Key Highlights
- Big O Tires added 14 stores in the past year, reaching a total of 470 locations nationwide, with stores averaging $2.8 million in sales per location.
- The franchise is investing in new technology, including a point-of-sale system and CRM platform, to improve operational efficiency and customer communication.
- The convention reinforced the importance of customer retention, operational consistency and a unified company culture, exemplified by the induction of Joe Happel into the Hall of Fame.
In a year marked by economic uncertainty and shifting consumer behavior, leaders across the Big O Tires franchise delivered a clear message during the brand’s 2026 Convention & Trade Show: Growth will depend on execution, communication and a renewed focus on customer retention.
The annual event, held April 14-16 in Louisville, Ky., brought together Big O Tires franchisees, vendors and corporate leadership for a series of general sessions, breakout discussions and a trade show — all designed to align the network around priorities for the year ahead.
At the center of those conversations was a balancing act: navigating industry headwinds while continuing to expand the Big O footprint and improve store-level performance.
Growth continues
Despite broader challenges across the tire industry, Big O Tires continues to grow.
The franchise added 14 stores over the last year — its largest year-over-year increase in the past decade — bringing the total to 470 locations nationwide. Simultaneously, average store sales reached $2.8 million, continuing a decade-long upward trend.
Those gains come as the broader market faces pressure. Retail tire sales are down roughly 3% year-over-year, according to Big O Tires officials, while inflation and rising fuel costs continue to weigh on consumer spending.
“While the market and economy may be uncertain, our overall growth strategy for TBC is strong and disciplined and is showing progress,” said Don Byrd, president and CEO of TBC Corp., which owns the Big O Tires franchise program.
He noted that affordability concerns and global instability are shaping the operating environment.
“We're focused on our collective long-term success and we're staying the course because we know it's working, as we've delivered sales growth, value share growth and strengthened financial performance for TBC this past year,”
Byrd emphasized that the company is “driving forward” through continued investment in the Big O franchise system.
Focus on retention
While growth remains a priority, much of the conversation in Louisville centered on the fundamental issue of customer retention. According to data shared during the event, half of Big O stores rely more heavily on new customers than returning ones — a dynamic leadership views as unsustainable in the long term.
“Car count is a retention game,” said Jerode Padilla, who leads marketing, merchandising and customer experience for Big O Tires.
He challenged franchisees to refocus on the in-store experience. “If you find a way to ‘wow’ the customer every single day, the KPIs (key performance indicators) will follow,” he said.
That message echoed throughout the event, with leaders repeatedly emphasizing operational consistency and customer connection as the foundation for long-term success.
To support that effort, Big O is investing heavily in technology and infrastructure. It’s transitioning to a new point-of-sale system, AutoLeap, to streamline operations, improve workflow efficiency and enhance customer communication. The system will allow stores to conduct digital vehicle inspections, communicate in real time with customers and leverage performance data to identify growth opportunities, according to Big O Tires Chief Operating Officer Gary Skidmore.
“We’re not just reacting to change. We’re leading it,” said Skidmore, noting that technology is now essential to meeting customer expectations of speed, transparency and convenience.
At the same time, the Big O Tires program is rebuilding its customer relationship management (CRM) platform to unify data across marketing, service history and point-of-sale systems to enable more targeted communication and improved retention efforts.
Product strategy
Product development also remains a key pillar of Big O Tires’ strategy, as it's focused on expanding its proprietary tire lineup in recent years.
In 2025, it added 16 sizes to the Big O Legacy AS Plus and 12 SKUs to its Big Foot line, “expanding fitments, improving coverage and giving your stores more opportunity to say yes to customers,” said Padilla.
Big O Tires also plans to launch a new value-tier private label offering. The exclusive line is fully approved and officially moving forward for launch later in 2026 and early-2027.
“We've already finalized the design direction, locked in the tread patterns and sidewalls and it's full steam ahead,” said Padilla.
On the passenger tire side, Big O Tires’ touring all-season tire is on track to hit the market in late-2026. For pickup trucks and SUVs, a highway all-season is also slated for late-2026, with the all-terrain following in early 2027.
“These are true Big O exclusives,” said Padilla. “They're not down the street. They're not online. They're only in your stores.”
The new value-tier product is designed to give franchisees a stronger offering across all price points, while improving margins and differentiation.
“It's kind of been amiss from something we've had in the past and we've been striving to get back to that,” said Skidmore. “So through our TBC relationship with our vendors, we've been working on that for the last couple of years to develop. It'll be a tier-three product that kind of fits where we want to be.”
Another major focus area for 2026 is supply chain performance, with Byrd announcing fill rates are now a KPI for TBC and acknowledging that fill rate has been a recent challenge.
In a dedicated effort to improve consistency and reliability, Big O Tires is also in the process of adding a dedicated product demand planner who “will focus only on the inventory and lines needed for the Big O locations and specific DCs,” said Skidmore.
Alignment and culture
Beyond individual initiatives, the convention itself ensured alignment across its Big O Tires’ scope and reinforced the program’s culture. For many attendees, the event provided access to information that doesn’t always reach them during the year.
“We use this kind of as a coup de grâce … to kind of acknowledge where we've performed well, where we've had challenges — some of the upcoming things,” said Skidmore. “People walk out of here feeling like they're educated, informed and thinking about where we're going for the future.”
The event also highlighted the culture within the Big O Tires’ system, culminating in the induction of Joe Happel into the Big O Hall of Fame. Happel, a nearly four-decade veteran of the business, reflected on the values that have shaped the brand and its people.
“We do this for everybody in this room,” he said. “We want to make this better than we found it.”
His remarks — along with the recognition of other top performers — reinforced a recurring theme throughout the convention: The strength of the Big O network lies in its people.
What’s next?
As Big O Tires looks to the future, the takeaway from Louisville was not centered on any single initiative, but rather the combination of strategies required to compete in today’s environment.
Growth remains strong and investment is ongoing, but success, leaders emphasized, will ultimately come down to execution at the store level. “We're in it together,” said Padilla. “We're in it to win it as one brand, one family, one Big O.”
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.