McNulty back with Auto Expo; HomeClub founder tries automotives superstore format for third time - Robert J. McNulty

Discount Store News, Feb 21, 1994

HomeClub Founder Tries Automotives Superstore Format for Third Time

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. -- HomeClub founder Robert J. McNulty has ventured back into the automotives superstore field, opending Auto Expo as a successor to his failed Auto Giant and Auto Depot automotives warehouse chains.

Last May, McNulty opened Auto Expo, (with himself as president) in a former Auto Giant store here that previously housed a SportsClub of America unit, the first in a string of four McNulty business faulures from 1989 through 1992. The others were HQ Office Supplies Warehouse, an office supplies superstore chain, and Great Canadian Office Supplies Warehouse, a separate chain in Canada.

So far, the success McNulty enjoyed in founding HomeClub, and then selling it for substantial profits to the old Zayre Corp., has eluded him. Now called HomeBase, the home center chain is sister to BJ's Wholesale Club within Waban Inc.

To launch Auto Expo, McNulty lined up 15 private investors who invested a total of $2.8 MILLION, A STOCK SALE FILING WITH THE SEC last March discloses. It lists three beneficial owners, Giles H. Bateman, who is ceo and a director; Argyropoulos Family Partners #3, Montecito, Calif.; and New Enterprise Associates, San Francisco.

The filing states that Auto Expo has no plans to sell stock to non-accredited investors, or those who are worth less than $1 million and earn less than $200,000 a year.

SportsClub also was privately financed, but McNulty obtained public financing to launch the other start-ups. He raised about $27 million apiece for Auto Giant, Auto Depot and HQ Office Supplies Warehouse and about $5.6 million to start his Canadian office supplies chain, HQ Office International.

McNulty also had filed with the SEC to raise public money for yet another venture, Familia Mercado, which was to be an Hispanic ethnic specialty chain. That offering fell through, however, when McNulty's fledgling underwriter, Global America, failed because it lacked the minimum capital of $25,00 needed to stay in the securities business.

McNulty's Auto Giant lent a Global subsidiary $2 million in May 1990 just weeks after Auto Giant reported a $1.7 million loss for its first quarter of operations, a 10-Q filing with the SEC disclosed. Whether the Global subsidiary repaid any part of the loan remains undetermined.

In its bankruptcy filing in January 1992, Auto Giant listed assets of $4 million and debts of $10 million owed to more than 1,000 creditors, while Auto Depot listed assets of $2.3 million and debts of $2.5 million, also owed to more than 1,000 creditors.

Among expenses for Auto Giant, it was paying $156,000 a year for "investor relations" consultation to INCAL Corp., of which McNulty was principal stockholder, officer and director, an SEC filing disclosed.

At its peak, Auto Giant operated three superstores: San Bernardino, Phoenix, Ariz., and Las Vegas. Auto Depot, originally incorporated as a East Coast version of Auto Giant, took over a planned fourth unit in Sacramento, Calif., from its sister chain, and opened it in its own name when Auto Giant ran out of cash to stock the store.

Auto Expo occupies all of the former Auto Giant store, manager Harold Kennedy said. That indicates a warehouse unit of about 40,000 sq. ft. and 20 service bays.

Auto Expo offers a variety of services, including brakes, tuneups and shocks, but no exhaust. It carries Michelin, Goodyear, Pirelli, BF Goodrich and Dunlop tires.

Kennedy confirmed that Auto Expo plans to exapand beyond its one store, but declined to comment on specifies. McNulty declined to return repeated calls for comment.