Pep Boys Files 169-Worker WARN Notice for Bala Cynwyd Headquarters After Mavis Acquisition

Mavis Tire Express Services has filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notice covering 169 employees at the Pep Boys corporate offices in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, with layoffs beginning December 31, 2026. The filing is the direct fallout of Mavis's $700 million acquisition of the iconic auto-parts chain, completed this August.

The notice lists the employer as Pep Boys Manny Moe & Jack, LLC, at 1 Presidential Blvd., Suite 400, Bala Cynwyd — the company's corporate headquarters in Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County. The event is classified as a layoff, and the registry records a single effective date of December 31, 2026, though the layoffs are expected to happen in phases stretching into February.

The filing, by the numbers

• Company: Pep Boys Manny Moe & Jack, LLC (acquired by Mavis Tire Express Services Corp.)
• Location: 1 Presidential Blvd., Suite 400, Bala Cynwyd, PA — corporate offices in Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County
• Workers affected: 169
• Event type: Layoff (permanent workforce reduction, not a plant closure)
• Effective date: December 31, 2026, with phases continuing through about February 18
• Notice: Employees received electronic notice September 14, 2026; the formal WARN notice is dated September 23, 2026
• Filed with: Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry

Why it happened: the $700 million acquisition

Mavis announced on July 21, 2026 that it planned to acquire The Pep Boys–Manny Moe & Jack Holding Corp. from Icahn Automotive Group LLC, a subsidiary of Icahn Enterprises, for $700 million in cash. The deal closed in August.

In a letter to state officials, Mavis senior vice president for legal Susanne Cairo said the layoffs result from a reorganization of Pep Boys' corporate support services as part of the acquisition. The 169 affected employees are corporate-office staff, not store or service-center workers — this is a headquarters consolidation, not a retail pullback.

Cairo's letter also noted two facts that matter to the affected workers: none of them are represented by a trade union, and there are no bumping rights — meaning senior employees cannot displace junior ones to keep their jobs. Affected employees were told they will continue to work through the effective date at their current compensation and benefits.

Reading the filing: one notice, multiple phases

The Pep Boys filing is a good illustration of how to read a WARN record. The registry lists one effective date — December 31, 2026 — but the layoffs actually begin that day and continue in phases through about mid-February. This is common in acquisition-driven reorganizations, where departments are wound down in sequence rather than all at once.

Two notice dates appear in the record as well: the September 14 electronic notice to employees and the September 23 formal WARN notice. The gap between the notice (mid-September) and the effective date (end of December) is roughly 100 days — comfortably more than the WARN Act's 60-day minimum.

Pennsylvania in the national picture

Pennsylvania's imported WARN archive now holds 1,901 notices reporting 256,522 workers affected, with 12 notices carrying future effective dates. In 2026 alone, the state has logged 78 notices and 12,181 reported workers.

Nationally, the Layoff Atlas registry currently tracks 699 notices covering 65,791 reported workers in its 90-day window (updated October 23, 2026), with 33 notices missing worker counts. The top states by reported workers remain Washington (16,938), California (14,224), Illinois (4,626), Texas (3,652), and Ohio (3,180).

The caveat that always applies

WARN figures describe reported plans, not confirmed job losses. A notice records what an employer told the state it intends to do; headcounts can change between filing and the effective date, and coverage varies by state because reporting rules and thresholds differ. Missing data is not zero layoffs — it is missing data.

Data source: Layoff Atlas