COLUMBUS, Ohio — Even with a river of investor money driving acquisitions and consolidation, small tire dealers can find room to thrive and grow.
That was the keynote message at the 2025 K&M Tire Dealer Conference & Trade Show on Jan. 22.
"In 2025, you will not win in spite of your size against your much larger, better-funded competitors," Jeff Wallick, K&M Tire Inc.'s director of training and development, said.
"You'll win precisely because of your size. You're small enough to care, big enough to take care of your customers. Small is the new big."
Delphos, Ohio-based K&M Tire hosted the two-day conference and trade show at the Greater Columbus Convention Center, with 47 vendor exhibits and a series of presentations on the theme "Shaping the Future."
Wallick said big tire dealers continue to grow through acquisition, but "the question we should ask is, 'Are the big getting better?'"
Small dealers can compete successfully by serving customers and giving them reasons to talk about them in a positive way. Dealers also need to keep their businesses simple.
"For us in this room, your excellence has as much to do with what you don't do, as what you do," Wallick said.
He also highlighted how small dealers can anticipate industry trends, such as electric and hybrid vehicles or more complex advanced driver assist systems, to find new markets that competitors aren't chasing.
"Be nimble, be different and be proactive," Wallick said.
Now in its 55th year, K&M has 40 warehouses, customers in 31 states and is part of the Best-One Tire network. It distributes more than 40 brands of passenger, light truck and medium truck tires, and more than a dozen brands of agricultural, industrial and specialty tires.
While Wallick focused on opportunities for small dealers, Gene Bova, K&M regional program manager, touched on the distributor's recent acquisition of Lancaster, Pa.-based wholesaler K&W Tire Inc.
The deal, announced in September, was K&M's fifth acquisition in as many years. As a result, K&M added five warehouses, in Allentown, Chester and Lancaster, Pa.; Claremont, N.H.; and Beacon Falls, Conn., Bova said.
K&M also gained distribution rights to the Cooper and Starfire brands, the Cooper Medallion program with 86 Cooper Medallion dealers, and 52 new employees in operations, logistics, sales and marketing.
K&W "has a rich and storied history with the Cooper Tire brand," Bova said. "We're very excited to have them a part of our company. This acquisition allowed us to enhance our service capabilities in the Northeast … as well as strengthening our product offering across the K&M tire product menu."
