Andre Pieces opened his automobile parts store, Quickfix Auto Parts, in 1997, in mid-sized city located in the mid-western region of the United States. Having worked for an automobile dealership, first as a technician, and later as the parts department manager, for oven 15 years, Andre had learned the many nuances of the fiercely automobile servicing business. He had developed many contacts with dealers and service technicians, which came in real handy when establishing his own retail store. Business had picked up significantly well over the years, and as a result, Andre had more than doubled his store size by the third year of operations. The industry and local forecasts for next few years were very good and Andre was confident that his sales would keep growing at above the recent levels.