NYSE: AAP

The Company was founded in 1929 as Advance Stores Company, Incorporated, and operated as a retailer of general merchandise, including automotive parts, until the 1980s. During the 1980s, the Company began shifting its focus, specifically targeting the sale of automotive parts and accessories to DIY customers. The Company initiated the professional delivery program in 1996 and has served professional customers since 2000. The Company has grown significantly as a result of strategic acquisitions, new store openings and comparable store sales growth. Advance Auto Parts, Inc., a Delaware corporation, was incorporated in 2001 in conjunction with the acquisition of Discount Auto Parts, Inc. In 2014, the Company acquired General Parts International, Inc., a privately-held company that was a leading distributor and supplier of original equipment and aftermarket automotive replacement products for professional markets operating under the Carquest and Worldpac trade names.

In November 2024, the Company completed the sale of the Worldpac business for net proceeds of approximately $1.44 billion after transaction costs, the final working capital adjustment recorded in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025 and excluding the impact of taxes. The transaction reflected a strategic shift in the Company’s business with increased focus on the Advance blended-box model. Refer to Note 19. Discontinued Operations, of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements of this Annual Report for further details.

On November 13, 2024, the Company’s Board of Directors approved a restructuring and asset optimization plan (“2024 Restructuring Plan”) designed to improve the Company’s profitability and growth potential and streamline its operations. The 2024 Restructuring Plan is supplemental to other ongoing initiatives, such as our distribution network optimization initiatives, to simplify the Company's business and improve profitable growth and entails, among other items, certain store and independent location closures as well as headcount reductions and organizational design changes to align the Company’s workforce to the expected needs of the Company's business. The Company completed its store footprint optimization with all intended store and independent location closures under the 2024 Restructuring Plan during the first quarter of 2025. Refer to Note 3. Restructuring, of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements of this Annual Report for further details.

During fiscal 2025, the Company continued executing its multi-year strategic plan to drive operational efficiencies, which focuses on merchandising excellence, supply chain transformation and store operations.

Stores

The key factors used in selecting sites and market locations in which the Company operates include population, demographics, traffic count, vehicle profile, number and strength of competitors’ stores and the cost of real estate. During 2025, 39 stores were opened and 522 were closed, resulting in a total of 4,305 stores as of January 3, 2026 compared with a total of

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4,788 stores as of December 28, 2024. During fiscal year 2025, the Company completed the footprint optimization portion of its 2024 Restructuring Plan.

The Company serves its professional and DIY customers through a variety of channels ranging from traditional “brick and mortar” store locations to self-service e-commerce sites. The Company believes it is better able to meet its customers’ needs by operating under two trade names, which are as follows:

Advance Auto Parts — The Company’s 4,066 Advance Auto Parts stores, inclusive of 255 hubs and 33 market hubs, as of January 3, 2026, are generally located in freestanding buildings across 44 U.S. states and two U.S. territories, with a focus on both professional and DIY customers. The average size of an Advance Auto Parts location (including stores, hubs and market hubs) is approximately 8,100 square feet. These stores carry a wide variety of products serving aftermarket auto part needs for both domestic and import vehicles with product offerings of approximately 23,200 stock keeping units (“SKUs”), consisting of a custom mix of products based on each store’s market. Supplementing the Company’s stores’ inventory on-hand, less common SKUs are also available on a same-day or next-day basis from any of the larger hub stores or market hub locations.

Carquest — The Company’s 239 Carquest stores as of January 3, 2026, including 157 stores in Canada, are generally located in freestanding buildings with a primary focus on professional customers, but also serve DIY customers. The average size of a Carquest store is approximately 6,600 square feet. These stores carry a wide variety of products serving the aftermarket auto part needs for both domestic and import vehicles with a product offering of approximately 19,100 SKUs. As of January 3, 2026, 809 independently-owned stores operated under the Carquest name.

The Company serves the stores primarily from its executive office in Raleigh, NC.

