San Marcos’ NAPA Auto Parts location has a new look, new name and new owners.
NAPA Auto Parts, now NAPA Redhead Auto Parts, held a grand opening Tuesday under the new owners Sean and Petra Mann.
The Manns are returning to San Marcos after several years away to run the store as an independent family-owned-and-operated auto parts supplier.
Sean and Petra met at Texas State University – then Southwest Texas State – in 2002. She was getting her bachelor's degree in psychology and he was getting a degree in business administration.
While Sean attended Southwest Texas State, he worked for the university doing vehicle maintenance and when he needed to buy parts, he almost always came to the San Marcos NAPA Auto Parts store. He started building a relationship with the owners, Helen Krueger, Robert “Bob” White and Beverly Bretzke. When he graduated from Southwest Texas State, he went on to work for NAPA Auto Parts as a corporate territory sales manager out of San Antonio and the San Marcos NAPA was one of his accounts.
“I went from being a customer to being their supplier and helping manage inventory,” Sean said. “And I continued to build a relationship with the owners. We started developing this relationship where I would say ‘Hey if you ever sell, call me first.’”
Well, 14 years passed, but that call finally came.
“One day I was sitting in my office at around 7:30 in the morning and I got a call,” Sean said. “I looked down at my phone and saw ‘San Marcos Automotive.’ I thought ‘Why are they calling me?’ then I thought ‘Oh god, it’s the call,’ and sure enough, Helen called and asked if I would be interested in buying the store.”
The decision for the former owners to sell wasn’t an easy one. White, Krueger and Bretzke co-owned the NAPA Auto Parts Store in San Marcos for over 40 years together. But when White passed away in 2017, the decision was made to sell the store.
“My wife and I spent many, many nights pondering the opportunity and then decided to make the jump into store ownership as an independent owner, the only independent automotive aftermarket parts supply house in San Marcos,” Sean said.
The Mann family decided to buy the store and made Krueger store manager. Sean said her years of experience and knowledge of auto parts is incomparable in the industry.
“The experience and the knowledge that they have in parts, you cannot replace that, you can’t find that type of automotive knowledge,” he said. “That’s why she’s my manager here, you can’t replace that kind of experience.”
With tables full of tools and supplies setup outside the store for visitors to peruse, co-owner Petra Mann stops to talk with customer Andrew Fay about their special deals.
The Manns have changed a lot about the location; they gave it a paint job, removed the dropped ceilings and wood paneling, put up a new sign and lights, and added a lot more shelving with a lot more inventory. But they’ve kept the things about the store that they felt most valuable, the experienced and knowledgeable employees and the quality products.
“I worked for NAPA for 14 years and so I can kind of see what worked here and what didn’t work here,” Sean said. “And you know what it comes down to, just treating people right and providing a quality product at a fair price. I want to continue to build on to what the previous owners, Helen, Bob and Beverly, have done for many, many years. Our job is to just pump a little life into it.”
The decision to independently own and operate a business can be a risky decision, but Sean said there were several factors that made the decision for his family, specifically Axel, Levi and Brody, their three sons.
“For me, there were a couple of things that made the decision. One was that I was traveling a lot and have three young boys – 5, 3 and 1 – and all red-headed boys (hence the name), thanks to my lovely wife here,” he said. “But having the opportunity to see our kids grow up and not having to challenge my wife with taking care of three young ones by herself was the driving factor for me.”
The Manns also recently purchased the Lockhart NAPA Auto Parts, located at 204 N. Commerce St., which is holding its grand opening today.
“Auto parts is not the most glamorous thing on earth, but to me, I really enjoy when people walk in with a problem and I can help fix it,” Sean Mann said. “Nothing is better than helping people; getting them what they need and getting them on the road back home.”
NAPA Redhead Auto Parts is located at 523 S. Guadalupe St., for more information go to the NAPA website.
