Wallace Design Collective

AutoZone’s history started with the vision of one man: J.R. “Pitt” Hyde III. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of North Carolina, he joined Malone & Hyde, Inc., a wholesale food company founded by his grandfather. Pitt initiated and developed Malone & Hyde’s specialty retailing division, beginning with drug stores and expanding to include sporting goods stores and supermarkets. Pitt saw a need for a retail automotive parts store to help people with the upkeep of their vehicles so he created Auto Shack. He believed that the characteristics found in supermarkets – clean, well-organized store, accessible products and great customer service – could be applied to the automotive parts business. In 1979, his vision became a reality.

Wallace has provided structural and/or civil engineering services for over 1,800 auto part retail stores to date in over 47 states. Their stores range in size from 3,400 to 8,500 square feet. Structural systems designed consist of steel roof framing, concrete masonry walls, wood roof framing with wood stud walls, light-gauge stud walls, shallow spread footings, drilled piers with grade beams, driven pile foundations, and ribbed mat slab foundation systems.

Photos: ©Adam Murphy Photography