As HDAP Discount Auto Parts co-founder Khaled Abudagga says, it looked easy when he and partner Naji Arafat opened their first small auto parts store back in 2003. But then the company grew to its current sixteen locations, and today it’s about a lot more than just discount auto parts.

HDAP Discount Auto Parts has seen some significant growth in a relatively short number of years (it was founded in 2003), to the point where it outgrew its name. But it started out as an idea – a dream, really.

Principal Khaled Abudagga laughs at the transition of the company’s name from Hamilton Discount Auto Parts to its current HDAP (pronounced “H-dap”) identity, but gives a two-tiered answer when asked about the company’s growth across Southern Ontario’s Golden Horseshoe, which wraps around Lake Ontario’s western shoreline and has taken it far from its Steeltown origins.

“It comes with a lot of hard work, as you may already know; we’re in Hamilton, Burlington, Oakville, Mississauga, Etobicoke, Brampton, Brantford, London, St. Catherines, and Niagara.” There are sixteen stores in all, plus its own distribution centre, with an eye on continuing that growth.

“And we have a great partner in Uni-Select, obviously. But we needed to look at the bigger picture, and we joined the Auto Parts Associates buying group out of the U.S. in February.”

Khaled says that the initial founding vision formed with partner Naji Arafat didn’t look very far ahead, though – like the thinking behind the name, and putting shops at the centre of its positioning.

Khaled brings an easygoing attitude to conversation. It’s easy to see how he’s become the more public face of the company, while Arafat stays more in the background.

He doesn’t get caught up in fretting over past decisions. Take that name, for example: Hamilton Discount Auto Parts made perfect sense at the outset, less so now. And obviously, the “Hamilton” reference is less relevant today since most of the branches lie outside city boundaries.

“Even the ‘discount’ in the name, honestly, came out the out of the way that we were thinking as mechanics and techs. So, is it the ideal name 20 years later? Maybe not. We’re out there to make money, and obviously we have a fair price – not necessarily the cheapest, but we have the service, we have the stock. When you call us, we’re here to please you as a customer. And you know, obviously give you the service.”

The idea for what is now HDAP came from his experience as shop owner. He admits he was a bit naïve in the beginning.

“I used to own my own shop. We were a very busy shop in Hamilton. Sometimes parts were taking too long, and some suppliers wouldn’t even talk to us. Things weren’t as competitive back then. And one day we said, ‘Hey I can do this.’ I can buy the parts and sell them; I mean, there’s not much to it.”

He laughs now at how simplistic his view was at the outset. He agrees that “If I knew then what I know now, I might not have started this,” is a hallmark of many enterprises.

“I actually, I told my partner in the business, ‘Hey, there’s nothing to this. We bought it for, say, a hundred bucks. We are selling it for 140 bucks. We made 40 bucks. We’re happy. You didn’t think of accounts receivable, you didn’t think of accounts payable. We were determined to do it, and we did.

“It was literally sink or swim. I look back now, and I just shake my head; I don’t know how crazy I was to do something like this.

“I put in everything in. My partner put in everything he had, and we said, ‘Hey, we’re going to do this.’ Six months later, I leased out my garage. I told my partner, ‘I need you with me.’ And boom, we never looked back.”

That first store wasn’t alone for long. A second store was added in two years, and growth has been steady since, with a combination of acquisitions and greenfield operations.

Khaled has grown progressively more comfortable with being at the helm of a larger enterprise and the need to delegate that comes with it.

“I do have a great team currently with working with us. Having 16 stores, it will not ever be a one-man show. It’s about delegation, obviously.” He runs down the list from sales to purchasing and so on. “I used to do all that, but it got out of hand – with more than five stores, I had to hire people who do purchasing, and I had to hire salespeople and sales managers. It’s growing. It definitely needs a team behind it, and I have a great one.

“At the very beginning, it was very, very tough. It was not easy to say, ‘Hey, here’s the guy who’s going to be my purchaser.’ You’re technically giving him a blank check sometimes, right? It was difficult for me to let go, but for the sake of growing the company, I had to. I had no choice.”

The way Khaled talks about HDAP and where it sits in relation to his vision for the organization reveals an ease at shifting the goalposts.

“At one point – you know, five, six years ago – I think I would say it exceeded my vision. But what it is now, a hundred percent, it’s where we visioned it to be. And we obviously have more growing to do,

“We have more markets to target as well. I’m happy with the progress of the company, a hundred percent. Is there room for improvement? Every business has that, right?

“There are a lot of markets that we have targeted. In the next couple of years, you’re going to see us going there, whether it’s through acquisition or greenfields.

“We have two greenfields hopefully coming very soon.”

He and the team clearly have an eye for making the right moves into markets, but having the right team in place is key.

“The only barrier [to growth] is to find the team, the personnel. Honestly, I would be twice as big as I am if I could find the right people.

“People are key to any company, and the growth of any company. So yes, that’s one of the challenges that we all have as business owners – to have a quality responsible team that helps you, as a leadership, continue to grow.”

With that growth has come a shift in HDAP’s positioning, within its markets but also within the industry.

“In the past couple years, we’ve been pushing more onto the social media and marketing and putting our name more out there. We have invested a lot of money in our brand as HDAP.

“And the result was amazing for us. We are out there. We’re more known today than we ever were, and that comes from a lot of hard work.

“We do participate with a lot of functions in the industry, including AIA Canada and Shad’s R&R, events like that. But you will see more of us, definitely.

“I think it’s very crucial for anybody to be associated with such events, and just for the fact that it puts them, or the business name, out there. I mean, to me, yes, the customers are a very important part of our business, [but] to be a part of the associations or be a part of the industry is important. Maybe not as much as the customer but yeah, it’s of big importance to be out there and be involved in industry functions.

“The suppliers are very important to us as well. That’s part of how I look at it: the customers are important; the suppliers are important. Being in industry functions is important as well.

“You put your name out there, and the respect you get from the suppliers working with them on issues, that helps you out a long way.”

The issue of Right to Repair is top of the list of issues he highlights.

“There is not a time that we speak to our customers that the subject does not come up. We need to have the right to repair actually. We need the government backing and support on it. A lot of the customers are concerned about it. We’re concerned about it. Everybody in the associations and the industry is concerned about it.”

“They want to be able to fix these cars. And even the consumer, they ask, ‘Why do I have to take it back to [the dealer]?’”

The answer is clear to Khaled that consumers should be able to make that choice for themselves, but there are also future implications for the industry. And for a growing enterprise like HDAP, and a growing interest in the business for his family members, it takes on another dimension.

But he remains very positive about the future, despite challenges.

“Well, I have my kids working with us now. And the future is very bright for us. My older son is much more involved than he ever was. And he’s full of energy. These younger guys, they want to do things a lot faster than we old folks do!” he laughs. “Sometimes it’s, ‘Hey, slow down. You need to be, you know, very careful on this and that.’ But to me the sky is the limit for them.”

At the core of HDAP’s creation was an idea that there was a better way. Call it an idea, or a vision, or dream; it’s worth pursuing.

He encourages younger professionals to do that.

“Follow your dreams. Set a target. Follow your dreams. That’s my advice to all, to every young person. Set up a target and follow your dream. You’re not going to lose.”

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This article also appeared in the June/July Jobber Nation print edition. You can read the FULL DIGITAL FLIPBOOK HERE.