Modern Tire Dealer 100 E-commerce versus brick-and-mortar:
Top 100 dealers find opportunities in traditional retailing By Ann Neal
W
hile e-commerce is blamed for store closures throughout much of the retail sector, this year’s Modern Tire Dealer 100 has many examples of dealers who are opening stores. They are also expanding through acquisitions and investing in their existing brick-and-mortar locations while they participate in the digital revolution that is turning traditional retailing upside down. Snider Tire Inc., which goes to market as Snider Fleet Solutions, is among the latest to extend its physical footprint with the acquisition of 27 commercial locations from Michelin North America Inc.’s Tire Centers LLC (TCi) subsidiary. The deal, which finalized in early July, puts Greensboro, N.C.-based Snider Tire in the No. 16 spot with 76 outlets. At the end of June, McCarthy Tire Service Co. completed its purchase of P.J. Dooling Tire Co. of Philadelphia, Pa. Dooling Tire’s tire sales and service operations will be merged into McCarthy Tire’s commercial location in Trainer, Pa. It is McCarthy Tire’s second acquisition in two months. The company purchased the commercial division of Scranton-Dunlop Inc., known in the marketplace as Sandone Tire, in Scranton, Pa., in May. Sandone Tire’s truck tire sales and service operations were merged into McCarthy’s commercial location in Dickson City, Pa. In addition, McCarthy Tire relocated its combination commercialretail store in Reading, Pa., to a larger, 32,000-square-foot facility. The company plans to increase commercial tire sales and services, and add fleet mechanical services, engine diagnostic work, and heavy-duty truck repair at the Reading store. A new Bandag retread plant in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., began production in September 2016 and represents a $3.5 million investment. At full capacity, the plant produces 1,000 retreads per day. McCarthy Tire’s 49 stores put it at No. 22 on the Modern Tire Dealer 100.
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Dealers acquire, build and renovate At the very top of the Modern Tire Dealer 100, Reinalt-Thomas Corp. added 23 locations, all greenfield construction, for a total of 940 Discount Tire/America’s Tire outlets. In the No. 2 spot with 772 locations is TBC Corp., which added 13 NTB Tire & Service Centers and Tire Kingdom stores. Monro Muffler Brake Inc. is ranked No. 3, unchanged from last year. In all, Monro acquired 37 stores and now operates 585 retail, commercial and wholesale tire locations. The company’s acquisitions include former list maker Clark Tire & Auto Inc.’s 24 retail outlets, two commercial stores, four wholesale locations and one retread plant. The acquisitions will continue. In a May 2017 earnings release, the company told investors it plans to acquire competitors at attractive prices and open 20 to 40 stores per year in existing markets. Express Oil Change LLC grew through acquisitions and new construction, according to Josh Henderson, executive vice president of marketing. The company, which flies the Express Oil Change & Tire Engineers banner at the majority of its tire stores, added 39 outlets for a total of 185 stores and the No. 6 ranking. In California, Rent A Wheel/Rent A Tire LP purchased five EZ Rims 4 Rent locations. Two of the stores were merged into existing Rent A Wheel outlets. The other three became new Rent A Wheel stores in Moreno Valley, Calif.; Crenshaw, Calif.; and Las Vegas, Nev. The Las Vegas outlet is the company’s third store in that city. “Certainly in the last couple of years it’s been a more challenging business environment where we’ve had to market more aggressively to continue our growth. However, we’ve been able to achieve 15% same-store growth,” says President Matt Seaburn. The company is in the No. 7 spot with 141 stores. No. 8 ranked Purcell Tire & Rubber Co. added two states to its
MTD July 2017