2012 Top Shop Finalist: Duxler Complete Auto Care
Maintaining a mom-and-pop shop atmosphere at a 21st century business is tough enough. But maintaining a 1950s-style full-service gas station in 2012 is virtually unfathomable. The concept, however, wasn’t beyond the creative entrepreneurial mind of Glenn Moak, who bought out Duxler Complete Auto Care in Evanston, Ill., in 1983. Four years ago, he instigated Duxler’s
2012: Top Shop Finalist: McGee Tire Stores
Gremlins have infested Florida. At least that might be the perception of anyone working the counter at McGee Tire Stores. “We’ve had people tell us they have Gremlins in their trunk, Gremlins in their engines and even Gremlins in their tires,” says Bob Lanpher, vice president of the 27-location chain, headquartered in Lakeland, Fla. “It
Creating a Business Succession Plan
Many business owners put off succession planning and wealth-preservation strategizing until it’s either too late, or later than is ideal. So what should tire dealers do to successfully pass along their business, as well as preserve their wealth?
For Better or For Worse?
Every tire dealer knows that banks have changed, and getting loans and lines of credit is harder than ever before. But with the credit markets loosening and banks looking to re-establish their loan portfolios, the time could be right for dealers to find a new long-term credit relationship.
How to Find and Hire High-Quality Employees
Computer technology may be an earth-shaking breakthrough in gathering information, but it can’t always help with one simple problem common to shop owners everywhere: How to find good employees. Countless sociological and economic issues have come into play in recent years that, despite helpful technological advancements, can’t be fully compensated for in the recruitment of
2011 Top Shop Finalist: Hay Tire Co.
The day that Henry Hay was criticized for being “too damned honest to be in the retail tire business” was the day he made one of the best decisions of his life. “I was operating a tire store as a minority stockholder,” recalls the elder co-owner of the Charleston, S.C.-based father-and-son dealership, Hay Tire Pros.
2011 Top Shop Finalist: Tate Boys Tire & Service
One co-owner is a retired professional baseball player for the San Francisco Giants. The other played college football for the University of Tulsa. And the chief financial officer was on Brigham Young University’s football team. It comes as no surprise, then, that Tate Boys Tire and Service runs like a winning sports franchise, from the
Tire Dealers Find Success With Mobile Apps
apps are more user-friendly in their simplicity. And while some apps exist simply to make money – the ones sold specifically to generate income, or to promote advertising, subscriptions and “in-app purchases” – the types currently used by tire dealerships usually focus on branding, customer service or marketing. These apps typically are free to the
Against All Odds: Accomplished Dealers Share Their Immigrant Roots
In an age of technological ease, socially accepted incompetence, and a media-inflated sense of personal entitlement, inspiration to do business can be hard to find. After all, who needs a good work ethic when respect is to be demanded rather than earned? When mediocrity (or worse) isn’t the exception but the norm? When computers are
Letting ‘Green’ Take Root & Grow Your Shop’s Bottom Line
Tree huggers may not have inherited the earth, but some of their philosophies have taken root in the business world. What’s good for the environment, we’ve found in a time of limited resources and profits, is also good for the bottom line. And now, staying in the black is linked with going green. But there’s
Top 50 Ways One Tire Dealership Built Green
Suburban Tire Auto Care Centers in suburban Chicago constructed a highly green facility two years ago at its Hanover Park, Ill., location. Here are 50 ways that the business accomplished it. Building Materials/Recycling 1) Recycled 98% of demolished building by sending metal to a recycler, mulching wood for playgrounds and crushing masonry and concrete for
Give Your Shop’s Website a Tune-Up
It’s time to turn on the virtual "open" sign, dust off the cyber "welcome" mat and get those customers through the door – the web-based door, that is – to your Internet storefront. All things "e," after all, are the alternate entryways to today’s businesses. And while most tire dealers who want pixel portals already