Canadian Tire
Canadian Tire has proudly stood the test of time since our founding in 1922. What began as a small but bold entrepreneurial concept has emerged to become Canada’s most-shopped retailer with more than 1,000 stores and gas bars across the enterprise.
At Canadian Tire, we have a proud history and a promising future. We have a clear sense of why we exist, where we are heading and how we are going to get there.
Canadian Tire’s future starts with a clear purpose: We are a proud Canadian family of retail, retail-related and financial services businesses that is inter-related and strengthened by the triangle…a great Canadian brand. We exist to create “Customers for Life” and “Shareholder Value”.
Across the enterprise, we share a compelling vision: Our vision is to create sustainable growth by being a national champion and Canada’s most trusted company. We will grow from our strengths - leveraging our brands, core capabilities, assets and extraordinary people.
Canadian Tire’s vision comes to life through our Team Values:
We value…Integrity, Dignity, Respect, Open communication
We are all…Team and community minded, Accountable, Innovative
The Canadian Tire Way is our foundation and inspiration that will continue to guide our future growth and success.
September 15, 1922—
The Beginning
There are only 23,700 cars in Canada in 1913, but by 1922, the number jumps to 210,333 in Ontario alone. That year, two brothers, John W. and Alfred J. Billes, with a combined savings of $1,800, buy Hamilton Tire and Garage Ltd. in Toronto’s east end. The brothers stock a small range of repair parts for the two most popular car makes, tires, batteries, and a home-made brand of anti-freeze—at a time when Toronto’s 40,000 cars are being accepted as transportation. A big part of their early earnings come from renting out parking spaces in their heated garage—a necessity in those days if a car was to start on a cold morning.
In 1927, Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited is officially incorporated. “We chose Canadian Tire” A. J. Billes later recalled, “because it sounded big.” From across the country, people began writing to the store, looking for automotive parts that are hard to come by in more isolated areas. In 1928, to serve this market, the brothers produced their first catalogue featuring tire values on one side, and a handy road map of Ontario on the back. Today, Canadian Tire’s annual catalogue is distributed to almost 9-million households in English and French.
After the stock market crash of October, 1929, the world slumps into a depression that hits Canada particularly hard. Despite the hard times, and perhaps even because of them, Canadian Tire flourishes. There are more than a million cars in Canada by 1930, and rather than buy new ones, people repair and “make do,” shopping at Canadian Tire for the necessary parts. Canadian Tire introduces their “super-lastic” tire guarantee—making the first time in Canada that a tire is guaranteed for other than manufacturer’s defects.
In 1934, Canadian Tire opens its first official associate store in Hamilton, Ontario—serving as a catalyst for the development of a nationwide network of dealer operated Canadian Tire Associate Stores.
Today there are more than 390 Canadian Tire Associate Dealers operating over 430 Associate Stores. These entrepreneurs serve an active role in communities nationwide by supporting the local economy and community events and programs. The catalogue proclaims Canadian Tire is the “largest direct automotive supply house in Canada.” Product offering is diversified to meet the changing needs of customers, and now includes camping equipment, radio supplies and a variety of private house brand automotive accessories.
In 1937, the main store in Toronto moves into a vacant supermarket where A.J. Billes introduces an innovation that will delight generations of Toronto shoppers—clerks on roller skates who race to fill orders.
Canadian Tire Rewards Its Customers
The 1950’s are a period of intense competition among companies serving North Americans’ growing love affair with the era’s chromed, brightly painted automobiles. To help attract drivers to their newly opened gas stations and back into Canadian Tire stores, the company introduces Canadian Tire ‘Money’. These “cash bonus coupons” are issued to customers with their gasoline purchases to be redeemed only on store merchandise. In the early sixties, Canadian Tire ‘Money’ extends out from the gas bar to the retail environment. Today, Canadian Tire ‘Money’, available nationally, is Canada’s most recognized customer loyalty program.
Canadian Tire’s “A Bike Story”, national television advertising campaign, captures the attention and emotion of Canadian families as a cultural slice of life.
It symbolizes Canadian Tire’s past, present and future in a story about the unique relationship between Canadian Tire and its customers, sending a timeless message of family, hard work, dreams and rewards.
Delivering What Customers
Value Most —>
Today, nine out of ten adult Canadians shop at Canadian Tire at least twice a year and 40% of Canadians shop at Canadian Tire every week. Eighty-five per cent of the Canadian population lives within a 15-minute drive of their local Canadian Tire store. Canadian Tire is three clearly defined, highly competitive, specialty stores under one roof—automotive, sports and leisure, and home products. The involvement of Canadian Tire Associate Dealers in the daily life of the communities they serve helps the retailer forge stronger links with its customers across Canada. The most extensive store renewal and redevelopment program in Canadian history is underway to ensure Canadian Tire continues to be the best at what customers value most.
Canada Business Directory @ January 17, 2009