Puneet Varma (Editor)

JC Whitney

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Type
  
Subsidiary

Website
  
JC Whitney

Industry
  
Automotive

Parent organization
  
U.S. Auto Parts

Products
  
Aftermarket Automotive Parts and Accessories

Headquarters
  
La Salle, Illinois, United States

CEO
  
Thomas M. West (Nov 2007–)

Founded
  
1915, Chicago, Illinois, United States

Profiles

Sick muscle car burnout at jc whitney car show 2016


JC Whitney is a retailer of aftermarket automotive parts and accessories. As of 2010, it is a wholly owned subsidiary of U.S. Auto Parts

Contents

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History

JC Whitney began its life in 1915 as The Warshawsky Company, a scrap metal yard on the South Side of Chicago. The company's founder was a Lithuanian immigrant named Israel Warshawsky. Throughout World War I, Israel bought failed auto manufacturers and added new parts to his inventory. The Warshawky Company continued to grow, even during the Great Depression. The company closed its Chicago location and opened a new location in LaSalle, Illinois, in 1997.

In 1934, Israel's son Roy joined his father at the company after graduating from the University of Chicago. Roy proposed expanding out from the Chicago-area with a nationwide catalog and placed an ad in Popular Mechanics for sixty dollars. The ad offered readers a "giant auto parts catalog" if they sent in twenty-five cents and response to the ad was huge.

Roy took charge after his father's death in 1943. He continued to grow the business through World War II, always developing new strategies in response to changing customer needs.

Roy retired in 1991.

On June 26, 2002, The Riverside Company acquired JC Whitney.

In 2007, The Riverside Company created Whitney Automotive Group, which owns other companies such as CarParts.com, StylinTrucks.com, and AllBikeSupershop.com

On August 17, 2010, JCWhitney (along with the rest of Whitney Automotive Group) was acquired by U.S. Auto Parts for $27.5 million.

LaSalle, Illinois, location

The LaSalle, Illinois, facility contains both the public retail outlet center as well the expansive distribution center. This facility is also affiliated with Carparts.com, Stylintrucks.com, Autopartswarehouse.com and USautoparts.com. Currently, the company's customer service is being handled in the Philippines. The LaSalle call center and the Independence, Ohio call centers have both been closed. Parent company US Autoparts is also closing its Carson, CA distribution facility.

References

JC Whitney Wikipedia