Home-improvement stores put a lot of emphasis on "do-it-yourselfers," who want to make their own home improvements and repairs. The stores offer classes, hire experts and base marketing campaigns on slogans such as, "You can do it. We can help."

Such efforts have expanded the home-improvement "DIY" market into a $291 billion business, and those kinds of results are causing other types of stores to try similar approaches.

Advance Auto Parts typically considers the percentage of "DIY-ers" in an area before opening a shop.

There must be plenty of them in the Triangle, because the company opened its fifth Raleigh store at 6544 Glenwood Ave. this week.

Like its home-improvement counterparts, Advance Auto Parts is ramping up its customer-education efforts. Stores have 100 how-to booklets on car repairs, which include an analysis of the money saved. They also offer how-to seminars on their in-house television network and on the company's Web site. That's smart business, since sales of auto-repair supplies are estimated at $90 billion a year, and are growing by 4 percent a year.

"An educated customer who knows what they want or need is really a good thing," said Advance Auto Parts spokeswoman Laurie Stacy.

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George Parrott doesn't just live in Raleigh's Five Points neighborhood. As of Monday, he will own and operate two businesses there, as well.

He has run Churchill's Pub on Glenwood Avenue for two years, and is preparing to open Five Points Jewelers at 2002 Fairview Road, next to Hayes-Barton Pharmacy. The store sells contemporary sterling, gold and pearl jewelry. Parrott hopes to eventually get into the estate-jewelry business.

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Five Triangle shopping centers will soon part with their Casual Corner and Petite Sophisticate stores. Last month, the Connecticut company said it would close all 525 stores in the United States and Puerto Rico. Clearance sales began on the day after Thanksgiving and will continue until the merchandise is gone. The affected stores are at Cary Towne Center, The Streets at Southpoint in Durham, Crabtree Valley Mall and Triangle Town Center in Raleigh and Carolina Premium Outlets in Smithfield.

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Items of note: New Yorkers missing their pastrami can try New York NY Fresh Deli, which opens in mid-December in Apex at 758 W. Williams St. ... Replay Photos, which sells photos of campus landmarks and sports events for 21 colleges and universities, relocated to Brightleaf Square in Durham. It's only open to the public for special events, but takes orders at its Web site, www.replayphotos.com. ... Highbeams Bar and Grill will open its second store in Knightdale on Monday at 7425 U.S. 64, under the water tower. ... In Garner, Fire Mountain restaurant on U.S. 401 South closed because it wasn't performing as well as the company expected.

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