the purchase of Motor Parts Depot in Atlanta, Georgia for $40,000. They renamed the parts store Genuine Parts Company. The original Genuine Parts Company store had annual sales of just $75,000, and six employees. For the next 50+ years, GPC, in relationship with NAPA, the National Automotive Parts Association, grew rapidly as independent garages for car repair emerged to meet the needs of the nation's growing number of motor vehicles. In the last 35+ years, GPC has continued to grow through the acquisition of other companies in the automotive industry, as well as in the industrial, office and electrical industries. Today GPC is a parts distributor with over 3,100 operations and approximately 48,000 employees. Company timeline 1925 National Automotive Parts Association established. 1928 Genuine Parts Company established. 1948 GPC Initial Public Offering. 1975 Acquired S.P. Richards Company. 1976 Acquired Motion Industries. 1994 Joint Venture with Auto Todo. 1998 Acquired EIS. 2008 Acquired Altrom. 2013 Acquired GPC Asia Pacific. 2016 Acquired AMX Superstores 2016 Acquired Auto-Camping 2017 Acquired Inenco Group (Australia). Subsidiaries The Automotive Parts Group distributes automotive replacement parts, accessory items and service items throughout North America, Australia and New Zealand. In North America, parts are sold primarily under the NAPA (National Automotive Parts Association) brand name. The company's GPC Asia Pacific business serves the Australasian markets primarily under the brand name Repco. The Automotive Parts Group supports over 6,000 NAPA AUTO PARTS stores throughout the United States, 700 wholesalers in Canada and 481 automotive locations in Australia and New Zealand. These stores sell to both the Retail (DIY) and Commercial (DIFM) automotive aftermarket customer and cover the majority of all domestic and foreign motor vehicle models. The Industrial Parts Group, operating under the name Motion Industries, offers more than 5.9 million industrial replacement parts and related supplies. The Group serves over 150,000 MRO and OEM customers throughout North America and in all types of industries. These include the food and beverage, forest products, primary metal, pulp and paper, mining, automotive, oil and gas, petrochemical and pharmaceutical industries. Strategically targeted specialty industries include power generation, waste-water treatment facilities, wind power generation, solar power, government projects, pipelines, railroads and ports, among others. Motion Industries is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama and operates 15 distribution centers, 523 branches, and 39 service centers in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. The Business Products Group, operating under the name S.P. Richards, distributes more