

The general manager of the new store is Joe Lesner, who said Advance Auto sees great potential in that corner, and in Montgomery. He said the approval process for the store was smoother than he expected, and though he was scheduled to open the doors on Sept. 5, he’s doing it two days early.

A grand opening is slated for later this month, but the exact date has not been set in stone.

Advance Auto has been in business for nearly 80 years. Stores are corporate-owned, and contain row after row of everything most cars need, from antifreeze to oil filters. The Montgomery location will offer free battery checkups and installation (in most cars), free wiper blade installation, and free computer checks.

Lesner said the new Advance Auto has led to the creation of 10 jobs, and though half of them were transfers from other stores, half were filled with local workers.

Like all Advance Auto Parts stores, the Montgomery location will also be collecting donations for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Lesner said. The stores have been taking donations for the past eight or so years, Lesner said, and last year took in around $4 million.

Coulombe-Fiore said the new building is an enormous improvement over the way that corner once looked. She said the opening of the new store is “a positive sign for growth and community development for Montgomery. It’s good for both Oswego and Montgomery.”

Advance Auto Parts opens at 8 a.m. tomorrow. It will then be open from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, and 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sundays.