Plaza Tire acquires Ewers Tire (Update)

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (Feb. 26, 2013) — Plaza Tire Service Inc. has boosted its store count to 56 with the purchase of five Ewers Tire and Service locations

Plaza finalized the sale Feb. 25, which involves five stores all located in mid-Missouri, where Plaza said it already has held a presence with three stores in Rolla, Columbia and Fulton, Mo. The growth spurt has allowed the dealership to increase its Columbia store count from one to three, plus two locations in the Jefferson City tire market and one store in the Mexico market.

Here are the five new Plaza Tire outlets:

• 419 East Broadway, Columbia, Mo.; 573-449-3896;

• 1005 North Fairview, Columbia, Mo.; 573-446-1515;

• 111 West Dunklin, Jefferson City, Mo.; 573-634-3112;

• 1401 Missouri Boulevard, Jefferson City, Mo.; 573-638-0640; and

• 214 East Promenade, Mexico, Mo.; 573-581-6900

A Plaza Tire spokeswoman told Tire Business that Ewers Tire & Service was owned by the Ewers family. Scott and Ken Ewers — the only family members active in the business — will be staying on with Plaza. About 25 Ewers employees worked for the dealership at the time of the transaction and, the spokeswoman said, all store managers, service and sales personnel were asked to transition to the new ownership.

Plaza declined to provide the acquisition price. "We purchased the real estate on four of the five stores; one store was leased from a third party," according to the spokeswoman.

Starting today stores will be painted to be branded like all other Plaza Tire Service stores, she said, and "in the near future many of the stores will extensively remodeled."

All five Ewers stores have five to eight service bays and are similar in size to other Plaza locations. Temporary signage was installed Feb. 25, she added, and permanent signage will be installed in the next few weeks.

Asked whether Plaza has any other acquisitions on the drawing board, the spokeswoman said: "Not at this time but (we're) always looking to expand."

According to its website, Ewers opened its first location in Jefferson City in 1934, with much of the original building still in use "although it has been renovated several times," the company said.

Ewers noted that it has "made a few changes and additions to better serve our growing community. In 1985, we added two stores to our operation" — in Mexico and Columbia, Mo. The dealership built a store from the ground up in 1988 in Columbia and, most recently, added a fifth store in Jefferson City in 2000.

The newly acquired Plaza locations will be open from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays, Plaza Tire said. Appointments are not required but are accepted upon customer request.

Plaza Tire carries an inventory exceeding 100,000 tires, including the Bridgestone, Yokohama, Firestone, Dayton, Michelin, BFGoodrich, Falken, Nokian and Dick Cepek brands.

While its primary business focus is on tire sales, Plaza Tire said it will "continue offering the same automotive services that Ewers Tire and Service has offered its communities." In addition to Ewers' services, the new Plaza stores will provide brake, battery, shock, strut, oil change, state inspection, tire rotation and balance, wheel alignment services and transmission, power steering and coolant flushes, as all of its locations do.

Vernon "Pee Wee" Rhodes founded Plaza Tire Service in 1963. The company is now owned and operated by his sons, with Mark Rhodes president and Scott Rhodes as vice president.

With the addition of Ewers Tire, 40 of Plaza's stores operate in Missouri; eight are in Southern Illinois; five are located in Kentucky; and the remaining three are in Northeast Arkansas.

The dealership is listed as the 26th largest independently owned tire retailer in North America by Tire Business.