TheSamba.com :: View topic - JC Whitney's outlet store

Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:59 am

We're going to be heading out tomorrow for BNNTA and could make a 30 minute detour and stop by JC Whitney's outlet store in Lasalle, IL. I don't really need anything but was wondering if anyone has visited the store and it's worth the trip.

Thu Sep 03, 2009 5:06 am

It'd be better than shopping out of the catalog, as you can lay hands and eyes on what you're getting. JCW is known for cheap prices and poor quality.

Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:48 am

In theory, outlet stores provide leftovers, blems and returned product from their main stores. I would hate to see what a store full of JC Whitney cast-offs looks like.

Actually, it may be entertaining.

Thu Sep 03, 2009 11:23 am

The bottom of the barrel goes even deeper that just a catalog? :shock:

Thu Sep 03, 2009 11:30 am

Pick me up a 12 volt decklid for this bug when you go there.

Thu Sep 03, 2009 11:58 am

There's got to be a JC Whitney part on the engine somewhere LOL. I've gone past it before but never stopped because it's usually been a Sunday. I do think I will try and stop and at least get some pictures to share plus there might be something there I can't live without.

Thu Sep 03, 2009 1:06 pm

I haven't been to the new one, but the old one on the Southside of Chicago was endlessly entertaining. There were closeout and return items on the shelves, but mostly just cheap crap like license plate frames and air fresheners, stuff no one would bother shoplifting. The good stuff was behind the counter.

At the counter it was a take a number and wait deal, and you waited forever. What made it fun were your fellow customers, and hanging around outside with them waiting for your number to come up. People working on their cars across the street in the parking lot, smoking joints, drinking beer-- it was party. There were always at least 100 people hanging around there weekends.

There used to be two stacks of catalogs at the counter, JC Whitney and Warshawsky & Co (the name JC Whitney went by locally). If it still works like it used to, always take a Warshawsky catalog to the counter because the prices are lower than in the JC Whitney Catalog and the counter guy charges based on which catalog you're holding.

Thu Sep 03, 2009 1:16 pm

I had the privalge of living in Lasalle-Peru, IL briefly...even then, it wasn't worth the 5 minute detour to goto the jc whitney outlet store...I did score a denmark heater box blem for a type 4 engine on my only visit, though...think I paid $90 for it, which was half their catalog price at the time

in the late 90s, they had everything out on shelfs...very little for vws, though - back then, they had very limited hours...so make sure they are open if you chose to go there...

Thu Sep 03, 2009 1:36 pm

coad wrote: The good stuff was behind the counter.

Good stuff? :shock:

Thu Sep 03, 2009 1:37 pm

pyrOman wrote: coad wrote: The good stuff was behind the counter.

Good stuff? :shock:

There wasn't anything behind the counter. :o

Thu Sep 03, 2009 1:48 pm

pyrOman wrote: coad wrote: The good stuff was behind the counter.

Good stuff? :shock:

You know, the good stuff, 67 and later headlight rings for a bug that are egg shaped.

Thu Sep 03, 2009 2:00 pm

Seriously, you would not believe how many starters and alternators got sold out of that store on a weekend. It was like every other person walked out with one or the other under their arm.

I just looked it up on Google Earth, and the whole thing is gone. There's some yuppie apartment building where the store used to be (State and Archer) and there's townhouses across the street where the parking lot used to be.

Thu Sep 03, 2009 2:09 pm

69 Jim wrote: pyrOman wrote: coad wrote: The good stuff was behind the counter.

Good stuff? :shock:

There wasn't anything behind the counter. :o

:lol:

Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:32 pm

JC Whitney
761 Progress Parkway
LaSalle, IL 61301-9507

Just got a catalog in the mail today.

Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:21 pm

coad wrote: Seriously, you would not believe how many starters and alternators got sold out of that store on a weekend. It was like every other person walked out with one or the other under their arm.

I just looked it up on Google Earth, and the whole thing is gone. There's some yuppie apartment building where the store used to be (State and Archer) and there's townhouses across the street where the parking lot used to be.
After they moved to LaSalle , the return goods were still at a big old multi-story warehouse around Cermak Rd and Throop near the Shipping and Sanitary Canal in Chicago. Same scene there in the dirt lot as Coad described. I snagged a few bargains there in the mid 90's. :D

Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:36 pm

Random statement- Google Street view still fascinates me. :lol: .. but to stay on course, i would mos def stop by if i could. JC was the first place i got my parts. now its mamotorworks and cbperformance..

Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:39 pm

donivan_p wrote: Random statement- Google Street view still fascinates me. :lol: .. but to stay on course, i would mos def stop by if i could. JC was the first place i got my parts. now its mamotorworks and cbperformance..

One out of three ain't bad. :roll:

Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:27 pm

iowegian wrote: coad wrote: Seriously, you would not believe how many starters and alternators got sold out of that store on a weekend. It was like every other person walked out with one or the other under their arm.

I just looked it up on Google Earth, and the whole thing is gone. There's some yuppie apartment building where the store used to be (State and Archer) and there's townhouses across the street where the parking lot used to be.
After they moved to LaSalle , the return goods were still at a big old multi-story warehouse around Cermak Rd and Throop near the Shipping and Sanitary Canal in Chicago. Same scene there in the dirt lot as Coad described. I snagged a few bargains there in the mid 90's. :D

Very creepy building. Dark and desolate with nothing going on anywhere near it. They sent me there once to pick up a wiring harness for a 53 Beetle. I was the only customer, and the counter guy shuffled off for a good 20 minutes and came back with a very dusty old box with the wiring harness inside. I think it was OG VW. I was amazed.

Thu Sep 03, 2009 11:59 pm

coad wrote: iowegian wrote: coad wrote: Seriously, you would not believe how many starters and alternators got sold out of that store on a weekend. It was like every other person walked out with one or the other under their arm.

I just looked it up on Google Earth, and the whole thing is gone. There's some yuppie apartment building where the store used to be (State and Archer) and there's townhouses across the street where the parking lot used to be.
After they moved to LaSalle , the return goods were still at a big old multi-story warehouse around Cermak Rd and Throop near the Shipping and Sanitary Canal in Chicago. Same scene there in the dirt lot as Coad described. I snagged a few bargains there in the mid 90's. :D

Very creepy building. Dark and desolate with nothing going on anywhere near it. They sent me there once to pick up a wiring harness for a 53 Beetle. I was the only customer, and the counter guy shuffled off for a good 20 minutes and came back with a very dusty old box with the wiring harness inside. I think it was OG VW. I was amazed.

Little did you know he had to go into a dark dungeon marked "actually good stuff"

Fri Sep 04, 2009 6:15 am

I dont buy from JC, but they list some quality components in the catalog, but on many items, they indicate that there may be brand substitutions. At an outlet store, you'll see exactly what you are getting, so, why not?