“We choose our opportunities to be aggressive - when it’s smart, when it makes good sense,” says John Turk, president and CEO of Cleveland, Ohio-based Conrad’s Tire Service Inc. “Otherwise, we’re a meat-and-potatoes company.
“If you go out and look at the landscape - the national chains and other independents - we like the position we’re in. We’re homegrown, but a little larger. We can bring certain things to the party because of our size and the number of locations we have.”
The chain, which focuses exclusively on retail tire sales and automotive service, covers a wide geographical area, with 21 stores located in Cleveland’s suburbs.
“We can offer the (amenities) of 21 outlets, but we can do it in a hometown way.” (Editor’s note: Conrad’s Tire had 39 locations when it sold to High Ridge, Mo.-based Dobbs Tire & Auto Centers in March 2025.)
Cleveland always has been a strong independent market, he says, thanks, in part, to auto manufacturing plants that have operated in and around the city over the years.
Turk says the market’s dynamics haven’t changed dramatically since he started with Conrad’s in the mid-1980s. “It’s a small- or no-growth market. Population in Cleveland has declined for many years”
Consolidation hasn’t been a major factor in Cleveland, according to Turk. “Our market doesn’t rationalize very well. The only time you see rationalization is when a person has to sell.”
The city’s stagnant economy remains an issue. “In the '80s, it was down. The aftershock of the oil embargo and those issues kind of caught up with the steel industry (decline). The city took a step backwards.”
Cleveland rebounded a bit thanks to the revitalization of its downtown area during the 1990s, “but as a whole, our economy is pretty flat.”
Turk credits much of Conrad’s success to the strategic location of its outlets. “We have stores from one social demographic end to the other. It works OK. You just have to take care of the customer.”
Switching to a multi-brand retail approach has paid off, as well. For years, the chain sold only Goodyear brand products, but realized over time that offering only one label “can be somewhat limiting. With a multi-brand strategy, we’re looking to attract new customers.
“But it only serves us if we can make it incremental. If I’m doing 'x' tires a day, bring in another brand and am still doing 'x' amount a day -- and now have a different mix -- I’ve just split my loyalties and have lost my opportunity to have a bigger voice with the manufacturer. It has to be add-on for us.”
Conrad’s biggest problem has been finding correctly zoned land at an affordable price. “It’s been difficult. The area is fairly mature.”
Turk has no plans at the moment to expand beyond the greater Cleveland region. “We feel we still have a job to finish here. I think the day will come when we’ll stretch the organization into other markets, but we aren’t going anywhere. We’re committed to this marketplace because it’s our home and what we love.”
