Central Tire’s Blueprint for Success
- Turn the sale into an experience: From showroom displays to staging finished vehicles like a reveal, Central Tire creates memorable moments for customers.
- Invest heavily in inventory: Stocking thousands of wheels and tires enables impulse buys and ensures customers can see and purchase exactly what they want, immediately.
- Lead with expertise and trust: A highly experienced, cross-trained team — with direct technician-to-customer interaction — builds confidence and drives repeat business.
The truck is ready and the reveal is part of the ritual.
When customers arrive at Central Tire to pick up their recently customized vehicle, they don’t find it parked in a row with everyone else’s. It’s staged on a display pad in front of the shop, where everyone who passes by can see it.
“It’s like a showcase,” says Central Tire Manager Jason Sparks.
For a business that specializes in high performance (HP) and ultra-high performance (UHP) tires, custom wheels and lifted trucks, the moment matters. It’s part of the experience — the kind of detail that customers remember, photograph and share with friends.
“It's sitting, parked up on this big platform for the world to see,” says Sparks. “It's on display like a trophy. It's just that nobody else does stuff like that. Nobody else gives (a) customer experience like we deliver.”
Central Tire is building a reputation among performance-minded drivers in Bend, Ore., just 18 months after opening its doors. The dealership’s rapid growth reflects a deliberate strategy: If you build an HP/UHP business around expertise, available inventory and customer experience, enthusiasts will come.
For Sparks, a 30-year tire industry veteran, the formula is simple. “Your customers are going to keep coming back to you because you treated them right.”
Becoming the go-to shop for off-road enthusiasts
Central Tire’s story didn’t begin with a fully equipped retail location. It started much smaller.
“We started out with, literally ... me in the garage,” says owner Jeronimo Meyers.
Meyers started selling factory take-off tires — a niche that allowed him to build inventory and establish relationships with customers looking for affordable upgrades — out of his garage in 2022.
Over time, demand grew and customers started asking for new wheels and tires. So Meyers moved out of his garage into a retail space and realized “we have a tire shop here.”
He decided to call the enterprise Central Tire, after the tire dealership his father started in the 1970s, which has since closed its doors.
The next step was bringing in someone who could help shape the business’ long-term direction and sustain its growth. Hiring Sparks to manage Central Tire was an easy decision for Meyers. Spending the first 30 years of his career at Les Schwab Tire Centers Inc., Sparks became known locally as “the tire guy,” according to Meyers.
“He's the guy you go see and that's kind of been him for the last 30 years,” says Meyers.
Sparks brought his experience with wheels, tires and lift kits and a clear vision of how a specialty tire shop should operate.
In October 2024, Meyers purchased an old restaurant building and began renovations to bring the HP/UHP outlet that he and Sparks envisioned to life.
Today, Central Tire is a go-to destination for off-road enthusiasts, driven by the range of outdoor terrain in the region that includes both mountain and desert landscapes less than an hour away. It’s known for outfitting heavy-duty pickup trucks with lift kits, custom wheels and larger tires.
Selling the high performance experience
Central Tire sells many of the same brands and products available at competing retailers. What differentiates the dealership, Sparks says, is everything surrounding the sale.
“You can go to any competitor and buy the same wheel. You can go to any competitor and buy the same tire. Why pick us? It's everything else besides that.”
That philosophy shapes the way Central Tire presents products and interacts with customers.
Inside its showroom, 60 sets of wheels are displayed prominently so customers can see exactly what they’re considering. When someone is unsure about how a particular wheel or tire combination will look on their vehicle, Central Tire’s staff often takes a hands-on approach.
“We'll bring the truck into the shop,” says Sparks. “We'll mount up a wheel and tire and bolt it on, even before the lift. And we'll ask, ‘Well, what do you think?’”
If it’s not exactly what the customer wanted, the process continues until the customer is satisfied.
For enthusiasts investing thousands of dollars in wheels, tires and suspension upgrades, seeing the products on their vehicles can make all the difference.
“Being able to see it right there is so important in this industry,” says Sparks.
One of Central Tire’s biggest strategic advantages is its inventory. It stocks roughly 3,000 wheels and a couple thousand tires — a decision Sparks believes is critical in the performance market.
“Wheels are more of an impulse buy,” he says. “You have the customer that's going to come in, who's been browsing wheels for six months, and he finally wants to pull the trigger and then you have a lot of people that'll walk through the door because we have so much on the floor and they're like, 'Didn't know that was that price. Didn't know those were affordable. How much is this one? Well, since we're looking at that, how much are tires?’”
Customers often walk in planning to browse or compare options. But when they see the exact style they want sitting on the show room floor, the decision becomes much easier.
“Having stuff on the floor to be able to do it is … a critical part of the experience,” says Sparks.
Central Tire tries to stay ahead of demand by ordering new designs as soon as they become available and maintaining its stock of popular styles.
“Having stuff on hand is expensive … but the sales you get with it are unmatched,” says Sparks.
High performance wheel and tire experts
Central Tire’s technical expertise and product knowledge are essential to the customer experience it offers. It leverages the vast experience of its staff across every facet of its business to offer the insight performance customers expect.
“We probably have over 200 years of experience between tire work, alignment work, lift work and salesmanship,” says Sparks. “We have so much diversity in the shop, between the people that we have here, that we truly have probably the most detailed employees in our area.”
That expertise helps the shop guide customers through decisions involving fitments, suspension upgrades and tire selection and it’s always expanding through continuous training. Central Tire’s team holds weekly meetings focused on product knowledge, installation techniques and customer service. Employees are also cross-trained in different areas of the business so they can assist customers.
“We've got 27 people out there that can answer the phone and give you a quote or give you an answer. It's not, "Uh, let me ask about that. I'm not sure.’ They can actually do the job.”
Central Tire encourages its technicians to speak directly with customers and break down the mechanics of the work being done to their vehicles. Sparks believes removing the barrier between the technician and customer builds trust.
“A lot of shops are terrified their tech is going to speak,” he says. “That’s what we want.”
For enthusiasts who care deeply about their vehicles, that direct connection helps build confidence in the dealership’s recommendations rather than the interaction feeling like a sale, according to Sparks.
The approach also feeds into Sparks’ and Meyer’s vision for the future of the company, as they recruit younger employees who align with their culture to develop internally.
“That's where our next managers are coming from,” says Sparks. “Our leaders in this company are going to come from us.”
As Central Tire’s momentum continues to build from word-of-mouth referrals, the progress is rewarding for Sparks.
“It’s fun to see the dream come alive,” he says.
There is still work to be done as Central Tire’s team continues refining processes, expanding training and adjusting to meet customer demand. But the foundation is in place.
“Every day is just a new high,” Sparks says.
About the Author
Sara Welch
Managing Editor
Sara Welch is Modern Tire Dealer's managing editor. She is an award-winning journalist who covered agriculture in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia for 10 years and sports for five years before coming to MTD. She can be reached at [email protected].