Carquest in Columbia Falls now under local ownership

The Carquest Auto Parts in Columbia Falls is now locally owned. Andrew Sikveland bought the store on St. Patrick’s Day. He previously owned the Carquest store in Scobey.

He’s bought a house in Columbia Falls.

Sikveland said he’s been trying to buy the Columbia Falls store for several years now. He said an added attraction is his tattoo artist lives in Whitefish. He’s been with the the company for 23 years now and this is the fifth store he’s either owned or managed. It was previously owned by the company. Now it’s a franchise, which gives Sikveland more flexibility of store operation and prices.

The first order of business he said will be cleaning up the store and making it more customer- friendly.

“Nothing will really change, other than hopefully better service and lower prices,” he said. He also plans on expanding the parts line to serve heavy duty and commercial truck lines.

“I came from a rural community,” where those parts were often in demand by farmers and ranchers who owned big rigs. This store has Hanson Trucking in its backyard, In addition to parts, it also sells tools and other items used by mechanics and enthusiasts.

Sikveland also plans on selling Oakley and Maui Jim sunglasses.

Carquest started out as Valley Motor Supply in 1983 and was bought by Advanced Auto Parts in 2013. The Carquest line of parts is the higher end line.

There are more than 8,000 Carquest/Advanced Auto Parts stores nationwide.

Sikveland said if they don’t have a part in stock, they can usually get it within a day.

The store is open from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Saturday. Closed on Sundays.