Bridgestone buys Pep Boys

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
Originally Posted By: razel
I wouldn't be too surprised if other tire companies begin to buy other service/parts stores. Although what make Pep Boys different from AutoZone/O'Reilys is that also they do car service.

I would be more surprised if Pep Boys continued to open stores that had just as much store shelf space as car service bays.


Tires/wheels have been encroaching more and more on the auto-parts space at my two local schlep boys for a number of years now. Almost half the floor space (not counting the 'behind the counter' parts area) is tires, hubcaps, and wheels.


There are many local Pep Boyzz in my area which are ONLY tire/wheel/service stores with NO shelf space, or other items for sale.
They were like this LONG before this deal was even dreamed of being signed.

 

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted By: madRiver
They actually seem to have large influence over a local chain owned by Nokian tires called Vianor. I believe Bridgestone is majority stock holder of Nokian tires and has their tentacles into them.

http://vianor.us/tyres



That's strange, given the strong competition between Blizzaks and R2s/Hakka 8s, etc. in the winter tire market.

 

[CKN]

Originally Posted By: dailydriver
Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
Originally Posted By: razel
I wouldn't be too surprised if other tire companies begin to buy other service/parts stores. Although what make Pep Boys different from AutoZone/O'Reilys is that also they do car service.

I would be more surprised if Pep Boys continued to open stores that had just as much store shelf space as car service bays.


Tires/wheels have been encroaching more and more on the auto-parts space at my two local schlep boys for a number of years now. Almost half the floor space (not counting the 'behind the counter' parts area) is tires, hubcaps, and wheels.





There are many local Pep Boyzz in my area which are ONLY tire/wheel/service stores with NO shelf space, or other items for sale.
They were like this LONG before this deal was even dreamed of being signed.



Yes- I saw these on my travels around the country. Many were very clean and well organized.

 

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted By: CKN
Originally Posted By: lubricatosaurus
Originally Posted By: jmsjags
So are all of the Pep Boys locations going to be turned into Firestones? Or is Bridgestone going to continue with both brand names?

Lets see how they play it. Tire companies can own a bunch of brand names and factories, so they could offer premium Bridgestone, medium performance Firestone, and value-cheap low performance products with odd sounding names like "Unicorn Creations", "Fate-O", "KumHo", "Jetzone Revengers", all real names of tires, no kidding.



They use a "small h" in Kumho.The "H" is silent.

http://www.kumhousa.com/


Yes, and some of their UHP/road racing donuts are VERY good/high quality products as well.

 

[dailydriver]

I'm guessing this also spells the death of their "Speed Shops" within some of their stores as well?