AutoZone gearing up for a store in northwest Rochester

Nov. 30—ROCHESTER — It looks like AutoZone is gearing up for a new northwest Rochester location.

The Memphis, Tennessee-based auto parts store chain recently filed a building permit to renovate space at 3964 U.S. Highway 52 NW in the Maplewood Square Shopping Center. The permits estimated the value of the construction at $1.11 million.

AutoZone, which has two Rochester stores, did not respond to questions about this project. It is unclear if this will be a third store or if one of the existing stores is moving.

However, the permit did describe the new project as AutoZone #9247. AutoZone at 1615 South Broadway is #3792 and the store at 1880 North Broadway is #3092, so this appears to be a third location.

The permit shows the work happening in space that previously was part of the

Fareway Foods

grocery store. Fareway closed in August 2019. Fitness Evolution and Workout World were also past occupants of that spot.

In 2020,

Northgate Health Club

moved into 23,360-square-feet of the former Fareway space. That left 24,352-square-feet of open space.

A typical AutoZone location is 6,500- to 8,000-square-foot, so this project probably will not take all of the remaining space in that part of Maplewood Square.

AutoZone entered the Rochester market in 2003, when it renovated

a former KFC fast-food restaurant

on North Broadway into an auto parts store. The South Broadway store opened in 2012 on the site of

a former BP Pump-N-Munch station.