Segment Reporting

12 Months Ended

Aug. 27, 2011

Segment Reporting [Abstract]

Segment Reporting

Note P — Segment Reporting

The Company’s two operating segments (Domestic Auto Parts and Mexico) have been aggregated as one reportable segment: Auto Parts Stores. The criteria the Company used to identify the reportable segment are primarily the nature of the products the Company sells and the operating results that are regularly reviewed by the Company’s chief operating decision maker to make decisions about the resources to be allocated to the business units and to assess performance. The accounting policies of the Company’s reportable segment are the same as those described in Note A.

The Auto Parts Stores segment is a retailer and distributor of automotive parts and accessories through the Company’s 4,813 stores in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. Each store carries an extensive product line for cars, sport utility vehicles, vans and light trucks, including new and remanufactured automotive hard parts, maintenance items, accessories and non-automotive products.

The “Other” category reflects business activities that are not separately reportable, including ALLDATA which produces, sells and maintains diagnostic and repair information software used in the automotive repair industry, and e-Commerce, which includes direct sales to customers through www.autozone.com.

The Company evaluates its reportable segment primarily on the basis of net sales and segment profit, which is defined as gross profit. During fiscal 2009, the Company reassessed and revised its reportable segment to exclude ALLDATA and e-Commerce from the newly designated Auto Parts Stores reporting segment. Previously, these immaterial business activities had been combined with Auto Parts Stores.

The following table shows segment results for the following fiscal years:

	Year Ended
	August 27,			August 28,			August 29,
(in thousands)	2011			2010			2009
Net Sales:
Auto Parts Stores	$	7,906,692		$	7,213,753		$	6,671,939
Other		166,281			148,865			144,885
Total	$	8,072,973		$	7,362,618		$	6,816,824
Segment Profit:
Auto Parts Stores	$	3,989,852		$	3,591,464		$	3,296,777
Other		129,611			120,280			119,672
Gross profit		4,119,463			3,711,744			3,416,449
Operating, selling, general and administrative expenses		(2,624,660	)		(2,392,330	)		(2,240,387	)
Interest expense, net		(170,557	)		(158,909	)		(142,316	)
Income before income taxes	$	1,324,246		$	1,160,505		$	1,033,746
Segment Assets:
Auto Parts Stores	$	5,827,285		$	5,531,955		$	5,279,454
Other		42,317			39,639			38,951
Total	$	5,869,602		$	5,571,594		$	5,318,405
Capital Expenditures:
Auto Parts Stores	$	316,074		$	307,725		$	260,448
Other		5,530			7,675			11,799
Total	$	321,604		$	315,400		$	272,247
Sales by Product Grouping:
Failure	$	3,530,497		$	3,145,528		$	2,816,126
Maintenance items		3,051,672			2,792,610			2,655,113
Discretionary		1,324,523			1,275,615			1,200,700
Auto Parts Stores net sales	$	7,906,692		$	7,213,753		$	6,671,939