AKRON — The "typical" larger-scale, multi-store independent retail tire dealership in North America operates 21 stores, generates nearly $2.9 million in revenue per outlet and carries a dozen tire brands.
That's the picture gleaned from Tire Business' survey of the North American tire retailing sector this past year.
The dealership size of 21 stores is the median of the 101 dealerships profiled in this year's report. That's down from 22 a year ago.
The average size of a Top 100 dealership stands at 88 stores, versus 74 a year ago, reflecting the change in the way Tire Business chose to count stores operated by Monro Inc. and Icahn Automotive/Pep Boys. The cutoff to make the Top 100 this year was 11 stores, up from 10 a year ago.
In addition, Tire Business research reveals there are 54 more dealerships just outside the top 100 collectively operating more than 440 stores — five with 10 stores, 15 with nine stores, 18 with eight and 16 with seven.
The average sales revenue of a store — based on data from 45 companies that supplied sales information — was nearly $2.9 million, up noticeably from the $2.77 million reported in 2018, while the median store sales of the companies that reported revenue was $1.9 million, up roughly 15% from a year ago.
The typical large dealership derived half of its sales from tires and related services, 46% from automotive service and 4% from other, miscellaneous sources, according to information derived from the 40 dealerships that shared that information with Tire Business.
The share of a dealership's sales represented by automotive service ranges from zero (Discount Tire) to 80% at Virginia Tire & Auto.
The typical Top 100 tire dealership offers a dozen brands — six to seven flag, four to five import and one to two private — with Michelin, Bridgestone and BFGoodrich and Firestone the dominant brands, carried by 67, 66 and 64, respectively, of the leading dealerships that make up this year's ranking, followed by Goodyear and Firestone (63 each); Continental (60); Cooper and General (52 each); Dunlop (49); Kelly and Uniroyal (44); Hankook (43); Pirelli (40); Yokohama (39); Toyo (38); Kumho (36) and Falken (34).
All but three of the 101 dealerships profiled this year are privately owned, including Max Auto Supply Inc. and Ben Tire Distributors Ltd., which are employee-owned.
The firms publicly owned or controlled by outside financial holdings — Monro Inc., Icahn Automotive and TBC Corp. — are Nos. 1, 3 and 6 on the largest dealerships ranking.
In addition, GB Auto Service, No. 8 on this year's Tire Business Top 100, is controlled fully by Greenbriar Equity Group.
In Canada, Goodyear owns minority stakes in Beverly Tire, Coast Tire & Auto Service Ltd. and Fountain Tire Corp.
Three dealerships — Associated Tire Stores Inc. Logan, Utah; Chabill's Tire & Service L.L.C., Morgan City, La.; and Stratham Tire Inc., Brentwood, N.H. — have female top executives, Christie Stock, Beth Barron and Denise Littlefield, respectively.
Plus, Charlayne Ratté is co-owner of Pneus Ratté, a Point S affiliated dealership in Quebec City, Quebec, and Julie Holmes is Co-CEO of Virginia Tire & Auto alongside her husband Michael Holmes.
Looking at the market geographically, Bridgestone Americas' retail network — Firestone Complete Car Care, Tires Plus and Wheel Works — is the most prevalent, with a presence in all 10 of the regional areas profiled by Tire Business, including being the largest in five regions: Southeast, Upper Midwest, Southeast Central, Southwest Central and Northwest Central. (See map, page 24.)
Monro Inc., the new No. 1 overall, is present in six regions, including being No. 1 in New England and the South Atlantic.
Discount Tire/America's Tire, No. 2 nationally with 1,073 outlets, has a presence in seven of the 10 regions, however it is not No. 1 in any one of them.
TBC Retail shows up in four of the 10 regions with its National Tire & Battery and Tire Kingdom brands, and also is No. 1 in the Mountain region via its Big O Tires franchise network.
American Tire Distributors Inc.'s Tires Pros network has only one dealer among the Top 100, but collectively Tire Pros dealers are among the largest dealer groups in eight of the 10 regions.