Company Products

The Company offers a comprehensive portfolio of replacement parts, maintenance items, accessories and tools to support the full lifecycle of vehicles. With an expansive footprint and a wide assortment of products, the Company believes it is well-positioned to meet a broad range of customer needs in a highly fragmented industry. The following table shows some of the types of products that the Company sells by major category:

Parts & Batteries

Accessories & Chemicals

Engine Maintenance

Batteries and battery accessories

Air conditioning chemicals and accessories

Air filters

Belts and hoses

Air fresheners

Fuel and oil additives

Brakes and brake pads

Antifreeze and washer fluid

Fuel filters

Chassis parts

Electrical wire and fuses

Grease and lubricants

Climate control parts

Electronics

Motor oil

Clutches and drive shafts

Floor mats, seat covers and interior accessories

Oil filters

Engines and engine parts

Hand and specialty tools

Part cleaners and treatments

Exhaust systems and parts

Lighting

Transmission fluid

Hub assemblies

Performance parts

Ignition components and wire

Sealants, adhesives and compounds

Radiators and cooling parts

Tire repair accessories

Starters and alternators

Vent shades, mirrors and exterior accessories

Steering and alignment parts

Washes, waxes and cleaning supplies

Wiper blades

The Company provides customers with quality products that are often offered at a good, better or best recommendation, differentiated by price and quality. The Company accepts customer returns for many new, core and warranty products. Customer returns have historically been immaterial.

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Customers

The Company’s professional customers primarily consist of customers for whom the Company delivers products to their places of business, including garages, service stations and auto dealerships. The Company’s professional sales represented approximately 50% of sales in each of fiscal years 2025, 2024 and 2023. The Company also serves 809 independently-owned Carquest stores with shipments directly from distribution centers. DIY customers are primarily served through the Company’s stores, but can also order online to pick up merchandise at a nearby store or have their purchases shipped directly to them. Except where prohibited, the Company also provides a variety of services at its stores free of charge to customers, including:

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Battery and wiper installation;

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Check engine light scanning;

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Electrical system testing, including batteries, starters and alternators;

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Oil and battery recycling; and

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Loaner tool programs.

The Company also serves customers online at www.AdvanceAutoParts.com or on the Advance Mobile App. Professional customers can conveniently place their orders electronically, by phone, or in-store, and the Company delivers products to their places of business.

Supply Chain

The Company’s supply chain consists of a multi-echelon network of distribution centers, hubs and stores that enable the Company to provide same-day or next-day availability to customers. The Company is executing supply chain initiatives to drive efficiency, improve inventory availability and establish a scalable foundation to support merchandising precision and profitable growth. The redesign is intended to leverage current assets and operate fewer, more productive distribution centers that focus on replenishment and move more parts closer to the customer. To achieve this plan, the Company is in the process of converting certain distribution centers and stores into market hubs, and opening new market hubs. In addition to providing replenishment to nearby stores, market hubs enhance retail operations through improved parts availability. As of January 3, 2026, the Company operated 19 distribution centers, including 3 in Canada, ranging in size from approximately 70,000 to 943,000 square feet with total square footage of approximately 7.2 million. In addition, the Company also has one distribution center dedicated to reclamations. As of January 3, 2026, the Company also operated 33 market hub locations.

Merchandise, Marketing and Advertising

In 2025, the Company purchased merchandise from over 730 vendors. The Company’s purchasing strategy involves negotiating agreements with vendors to purchase merchandise over a specified period, along with other provisions, such as pricing, rebates, volume, and payment terms.

The Company aims to carry a broad selection of high quality and reputable brand name automotive parts and accessories that the Company believes will appeal to professional customers and also generate DIY customer traffic. Some of the Company’s brands include Bosch®, Castrol®, Dayco®, Denso®, Gates®, Meguiar’sTM, Mobil 1TM, Moog®, Monroe®, NGK®, Prestone®, Purolator® and Wagner®. In addition to these branded products, the Company stocks a wide selection of high-quality owned brand products with a goal of appealing to value-conscious customers, including our new oil and fluids brand, ARGOS®, launched in January 2026, designed to meet growing consumer demand for high-quality, affordable auto care products. Other categories of owned brand merchandise include batteries, brakes, chassis, ride control, engine management, filtration, chemicals and other parts under various owned brand names such as Carquest®, DieHard®, Driveworks® and Wearever®. For the DieHard® brand, the Company owns the right to sell batteries and to extend the DieHard® brand into other automotive and vehicular categories. The Company granted the seller an exclusive royalty-free, perpetual license to develop, market and sell DieHard® branded products in certain non-automotive categories.

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The Company’s marketing and advertising programs are designed to drive brand awareness, consideration by consumers and omnichannel traffic by position in the aftermarket auto parts category. The Company strives to exceed its customers’ expectations end-to-end through a comprehensive online and in-store pick up experience, extensive parts assortment, quality brands, experienced parts professionals, professional programs that are designed to build loyalty with customers and the DIY customer loyalty program.

Seasonality

The Company’s business is somewhat seasonal in nature, with the highest sales usually occurring in the spring and summer months. In addition, the Company’s business can be affected by weather conditions. While unusually heavy precipitation tends to soften sales as elective maintenance is deferred during such periods, extremely hot or cold weather tends to cause automotive parts to fail at an accelerated rate which can lead to enhanced sales. The fourth quarter is generally the most volatile as weather and spending trade-offs typically influence professional and DIY sales.

