After 93 years in Cedar Rapids, Barron Motor Supply sold

The buyer, Arnold Motor Supply in Spencer, has 70 stores in Midwest

Aug. 27, 2023 5:00 am

CEDAR RAPIDS — A 93-year-old Cedar Rapids business, founded during the Depression on promises to creditors and with family loans, is changing owners.

Barron Motor Supply's owners have agreed to sell the business to Arnold Motor Supply, headquartered in Spencer in northwest Iowa, for an undisclosed sum. The target closing date for the sale is Nov. 13.

“It's the best possible outcome for our employees,” said John Barron, the company’s president.

Barron, 65, has been with the company 45 years, just a bit longer than his brother, Bill Barron, 69, the company’s chief financial officer.

Barron employs about 90 people at its dozen outlets in Iowa.

John Barron estimated about 85 percent of Barron’s business is selling vehicle parts to dealers and repair shops. The rest is walk-in business.

The Barron brothers — the third generation to run the business — said none of their children were interested in taking over the business. With both of them thinking about retiring, they began talking to possible buyers.

Another firm made a higher offer than Arnold’s, John Barron said, but all it wanted was the business’ inventory to eliminate a competitor.

Arnold wanted to keep on the Barron employees, which was important to the brothers.

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Arnold Motor Sports has 70 stores in five Midwestern states and 801 employees, according to Eric Johnson, 54, the company’s president,

He said his company has had friendly relations with Barron Motor Supply for a few years.

The Barron acquisition helps Arnold “geographically and philosophically,” in that their business approaches are similar and that Barron’s fills geographic holes for Arnold, he said.

"We have stores in a bunch of towns they're not in. You couldn't find a better fit (for Arnold)," Bill Barron said.

Ten of Barron's dozen stores are in Iowa cities where Arnold does not have a presence. Arnold has a store in Marion, as does Barron’s, but not in Cedar Rapids, where Barron’s operates at 1850 McLoud Place NE.

Johnson confirmed his company wants to keep Barron's employees.

“It’s customers first! Basically, we’ll be going about business in much the same way. We want to take care of the customers. We may carry some different products, ”Johnson said, during a tour of the Barron facility last week in Cedar Rapids.

Barron Motor Supply was started by Bill and John's grandfather, William J. Barron — “a great salesman,” the brothers said — in 1930 during the Depression.

William heard that one of his former employers, Western Auto, owed $50,000 and had virtually no assets, around the time of the 1929 stock market crash. William had few assets, but he convinced the suppliers he could pay them back for the store’s inventory.

He took on that debt, along with family loans, and went into business. He did so well he had repaid all the creditors and family members by the summer of 1931, said Bill Barron, who is William Barron III.

Barron Motor Supply has had several locations in Cedar Rapids over the years, including in the downtown. It has operated out of the McLoud Place building since 1966.

At one time, the business sold more than auto parts, Bill Barron said he discovered.

After World War II, Barron’s also sold the new technologies appearing on the market — televisions, power mowers, refrigerators, freezers, washers and dryers. Barron also had a machine shop and a shop to repair used mowers.

“Barron Motor Supply started with the vision, hard work and true entrepreneurship of one individual. Our father (William Jr.), John and myself have just been managers that continued the tradition of service to our customers, with a recognition of the fact that Barron Motor Supply's biggest asset has always been our employees,“ Bill Barron said.

John Barron said he will continue working for a while after the sale to help Arnold with the transition. He's looking forward to more leisure time but said he might look for something else to become involved in.

Bill and his wife, Lu, a former Linn County supervisor, have lived in New Zealand for about three years, where their daughter and their two young grandchildren also live.

Arnold Motor Supply was founded in 1927 by E.P. Arnold in Spencer.

The company is already planning a centennial celebration four years from now in Spencer, said Johnson, the company’s president.

“Companies that last a century are rare, so the opportunity for two of them to join forces is a special opportunity,” he said.

“From the first conversation we had with John Barron, we were both impressed at the similarities between two Iowa companies founded within three years of each other nearly a century ago who go about doing business the right way, by prioritizing the customer,” he said.

Asked if Arnold will adapt to the emerging electric vehicle market, “we will have to," Johnson said, even though electric vehicles are still only a "tiny fraction" of the vehicles on the road.

Most electric vehicles are new and still under dealer warranty, so owners will go to the dealers for parts and repairs. That built-in time, Johnson said, gives his company a window to assess the products it will need to have on hand for those vehicles in the future.