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Despite the end of a business partnership with Napa Auto Parts and a rumor that his store is closing, a local store owner has no intention of shutting his shop's doors.

Bill McPherson, owner of Lodi Automotive Supply, Inc., said rumors have been circulating around town that his store would not be staying open after the dissolution of his business partnership with automotive part supplier Napa Auto Parts.

But McPherson insists that he will remain open, not only because the store is still doing well, but because he made a promise to Bud Burlington in 1995. McPherson said he promised Burlington, the previous owner of the store, that he would not be the one to close the auto supply store's doors, no matter how hard things got.

"That store has been there since 1912 ... that's right, 100 years in Lodi," he said. "And I have been there for 17 years. I am not about to let it go."

According to McPherson, he and Napa Auto Parts general manager John Uhl had a falling out in their business relationship when McPherson changed his store's business plan to meet its needs during the recession.

Uhl said that he could not discuss conversations he had had with McPherson, but he did confirm that Napa Auto Parts would no longer be a supplier to the store.

Uhl added that he does hope Napa Auto Parts will be able to find another way to be a part of the Lodi economy in the future, though a plan has not been set on how to do so yet.

McPherson said his store had been seeing a 2 to 3 percent decline in sales each year since 2008. At the time, a majority of those whom his store catered to were mom-and-pop businesses. But a year ago, he restructured his sales to be geared more towards farmers and industrial truckers.

He said it made sense to do so as Lodi is an agricultural community, and in 2011 the store saw an 11.5 percent increase in sales revenue.

And while McPherson admits he moved farther away from selling to smaller businesses, he said it was not because he did not want to meet their needs.

"It is like buying a ticket to the Titanic, knowing already that it is going to sink," he said. "That is what it is like having a business on Sacramento Street sometimes. ... We can't afford to move, so we had to look elsewhere ..."

McPherson said while his store will no longer sell supplies from Napa Auto Parts, he has found other companies who will be able to supply the same parts local businesses need.

Longtime customers of the store — also known as Graffigna Bros Auto Parts — have sent in nearly 100 letters expressing their disappointment with Napa Auto Parts.

Many letters ask Uhl and his company to reconsider the split, saying they trust the auto parts and that they do not want to see Lodi lose a store that has been in business for a century.

"There has to be loyalty to the business ..." one letter writer states. "Let (the McPhersons) keep their charter and grow as the economy rebounds. It's the service and the people behind the counter that sell the parts."

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