Human Capital

As of January 3, 2026, the Company employed approximately 28,274 full-time team members and 25,733 part-time team members. The Company’s workforce consisted of 87.4% of team members employed in store-level operations, 8.5% in distribution centers and 4.1% in corporate offices. As of January 3, 2026, approximately 1.7% of team members were represented by labor unions.

Our human capital management strategy focuses on attracting, developing, and retaining the highest quality talent. We work to achieve these objectives by offering competitive compensation, comprehensive benefits, and opportunities for career growth and development.

Intellectual Property

The Company owns a number of trade names, service marks and trademarks, including “Advance Auto Parts®,” “Advance Same Day®,” "ARGOS®,” “Carquest®,” “CARQUEST Technical Institute®,” “DieHard®,” “DriverSide®,” “MotoLogic®,” “MotoShop®” and “TECH-NET Professional Auto Service®”, for use in connection with the automotive parts business. In addition, the Company owns and has registered a number of trademarks for its owned brands. The Company believes that these trade names, service marks and trademarks are important to the merchandising strategy. The Company does not know of any infringing uses that would materially affect the use of these trade names and trademarks and will actively defend and enforce them.

Competition

The Company operates in both the professional and DIY markets of the automotive aftermarket industry. The Company’s primary competitors are (i) both national and regional chains of automotive parts stores, including AutoZone, Inc., NAPA, O’Reilly Automotive, Inc. and Auto Plus (formerly Uni-Select USA, Inc.), (ii) internet-based retailers, (iii) discount stores and mass merchandisers that carry automotive products, (iv) wholesalers or jobbers stores, including those associated with national parts distributors or associations, (v) independently-owned stores and (vi) automobile dealers that supply parts. The Company believes that chains of automotive parts stores that, like the Company, have multiple locations in one or more markets, have competitive advantages in customer service, marketing, inventory selection, purchasing and distribution compared with independent retailers and jobbers that are not part of a chain or associated with other retailers or jobbers. The principal methods of competition in the business include brand recognition, customer service, product offerings, availability, quality, service with speed, price and store location.

Environmental and Other Regulatory Matters

The Company is subject to various federal, state and local laws and governmental regulations relating to the operation of the business, including those governing collection, transportation and recycling of automotive lead-acid batteries, used motor oil and other recyclable items and the ownership and operation of real property. The Company sells products containing hazardous materials as part of the business. In addition, customers may bring automotive lead-acid batteries, used motor oil or other

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recyclable items onto the properties. The Company currently provides collection and recycling programs for used lead-acid batteries, used oil and other recyclable items at the majority of its stores as a service to its customers. Pursuant to agreements with third-party vendors, lead-acid batteries, used motor oil and other recyclable items are collected by team members, deposited onto pallets or into vendor supplied containers, and stored by the Company until collected by the third-party vendors for recycling or proper disposal. The terms of the contracts with third-party vendors require that they are in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. The Company’s third-party vendors who arrange for the removal, disposal, treatment or other handling of hazardous or toxic substances may be liable for the costs of removal or remediation at any affected disposal, treatment or other site affected by such substances. Based on the Company’s experience, the Company does not believe that there are any material environmental costs associated with the current business practice of accepting lead-acid batteries, used oil and other recyclable items as these costs are borne by the respective third-party vendors.

The Company owns and leases real property. Under various environmental laws and regulations, a current or previous owner or operator of real property may be liable for the cost of removal or remediation of hazardous or toxic substances on, under or in such property. These laws often impose joint and several liability and may be imposed without regard to whether the owner or operator knew of, or was responsible for, the release of such hazardous or toxic substances. Other environmental laws and common law principles also could be used to impose liability for releases of hazardous materials into the environment or work place, and third parties may seek recovery from owners or operators of real properties for personal injury or property damage associated with exposure to released hazardous substances. From time to time, the Company receives notices from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state environmental authorities indicating that there may be contamination on properties that the Company owns, leases or operates or may have owned, leased or operated in the past or on adjacent properties for which the Company may be responsible. Compliance with these laws and regulations and clean-up of released hazardous substances have not had a material impact on operations to date.

The Company is also subject to numerous regulations including those related to labor and employment, discrimination, anti-bribery/anti-corruption, false claims, product quality and safety standards, data privacy, taxes, workplace safety, consumer protection and trade compliance. Compliance with any such laws and regulations has not had a material adverse effect on the operations to date. For more information, see the following disclosures in Part I.