TREND WATCH

A roundup of business developments spotted by other publications.

Auto Parts Competition: A deep-discount super-store, on the scale of a Price Club, has been introduced to the automobile parts and service market. A.G. Automotive Warehouses Inc., based in Long Beach, opened its first Auto Giant this year in San Bernardino. Another in Sacramento’s Southgate Plaza is to have 64,000 square feet of sales space and 16 service bays. The company chairman is Robert McNulty, founder of the HomeClub and SportsClub discount chains. A stock analyst who follows Pep Boys, the Philadelphia-based auto parts discounter, said Auto Giant “could create problems for other retailers for a while” but will have to draw huge crowds to be profitable. Sacramento Business Journal

Little Chips: Beneath the current wave of interest in golf is a surge in the number of children who are taking up the game. The National Golf Foundation estimates the number of golfers at 24 million, an increase of 64% since 1980. About 11% are 19 and under. The foundation has no estimate of the number of juniors playing in 1980, but the head pro at Royal Oaks Country Club in Dallas says the current number of children playing at the club is about four times what it was in 1976. The numbers have staggered local professionals trying to keep up with the demand for teaching clinics and junior tournaments. Dallas Morning News

Diagnosing Costs: As medical insurance companies try to discern factors driving up their costs, some blame has been put on magnetic resonance imaging. MRI machines deliver precise images of the body’s inner workings, at about $800 per scan. Acknowledging that MRI benefits doctors and patients alike, particularly in diagnosing multiple sclerosis, critics find doctors too ready to use it in marginal applications, as in examining injured knees. Doctors using MRI also are found to be less willing to drop conventional diagnostic tests. Denver Post

Few Complaints: Viacom Cablevision reports general acceptance of the two-tier price system that it put into effect a year ago in Milwaukee’s North Shore. The system is one innovation by which the industry hopes to avoid new regulations from Congress, made restive by consumer complaints over price increases. Under the Viacom system, subscribers can save money by electing to forgo ESPN, CNN and other services offered with the basic subscription. A bill recommended in June by a Senate committee would allow local authorities to regulate rates only on basic subscriptions. Milwaukee Journal