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The first Auto Zone store was opened at Forrest City, Arkansas, in 1979, under the name of Auto Shack. Doc Crain was named the store's first manager.
The Auto Shack company was basically a small operation company during its infancy. In 1984, Auto Shack became the first auto parts company in the United States to operate a " quality control program ",
By 1986, expansion had made the company grow into a large store chain across the South and the Midwest. That year, Darren Reltherford, manager of Auto Shack's Memphis branch, received the first Extra Miler award, which has since been given to whom the company considers its best employee each year.
In 1987, Auto Shack officially changed its name to Auto Zone. This would mark the beginning of an era of large expansion for the company, as it would soon after open stores in other areas across the United States. That year also, the company introduced an electronic catalog.
In 1989, the company began using the SMS system, and in 1991, it began trading at the New York Stock Exchange.
In 1994, Auto Zone began using satelliteFor other uses, please see Satellite (disambiguation A satellite is an object that orbits another object (known as its primary . The term is often used to describe an artificial satellite (as opposed to natural satellites, or moons). Because all objects es.
In 19951995 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). It has a Golden number of 1, and was the first year of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People (1995- 2005): http://www. org/culture/indigenous . Events January events Ja, their 1,000th store was opened, this one in Louisville, KentuckyThis article is about the Kentucky city. For other uses see Louisville (disambiguation). Louisville is Kentucky's largest city and the 16th largest city of the United States. The City of Louisville was founded in 1778 by George Rogers Clark and is named a. Also, the Duralast trademark made its debut.
19961996 was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar), and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty''. Events January January 5 Hamas operative Yahya Ayyash is killed by an Israeli-planted booby-trapped cell phone Jan was the year when the InternetThis article is about the Internet the extensive, worldwide computer network available to the public. An internet is a more general term for a set of interconnected computer networks that are connected by internetworking''. WWW information network structu era arrived at the company, when Auto Zome opened their first ever company website.In 19981998 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar), and was designated the International Year of the Ocean''. Events January January 1998 A massive ice storm, caused by El Nino, strikes New England, southern Ontario and Quebec, resulting, the company began a process of internationalization with their first store abroad, which opened in Nuevo Laredo , MexicoThis article is about the country Mexico. For other meanings, see Mexico (disambiguation The United Mexican States or Mexico ( Spanish: Estados Unidos Mexicanos or Mexico regarding the use of the variant spelling Mejico see section The name below) is a co. Auto Zone closed the 1990sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s 2040s Years: Events and trends Computers, technology Explosive growth of the Internet; decrease in the cost of computers and other techn by debuting at the Fortune 500 list in 1999.
Steve Odland became Auto Zone's third CEO in 2001. In 2003, the Duralast tool line was introduced.2003 was also a year of important negotiations for Auto Zone, as the company partnered with other important auto part industry companies, such as CarMax and Midas .
In 2004, Auto Zone announced a corporate sponsorship agreement with auto racing association NASCAR.