NAPA Auto Parts has a new home on Island Avenue

Feb. 14—LA GRANDE — La Grande's NAPA Auto Parts store is powering up at a new location.

NAPA Auto Parts is now operating at 2726 Island Ave. The new building is larger and brighter than the store's previous home at 1104 Jefferson Ave. The building's features include a second-level mezzanine where many of the store's auto parts are kept, additional space and brighter lighting.

Construction of the building started in early 2022 and was recently completed. NAPA Auto Parts opened for business in the new structure on Monday, Feb. 13.

Manager Jerry Baker likes the new location because of the proximity to Interstate 84 and the potential to draw more traffic from it and because it has greater local visibility than at its previous location, making it easier to find.

"It is more centrally located," he said.

Baker is also please with the new building's larger space, which allows it to carry additional merchandise.

Much of the move into the new building was made between Feb. 9-12, and the process was a whirlwind experience.

"It was crazy," said Baker, who noted that the move went smoothly overall.

Customers are impressed with the new building. La Grande's Armando Morales likes the location because it is about a block away from where he works.

"It is more convenient for me," he said.

Morales has been a NAPA Auto Parts customer in La Grande for 10 years and has long been impressed with the customer service provided by staff.

"They are always helpful, and if they do not have something they will order it," he said.

Union County resident Jason Hedgepeth, like Morales, said the new location will be easier for him to get to.

"It is handier because it is near the freeway," he said, adding that in the course of a normal week he will pass by the new NAPA building many times.

The NAPA Auto Parts store will conduct a grand opening later this year.

"It probably will be in June," Baker said.

The new store is on a lot of land where Eagle Truck & Machine Co. previously had a building. The truck company moved from the location about 15 years ago.

Baker said no plans have been made yet for the old NAPA Auto Parts building on Jefferson Avenue.

Flashback

The site where NAPA Auto Parts was previously located, at Jefferson Avenue and Chestnut Street, has an extensive history in the La Grande business community.

The first business to operate there was the Golden Rule Hotel, which opened at 1104 Jefferson Ave. in 1893, according to La Grande historian Bob Bull. About 10 years later, the Foley House opened at the site. The Foley House was just north of the Foley Hotel and provided lodging to guests when the Foley Hotel was filled to capacity.

"It took the overflow from the Foley Hotel," Bull said.

The Foley House stopped operating by the early 1920s.

The site at 1104 Jefferson Ave. has been the home of auto-related businesses for the past seven decades. A Nash Motors dealership operated there from about 1950 until the mid-1960s when Harmon Motors opened at the site. Blue Mountain Motors opened at 1104 Jefferson Ave. in 1971 and Blue Mountain Auto Parts began operating there between 1983 and 1987, Bull said. Blue Mountain Auto Parts then became NAPA Auto Parts.

Dick Mason is a reporter with The Observer. Contact him at 541-624-6016 or dmason@lagrandeobserver.com.