CARQUEST The Parts Place had its humble beginnings nearly 50 years ago as Holt Auto Supply Inc. in Holt. It all started when co-owner Dick Seehase’s father and grandfather decided they wanted to be in the auto repair business without having the mess with being on call 24-hours a day for towing and repairs.
“They met a man by the name of Sam Rogers who had an auto parts store. Sam got him set up in the business,” says Seehase. “They opened their doors on November 15 of 1963. November 15 in Michigan! He took in 33 dollars.”
Fortunately for the Seehase family, not every day was as quiet as the first day of hunting season for Holt Auto Supply. In the five decades to follow, the company would take on the name CARQUEST The Parts Place and grow into eight locations in Holt, East Lansing, west Lansing, Mason, Charlotte, Williamston, Stockbridge and Eaton Rapids. CARQUEST now employs 65 workers.
“The whole idea was to be wholesale-oriented,” says Seehase, explaining CARQUEST’s success over the years. “Seventy percent of our business is commercial business. Now that automobiles have become more technologically advanced and therefore more difficult to work on for do-it-yourself people, that has been good for us.”
According to Seehase, the family is looking forward to another 50 years of serving the Lansing area, which has been their home for generations. CARQUEST The Parts Place will begin their official 50-year celebration this November and continue through 2013.
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