ASTORIA – Managers of auto parts stores in the Astoria-Warrenton area said they haven’t seen a drop in sales since AutoZone opened.

But they did express concern about an O’Reilly Auto Parts store scheduled to open here near the end of the year.

AutoZone opened its new store in the North Coast Retail Center along U.S. Highway 101 in Warrenton, which is anchored by Costco and Goodwill.

AutoZone manager Mike Davis said the store’s first month in business has “been awesome,” with sales “well above projections.”

He said his customers seem to like the variety of products on the shelf and his staff’s customer service.

As of mid-September, the store had hired nine local workers. One employee transferred to Warrenton from another store.

Davis said he plans to hire three more employees by November.

Meantime, O’Reilly Automotive, Inc., is scheduled to open a store here in December, said Mark Merz, corporate director of external reporting and investor relations.

He said the O’Reilly store will be across U.S. Highway 101 from AutoZone, in the Warrenton Highlands shopping center at1649 SE Ensign Lane.

As for the AutoZone store’s opening, Ed Bussone, manager of Astoria’s NAPA Auto Parts, said, “I don’t believe that it has [affected sales] at all.”

In fact, he said, his sales are up over last year.

Warrenton NAPA owner Rick Newton also reported strong sales at his store following AutoZone’s opening. “Apparently it hasn’t affected us, because we’re posting record sales,” said Newton.

Both Bussone and Newton said AutoZone’s products and services differ enough from NAPA’s that the two weren’t concerned about losing business.

“I just have better countermen than they do,” Newton added. He said his four countermen have about 75 years of experience among them and all are Automotive Service Excellence-certified.

However, Newton did say he was concerned about having an O’Reilly store less than 2 miles from his location at 269 SW Main Clourt in Warrenton.

“O’Reilly’s mimics us,” said Newton. “They used NAPA as their model. They will hurt us, I believe.”

Bussone at the Astoria NAPA store agreed. “I would imagine we’ll lose some sales,” he said. “But I’m pretty confident…We’ve been here a long time and I think we have a good customer base.”

“Geographically, they’re a lot closer to Rick [Newton], so he probably should be concerned,” Bussone said. The Astoria NAPA is 6 miles away at 2275 Commercial St. in Astoria.

“It’s unusual for an area like this to only have two auto parts stores,” Bussone noted.

He recalled at least four auto parts stores in Astoria proper in the late ’70s when he started in the business. “Of course, they were smaller [stores] then.”

Newton said he has seen auto parts stores come and go during his 34 years as owner of the Warrenton NAPA. “I don’t know exactly what will happen when O’Reilly’s comes in,” he said, “but we certainly won’t fail. Our guys take care of customers.”