TireSouth Inc. expects to open its second new store of the year next month and owner Michael Spencer says despite economic pressures on consumers, the Atlanta, Ga.-area tire dealership is seeing steady demand for its services.
“You’ve definitely felt over the last few months a tightening of the purse strings. People are more sensitive,” and Spencer said when presented with an option to defer maintenance, they’re opting to do so. Yet, he and his wife Jessica, co-owners of the six-store business, are optimistic.
“We feel the demand for TireSouth is still there. Our bays are full and our guys are busy."
The sixth TireSouth store opened at the beginning of September. That retail location is the company’s second in Atlanta and Spencer says it’s “had a strong start” in its first six weeks of operation.
Work to rehab another space and open a seventh location is underway, with the opening in Peachtree Corners, Ga., slated for mid-November.
“And we might have another one in our back pocket,” he says, for January. “We keep a full schedule.”
The Spencers have a vision of tripling that store count in the next five years.
“Internally, we’re talking about 25 locations within five years,” says Spencer. “But we want to grow the right way - to run (stores) the way we want them run. The store count is the easy part. It’s making sure you have the people in place and sustaining the value (that’s difficult.)
“We want to maintain the things that have made us successful up to this point,” he says.
Spencer senses the hiring situation is improving.
“We’re seeing applicants again. There’s still a heavy need on the training front. We’re looking for good people more so than anything. If we have to train them and teach them, we’re ready and willing to do that. If you go back 12 months, you had job ads posted and weren’t getting applicants. The struggle for the right applicants is still very much real, but it feels like the tide is turning.”
