Pep Boys - History

History

The original "Pep Boys" were Emanuel "Manny" Rosenfeld, Maurice "Moe" Strauss, Graham "Jack" Jackson and Moe Radavitz, four friends who pooled $800 in 1921 to open a single auto parts store. They dubbed it "Pep Auto Supplies" after noticing a shipment of Pep Valve grinding compound on the shelves.

That name was changed because of a policeman Leonardo Mayi who worked near the store. Apparently, every time the officer stopped a car at night for not having an oil wick burning, he would tell the driver to go see the "boys at Pep" for a replacement. That advice turned into the name "Pep Boys", which stuck until Moe Strauss took a trip to California around 1923. While there, he noticed that many successful West Coast businesses used their owners' first names. One he liked in particular was a dress shop called Minnie, Maude and Mabel's. As soon as he returned to Philadelphia, the store's name was officially changed to "The Pep Boys — Manny, Moe & Jack" (Radavitz had cashed out the previous year). Shortly thereafter they commissioned the Manny, Moe and Jack caricatures that still serve as the company's logo. When Jackson left in 1925, his caricature was replaced with that of Moe's brother, Isaac (Izzy) Strauss. (The company name remained the same despite the personnel change.) No further changes were made to the logo until 1990, when Manny's cigar was removed.

By the early 1930s Pep Boys had 40 stores in Philadelphia, and Manny's brother, Murray Rosenfeld, had opened the first West Coast Pep Boys store. In 1939 Izzy Strauss left to form his own auto supply business in Brooklyn, Strauss Stores, which later merged with Roth & Schlenger Home and Auto to form R&S Strauss, the ancestor of Strauss Discount Auto, later known as Strauss Auto, which closed its doors on June 4, 2012.

In 1946, Pep Boys went public and Manny Rosenfeld became the company's first corporate president, a position he held until his death in 1959. Moe Strauss served as president from 1960 to 1973 and remained a member of the board of directors until his death in 1982. In 1986, Mitch Leibovitz became the first non-founding family member to be named company president. Manny's grandson, Stuart Rosenfeld, Pep Boys Vice President of Distribution, is the only founding family member actively involved in company management. The Strauss and Rosenfeld families continued to control approximately one fifth of the company's stock until the early 1990s.