| Westbay Auto Parts, Inc. is the largest independent
auto parts chain in Kitsap County. Robert Price started the
first Westbay Auto Parts in February 1961 at 1230 Bay Street
in Port Orchard. In 1966, Don Lewis came to work for Westbay
and started the machine shop. Don later became a partner as
well. The Bay Street location became too small for business
and Westbay moved to the current location on Mile
Hill Drive in 1977 at which time the business began to grow
very rapidly. Upon moving, a computer system was added and Carolyn
Price came to work for Westbay to run the computer and handle
the other bookkeeping functions. Don Lewis retired in 1991.
In August of 1980, a second store was added in Gorst. The
building quickly became too small and a new building was purchased
on Navy Yard Highway, Bremerton
and moved in 1981. The new building was large enough that
a machine shop was added at the same time.
An existing parts store in Silverdale
was purchased in April of 1981. When the lease expired in
September of 1983, a new location was purchased a couple of
blocks down from the original store.
In June of 1985, the chance to buy two existing parts stores
arose, one in Poulsbo and one
in East Bremerton. This
was a big step in getting greater coverage in Kitsap County
as the northern part of the county was now represented by
Westbay Auto Parts. When the lease expired for the Poulsbo
store in November of 1986, a new location was purchased. A
new location for the East
Bremerton store was built and the store was moved in 1993.
Store #6 in Gig Harbor was
purchased in June of 1988. This was Westbay's first store
outside Kitsap County, but its location on the Olympic Peninsula
made it a natural expansion move.
In order to provide our customers with better pricing and
warranty protection we joined the Parts
Plus group in 1992.
Port Townsend store was
purchased in November of 1995. This was the first venture
into Jefferson County, an area we feel fits our market.
Store #8 was built in Belfair
in 1996. This was the first time that Westbay Auto had built
a new store rather than purchasing an existing business and
our first store in Mason County.
With the passing of Bob Price in January 2000, the management
team now consists of his son Ken Price, Jim Civilla, Dave
Anderson and Ginger Hall. Although Bob was the heart of Westbay,
the new management team continues his spirit of customer service
above all.
Westbay Auto Parts is committed to providing the highest
quality in both service and parts to our customers. This level
of committment will allow us to remain a leader in our industry.
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