As it rounded out its 95th year in business, Black’s Tire Service Inc. and its wholesale division, BTS Tire & Wheel Distributors, went “Black to the Basics” at its 2025 leadership and management conference in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
The event featured breakout sessions for the Whiteville, N.C.-based dealership’s employees to bounce ideas off of one another, guest speaker sessions that highlighted the importance of what they do and more.
The event also featured giveaways from the company’s vendor partners. (Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. gave away a Ford Mustang to a Black’s Tire employee and Sumitomo Rubber North America Inc., gave away a Ford Bronco under its Falken brand.)
MTD had the opportunity to sit down with multiple generations of the Benton family to discuss the importance of the event and what 2025 looks like for the company.
'Black to the Basics'
Rick Benton, who directs BTS Tire & Wheel Distributors, says his family chose the event’s theme because of all the changes that have happened in the tire industry over the last few years.
“COVID-19 really changed the business environment because everyone was in growth mode and COVID hit and changed a lot of things,” said Rick Benton.
“What we are having to deal with in our stores and in our operations take up a lot of our time and we wanted to get back to the basics and the simple things. Business is not that complicated, but we (can) make it that way.
“It’s basically just bringing everyone together and getting back to the core values,” which for Black’s Tire Service are “team, family, trust and serve.
“We try to live by those principles in everything we do,” says Rick, whose brothers Ryan Benton, who manages Black’s Tire Service’s retail business, and Jeremy Benton, who runs Black’s Tire Service’s commercial tire business, agreed.
“The simple thing is nothing happens without action. We can talk about it and tell you how good we are, but there’s truth in what you do. We thought it was a good time to regroup and come back to our own good thing.”
Another theme of the three-day event, which took place Jan. 18-20, was “Let’s Go Together.”
Black’s Tire Service and BTS Tire Distributors are filled with Benton family members. Not only do the three Benton brothers run the three divisions of the company, but Rick’s three sons – Trey, Cody and Cole - are gaining traction within the company. They’re also fifth-generation leaders at the dealership.
“We are all on a journey together with the business, team and the family,” Rick told MTD.
Ryan Benton said that Black’s Tire Service and BTS Tire Distributors have been “blessed” to partner with a lot of other family companies and merge “friends and customers” into one firm.
“We embrace new perspectives we can learn from and hear their experiences,” said Ryan. “But the downside to that is that our culture can become diluted because you have so many different ideals and different things you want to emphasize.”
This is why the Bentons emphasized their dealership’s strengths, which includes relationship-building and communication, according to Jeremy.
“We’re here when the phone rings or the door swings,” said Ryan, who added that tires “are a grudge purchase and not many people like spending money on (car) maintenance or tires. So how can we make that experience as pleasant as possible?
“It starts with our team members. If they’re happy and informed and have the knowledge and expertise to make them confident in what they’re doing, customers can feel that and would rather go to a place with a good positive environment.”
Rick noted the surge in private equity firms buying smaller independent tire dealerships.
“So how we survive and grow in that climate is we focus on these core values and focus on the basics together,” he said.
Looking back
Rick told MTD that Black’s Tire Service’s business was “flat” in 2024.
“It was a tougher year and usually looking back over time, many - if not most - election years are always more difficult,” Ryan explained.
“But no matter what side of the fence you’re on, I think everyone is thinking ‘OK, we’ve got that past us. Now let’s move on and get back to real life.’”
When asked about how each of their markets did – retail, commercial and wholesale – all three brothers agreed that customers are trading down in both tiers and prices.
“And people can continue doing that because there are so many products in the game now,” said Rick.
“I look at it real deep. Ever since the first tire tariff came in 2008 or 2009, it created a big division in products. Then Chinese tariffs came and guess what? These other countries built new plants and invested” in tire production.
“All the Chinese money went to Thailand. And look what happened in Thailand. New state-of-the-art plants were built. All these tariffs actually hurt the domestic suppliers over time because it allowed ... (investment) in these other countries and places. Now Thailand is getting so big and guess what? They’re talking about making another tariff there. Guess what that leads to? New plants in Morocco, Indonesia or Cambodia. They just keep moving them.”
Rick also noted that the quality of lesser-tier consumer tire products has improved. This holds true on the commercial and retread side, as well.
“A lot of the big guys are bringing in casings from foreign countries and the retreadability on these products are getting as good as the products we already have,” said Jeremy. “This year (marked) the biggest increase in quality, as far as a curve, that I’ve ever seen.”
“If you have the right mindset and can be prepared and train your employees to inform your customers of this, it’s very profitable for their bottom line,” he added.
Inflation also was a major factor in business last year, according to Ryan, who added that Black’s Tire Service has locations in some rural areas where many businesses have merged and consolidated, which has had a negative impact.
For 2025, Jeremy said the Bentons expect to see more positive trends.
“But I don’t think there will be a slowdown in consolidation in our industry,” said Ryan.
“There’s so much equity still in business and people have found that through all the ups and downs, the automotive industry is safe,” added Rick.
Black’s Tire Service sees a huge opportunity for independent tire dealerships even though some of the biggest players in the U.S. tire dealership space have merged with some of the other biggest players.
“As they’ve worked through reducing duplication in markets, it’s going to provide areas for other business to emerge,” said Ryan. “I do think that the economy is going to be getting stronger. Inflation has slowed tremendously and we’re excited. There’s lots of room for growth in our business.”
All in the family
The next generation of Bentons are being trained in all aspects of the organization.
“From the shop to the streets, they’re learning the business from the bottom up,” said Rick about his sons.
Black’s Tire Service “is recession-proof,” said Cody. “It’s not going anywhere so we can continue to serve our people.”
Trey said that he and his brothers want to work hard and carry on the legacy that their father, uncles and grandfather built.
Rick touched on the difference between his brothers and his sons growing up in the industry.
“Ryan, Jeremy and I kind of grew up with our parents,” said Rick. “My dad is only 17 years older than me. So when he took over Black’s Tire, I was like 12 and Ryan was like 10 and Jeremy was around eight.”
“We didn’t just take something that was passed down to us and kept it going,” said Ryan. “We took pride in it and built on it.”
Jeremy added that the Bentons are constantly changing and adapting their business to keep up with the times. That includes recently adding mobile tire service.
“You change or die,” said Jeremy.
Cole noted that consumers’ expectations are always evolving.
“We see it now with people using DoorDash or Instacart. People want convenience and that is going to be a huge part of what we tackle.”
“We’re trying to stay diversified,” added Rick. “We are trying grow strategically in each segment as it compliments each other.”
Black’s Tire Service will continue to expand its footprint, as well. “We don’t grow just to see how many locations we can have,” said Rick. “Where it makes sense and for people who want to get out or team up with us, that’s our focus.”
