When Rod Creaser purchased Montague Tire in 2010 he preached selling wholesale.
The business has existed quite successfully in Montague for more than half a century, opening in 1961 but things really changed when Creaser came in.
Connor Barrett, who looks after the wholesale part of the business, said sales more than doubled.
“The wholesale business is a lot of what we do. We started growing and growing, branching out from a few contacts we had over the years (to many more),’’ Barrett said in an interview.
The business now stretches from North Lake to Tignish. Barrett is on the road five days a week selling to car dealerships, garages, farms, farming companies and construction companies, all of them with different needs.
“It has helped us grow the business and because we’re selling more it is helping us provide a better price point on retail. It all sort of grows together.’’
Creaser says it’s hard to keep up with demand. Walk into Montague Tire and you see, well, tires. A lot of tires, In fact, their stock ranges anywhere from 600 tires to 3,000.
“We rent a warehouse,’’ Creaser says, when asked where he puts the overflow stock.
Montague Tire will sell an average of 10,000 tires per year.
Of course, the business also sells and services tires for passengers vehicles, light and medium trucks, tractor trailers, farm equipment and industrial machinery.
They’ve also got guy who makes house calls, so to speak. Cory Creed spends all day, every day on the road as the business specialist when it comes to Montague Tire’s mobile service. He’ll work with everything from airplane tires to loader tires.
“He’s all over the Island,’’ Barrett said. “He is going non-stop and it’s really only in bad weather for plows. He puts his head down and just goes. It’s a very challenging job. Some of the tires he works with weigh 1,000 pounds.’’
Montague Tire currently employs seven full-time people.
The one thing Creaser emphasizes time and time again is the company’s low prices. Despite doubling sales, they’ve resisted the temptation to jack up prices.
“As we grow and purchase more our costs go down and we, in turn, give it back, which is a theory at one point and time I didn’t agree with. Rod said ‘no, keep giving it back to the people and we’ll keep getting more and more (business) back’,’’ Barrett said.
