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Official Site: PepBoys.com
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History
The following section is an excerpt from Wikipedia's Pep Boys page on 6 June 2020, text available via the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
The Pep Boys: Manny, Moe & Jack (branded and commonly abbreviated as Pep Boys) is an American automotive aftermarket retail and service chain. They are referred to as the "founders of the automotive after market".
Originally named Pep Auto Supply Company, the Company was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1921 by Emanuel (Manny) Rosenfeld, Maurice L. (Moe) Strauss, W. Graham (Jack) Jackson, and Moe Radavitz.
Headquartered in the Philadelphia neighborhood of Allegheny West, Pep Boys provides name-brand tires, automotive maintenance and repair, parts and expert advice for the do-it-yourselfer, commercial auto parts delivery, and fleet maintenance and repair to customers across the U.S. with Just Brakes, its wholly owned subsidiary. Pep Boys operates more than 8,300 service bays in over 930 locations in 35 states and Puerto Rico.
The original "Pep Boys" were Emmanuel "Manny" Rosenfeld, Maurice "Moe" Strauss, Graham "Jack" Jackson, and Moe Radavitz, four friends who, in August 1921, chipped in $200 apiece to open a single auto parts store. They dubbed it Pep Auto Supply Company after noticing a shipment of Pep Valve grinding compound on the shelves.
The name of the company emerged in pieces. “The Pep Boys” came from a policeman who worked near the store: Every time the officer stopped a car for driving without lights during nighttime hours, he would tell the driver, "Go see the boys at Pep" for a replacement oil wick (what cars used as headlights in those days).
A few years later, on a trip to California, Moe Strauss noticed that many successful West Coast businesses used their owners' first names. One he liked in particular was a dress shop called "Minnie, Maude and Mabel's". As soon as Strauss returned to Philadelphia, the Company’s name was officially changed to "The Pep Boys – Manny, Moe & Jack". (Radavitz had cashed out the previous year.)
Soon, the partners had commissioned the Manny, Moe and Jack caricatures that still serve as the company's logo. When Jackson left in 1927, his caricature was replaced with that of Moe's brother, Isadore (Izzy) Strauss. In 1929, Izzy Strauss left to form his own auto supply business in Brooklyn, Strauss Stores, which later merged with Roth & Schlenger Home and Auto to form R&S Strauss, the ancestor of Strauss Discount Auto, later known as Strauss Auto, which closed its doors on June 4, 2012. The company name's reference to "Jack" remained unchanged. No further changes were made to the logo until 1990, when Manny's cigar was removed.
The Great Depression struck in 1929, but Manny and Moe had not incurred business debts other than reasonable mortgages on store properties. Pep Boys was thereby insulated from the severe downturn that destroyed so many other businesses. Although unemployment rates reached 40 percent in some areas, Manny and Moe did not lay off employees or cut salaries during the Depression. Instead, they added employees as part of an expansion they had waited 60 years to launch. In 1933, Manny's brother, Murray Rosenfeld, opened the first West Coast Pep Boys store as part of a separate company named The Pep Boys - Manny, Moe & Jack of California and managed the Western operations. Within three years, Pep Boys of California had opened 11 stores.
In 1945, Pep Boys went public, and Manny Rosenfeld became the company's first corporate president, a position he held until his death in 1989. Moe Strauss served as president from 1960 to 1966 and remained chairman of the board of directors until his death in 1982. In 1986, Mitch Leibovitz became the first non-founding family member to be named company president. Manny's grandson, Stuart Rosenfeld, Pep Boys' vice president of distribution, is the only founding family member currently in company management. The Strauss and Rosenfeld families continued to control approximately one-fifth of the company's stock until the early 1990s.
By 1969, the number of Pep Boys stores grew to 1249 Service bays and service managers were added to each store. In the 1970s, all stores had self-serviced merchandising and a computerized inventory system was in use.
In the 1980s, came aggressive growth. Pep Boys moved to the New York Stock Exchange and enjoyed rapid expansion with the introduction of the “supercenter.” The store count grew to more than 7009 and the company had more than 3,000 service bays. It generated more than $2 billion in annual sales.
In the 1990s, growth continued with the opening of stores in Puerto Rico.
Reference Desk
The Crittenden Automotive Library's "Reference Desk" is a collection of materials that cannot be shared due to copyright restrictions. Information from these resources, however, can be shared. Go to the Reference Desk page for more information.
| Type | Title |
|---|---|
2005  Book | The Pep Boys Auto Guide to Car Care and Maintenance by E.J. Braswell; Ballantine Books |
| Date | Article | Author/Source |
|---|---|---|
| 30 April 2003 | Pep Boys Partners With Global Icons to License and Market Manny, Moe and Jack Trademarks | Global Icons |
| 3 January 2014 | Pep Boys Launches Striker Simple Sucker | Striker Hand Tools |
| 15 May 2020 | Honoring Sacramento County Sheriff'S Deputy Mark Stasyuk | Congressional Record: Rep. Ami Bera |