Published June 2001

Tire centers big on selection, customer service

By Kimberly Hilden
Herald Business Journal Assistant Editor

Mike Stephenson is a “second-generation tire guy,” and it’s a designation he says he wanted even as a boy watching his dad, Steve Stephenson, run tire stores.

“I just couldn’t see myself behind the desks and doing the big corporate thing,” he said, referring to his first years at Central Washington University, where he started out majoring in business administration.

So he changed his major to administrative management with a retail specialization — and learned skills he uses everyday as owner of four Les Schwab stores in the Everett and Lynnwood area.

“I like meeting and greeting customers,” he said. “Service is really what we do, and we just happen to sell tires to go along with it.”

Originally, the stores were owned by Stephenson’s father and a partner. But about 13 years ago, Stephenson and John Bronson bought out the two. In January, Bronson retired from his full-time position, and Stephenson became sole owner.

The change has meant Stephenson spends a little more time tackling administrative duties that go along with a business that employs 50 — and a little less time “on the front line.”

But whether he’s at a desk or rotating a tire, Stephenson’s aim is to take care of people: building up employees and satisfying customers.

“We ... try and have the full package for people as far as a benefits package, above-average pay in the industry,” he said about his employee programs. “We do a pension-trust program and a yearly bonus program.”

As a Les Schwab member dealer, Stephenson sends his employees to train at the corporate headquarters in Prineville, Ore., where they go through certification programs for brakes and alignment. He then provides in-store “tire tech training.”

“We just specialize in brakes and front ends, shocks, those kinds of things,” he said. “We don’t do any engine or transmission work. We kind of leave that to the specialty people on that end of it. ... And it gives us an opportunity to focus more on what we do and doing it better.”

His stores, located in the Silver Lake area, on Evergreen Way and on Walnut Street in Everett, and on 196th Street in Lynnwood, carry a “supermarket type of selection” of tires and custom wheels, since they’re not tied to one manufacturer.

That selection, along with the services the stores offer, might bring the customers in, but it’s the service that keeps them coming back and builds business, Stephenson said.

“We try and meet and greet, and get them in and get them out,” he said. “We figure they’ve got a thousand other things to do throughout the day other than just sitting around a tire store waiting to get a flat fixed or a set of tires or a tire rotation.”

At the first hint of snow, such dedication to service is put to the test as people pile into the stores needing studs and chains.

“It’s an absolute zoo,” Stephenson said with a laugh. “That’s our, what we call, ‘harvest.’ Usually, we’re pretty geared up. We’ve got the extra stock on hand ... to make sure that when that first snow rush hits, that we’re up and running and ready to go.”

Business has grown steadily over the years, Stephenson said, adding that he makes it a point to reinvest in the stores to ensure that they’re “looking good and customer friendly.”

The Lynnwood store is next up for an upgrade and “face lift,” he said, “and after that project, we’d like to do the Walnut Street (store) ... putting a brake center next door and accounting office upstairs there.”

For more information on Les Schwab company-owned and member dealerships, visit www.lesschwab.com on the Web.

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