Alpio Barbara, owner of Redwood General Tire Pros, has won this year’s Tire Review Top Shop Award, presented by Coats.
The winner was announced during Tire Review‘s Top Shop Event in Nashville, Tennessee, this week. Barbara, a three-time Top Shop finalist, has a high-volume single location with 19 bays in Redwood City, California, about 30 miles south of San Francisco. Since purchasing the store in 1985, Barbara has grown the shop to a 12,500 square-foot repair facility on a 53,000 square-foot lot. His store has a 50/50 tires and service mix, selling 4,000 tires per month with 43 employees.
“It’s been 12 years of waiting, and I can’t be happier. I still can’t believe it,” Barbara said on winning this year’s award.
Redwood General was chosen among four Top Shop finalists this year, which include: Chris Monroe, owner of Monroe Tire & Service in Shelby, North Carolina; Don Foshay, Jr. of Don Foshay’s Discount Tire & Alignment, a shop with six locations and a wholesale business along the east coast of Maine; and Waukegan Tire, a four location shop based out of Park City, Illinois.
During the event, each shop owner toured the factory at Hennessy Industries in LaVergne, Tennessee, where Coats tire changers, wheel balancers, lifts and accessories are made. As part of the program, winners hand-picked a piece of equipment for their store(s) for free.
