Monro swallowing up 31 more outlets

By Kathy McCarron, Tire Business staff

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (July 23, 2015) — Monro Muffler Brake Inc. has acquired the four locations of Windsor Tire Co. Inc. in Norwood, Mass., and expects to close on the purchase of 27 Kost Tire & Auto Care locations in central New York and Pennsylvania in mid August.

The four Massachusetts stores — which operated as Windsor Tire in Norwood and Stoughton, and Mass Tire in Brockton and Canton, Mass — are being rebranded as Monro Muffler Brake & Service outlets.

The Kost Tire locations will be rebranded as Mr. Tire stores, allowing the company to fill in existing markets where it already operates Monro Brake & Tire locations, Monro said.

This acquisition “significantly increases Monro's market share in these markets, demonstrating the advantages of Monro's two-brand strategy,” the company said.

The 31 acquired stores are expected to add about $31 million in annualized sales, Monro said, with a sales mix of 60 percent service and 40 percent tires.

Earlier, Monro reported double-digit increases in operating and net income for the quarter ended June 27 on 8.7-percent higher sales, prompting management to boost the firm's sales and earnings outlook for the full year.

Binghamton, N.Y.-based Kost Tire was the 29th largest tire dealership in North America in 2014 with 51 retail outlets , according to Tire Business rankings.

It's not known at this point what's happening with the remaining outlets. The dealership did, however, operate two separate web sites — kosttire.com with contacts for the New York store administration and www.kosttirepa.com for the Pennsylvania store administration.

Mass Tire & Auto Service Inc. in Weymouth, Mass., continues to operate as an independent dealership under Kevin Walsh.

All five Windsor/Mass Tire stores originally were part of Summit Tire of Massachusetts. Summit's wholesale division was sold to the former Terry's Tire Town Inc. in 2012, but the five retail stores continued to be run by founders Ben Kravitz and Harvey Rudnick.

Mr. Walsh said he began as a tire changer for Mass Tire about 30 years ago and took over ownership of the Weymouth-based dealership about three years ago.

He told Tire Business Monro had “a fishing pole stuck in the water to see how many nibbles were taking place,…” but he wasn't interested in selling.

“I'm enjoying the heck out of the tire business and I love working for myself. I love my customers, I love my employees. I'm good. I don't want to change that.”

Monro operates 1,003 company-owned stores in 25 states and is the franchisor of 145 Car-X stores in 10 states.

______________________________________________

To reach this reporter: [email protected]; 330-865-6127; Twitter: @kmccarr

Related Articles
Monro resources should help Car-X dealers' bottom lines
Most Popular
1
ATD takes next step in bankruptcy protection process
2
Former General, Parrish Tire exec Mike Vargo dies
3
Sumitomo eyeing future production in North America
4
Tire Business ranks the Top 75 tire makers of 2024
5
Goodyear, Michelin, Pomp's awarded defense contracts
SIGN UP FOR NEWSLETTERS
Letter
to the
Editor

Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Tire Business would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor Don Detore at [email protected].