Dealer Rankings: New corporate strategy vaults Monro to No. 1

Considering that 2020 has been about as unsettling a year as most can remember, it seems like an appropriate time to shake up Tire Business' annual Top Retail Dealerships rankings.

Long story short: Monro Inc. is now considered the largest retail tire dealership in North America, with 1,253 outlets that sell tires and perform automotive service, outdistancing perennial No. 1 Reinalt Thomas Corp., with 1,073 outlets operating under the Discount Tire/America's Tire banners.

In past years, Tire Business counted only Monro's "tire-centric" stores, but in recognition of Monro Inc.'s "Monro.Forward" corporate strategy — which includes a push to increase tire sales at its traditionally more auto-service-oriented stores — this magazine's editorial staff opted to recognize all of the Rochester, N.Y.-based retail outlets for the first time in determining the rankings.

At the same time, it should be noted that Discount Tire/America's Tire retains the distinction of being No. 1 in terms of revenue, racking up $5.17 billion in retail-related sales in 2019, far exceeding the $1.26 billion on Monro's ledger.

And viewed from yet another perspective, TBC Corp. shouldn't be overlooked as an enterprise with considerable market clout.

In addition to its direct market presence through 614 NTB and Tire Kingdom-branded retail outlets, TBC oversees the Big O Tires and Midas International franchise programs, which represent 463 and 1,085 retail stores, respectively, putting TBC's "clout" at more than 2,150 points of sale.

Monro's reaction to being named No. 1?

"We are very pleased to be ranked as the No. 1 independent tire and auto service retailer," Rob Rajkowski, executive vice president and chief operating officer, said, noting that Monro, with annual sales of $1.3 billion and a presence in 32 states, has built a "scalable platform for sustainable growth."

"As we continue to expand our geographic footprint in attractive regions, our Monro.Forward strategy is focused on driving operational excellence and delivering a best-in-class, consistent 5-star experience to all of our customers across our store base. Looking ahead, we believe we are well positioned to build on our solid foundation and deliver strong value to our customers, teammates and shareholders."

Monro is in the midst of a CEO search, in the wake of Brett Ponton's abrupt exit from that post in early August after just two-and-a-half years at the company's helm.

Robert Mellor, chairman of the company's board of directors since 2017 and a board member since 2010, is the interim CEO during the search process, while Mr. Rajkowski, COO since September 2019, was promoted to executive vice president shortly after Mr. Ponton's departure.

During its fiscal year, ended March 31, Monro upgraded 175 Monro Auto Service stores and rebranded 71 stores to one of its tire brands.

Worth noting: Monro's tire-centric stores report a 75/25 tires/auto service revenue split, while the more service-oriented shops show a 25/75 split. Overall the ratio lands at 51/49.

Checking in at No. 3 on the list this year is Icahn Automotive, with 962 Pep Boys outlets spread out over 36 states and Puerto Rico.

Icahn did not provide an update as to how many of its outlets have been converted to the newer style Pep Boys Auto Service & Tire format, but did say overall the stores' tires/auto service sales mix is 30/70.

Mavis Tire Supply edged ahead of TBC Corp. into fourth on the strength of a deal that involved both companies.

TBC sold 112 NTB Tire stores in four major metro markets in January to Mavis, which continues to operate them under the NTB banner.

As a result, Mavis has 761 company-operated outlets — operating under at least eight brand names — while TBC drops to 614 stores under its NTB and Tire Kingdom brands.

Mavis' market presence is enhanced through 125 or so franchised Express Oil/Tire Engineers locations.

Among Mavis' Express Oil company-owned stores are 18 former Havoline Express Tire Pros outlets in Alabama the company purchased in early 2020.

Les Schwab Tire Centers — which recently disclosed it is being acquired by Meritage Group L.P., a California- and New York-based investment group — holds onto the No. 6 spot with 441 company-owned outlets and 54 associate stores spread out over 10 Pacific Northwest and Rocky Mountain states.

Kal Tire retains its position as Canada's largest dealership and No. 7 in North America, with 214 outlets throughout the country,

GB Auto Service, the Tucson, Ariz.-based holding company owned by Greenbriar Equity Group L.P., jumped four spots in the ranking to No. 8 on the strength of three acquisitions in the past year — Tate Boys Tire & Service, with seven stores in Oklahoma; Sun Devil Auto, with 32 auto repair shops in Arizona, Nevada and Texas; and Louetta Automotive, with 10 locations in the Houston area — that expanded its holdings to 174 outlets.

Fountain Tire of Edmonton, Alberta, and Cincinnati-based Tire Discounters Inc. round out the Top 10 with 155 and 135 stores, respectively.

Mergers and acquisitions played a measurable role in determining this year's rankings. Besides those already noted earlier in this article, there are a few others worth mentioning, including:

• Gills Point S Tire's purchase of 10 Vianor-branded stores in New England from Nokian Tyres Inc. The acquisition pushed The Dalles, Ore.-based Gills Point S to 27 stores and a No. 41 ranking, up from 72nd a year ago.
• Telle Tire & Auto Service's acquisition of KC Complete Auto Service, with five stores in the Kansas City, Mo., metro area.

New to the rankings this year are:

• Integrity Tire & Auto Service of San Bernardino, Calif., which added five stores in the past year for a total of 15.
• Tire Outlet Direct L.L.C. of Jacksonville, Fla., which grew by three stores to a dozen locations.

Collectively, the 101 dealerships ranked operated 8,697 outlets, a gain of 163 over what those same dealerships operated a year earlier, the data show.

A total of 25 dealerships in North America among the 101 ranked are part of a franchise group. Collectively they operate nearly 610 stores:

• Big O Tires — six franchisees with 117 stores among them;
• RNR Tire Express — four franchisees with 75 stores;
• Car-X Tire & Auto — three independent franchisees, with 67 outlets combined;
• NTW's TCi-T3 program — four dealers comprising 75 outlets;
• Midas International — two franchisees with 193 stores between them;
• Point S Tire — four dealers with 69 stores among them; and
• Tire Pros — two dealers with 15 stores between them.

Car-X franchisor Monro Inc. also operates 53 Car-X outlets as corporate-held franchised locations.