End of a Era - Les Schwab tires

[Kira]

Friendly correction to CKN: It's "jibe".

Charles Bronson, puzzled by the road signs the Germans reversed, says to Henry Fonda, "The map doesn't jibe with the road signs.'

Nothing pedantic, I just don't want to see "jibe" fade away as it's one of my favorite words.

Merry Christmas

 

[02SE]

As noted, after Les died, the company lost their way. Customer service went downhill quickly. They had one standout tire line in Toyo, but their pricing on those skyrocketed. Recently they have been coming out with their own line of tires, marketed as their premium option, but made by lower tier manufacturers. Still decent tires, but waaay overpriced for what you get.

For example I looked at their new 'Premium' A/T tire, which is made by Sumitomo. You can buy a branded Sumitomo Encounter A/T for about $100.00 less per tire in the size I was looking at.

 

[FordBroncoVWJeta]

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[02SE]

Originally Posted by FordBroncoVWJeta
If you Google Les Schwab Tires, looks like they are planning on selling the company.



Hence the point of this thread.

 

[FordBroncoVWJeta]

Originally Posted by 02SE
Originally Posted by FordBroncoVWJeta
If you Google Les Schwab Tires, looks like they are planning on selling the company.



Hence the point of this thread.

Ope. Only read the last few posts.

 

[Finklejag]

Originally Posted by sloinker
When I think Les Schwab, I think FREE beef!


It's a big extra at no extra cost.




I been living in the PNW for 21 years and never bought tires at Les Schwab. They use to have the only contract to sell Toyo tires in the PNW but now you can buy Toyo's at any tire place now. I'm not paying tier 1 prices for tier 3 tire brands.

 

[marine65]

Awhile back a co worker and me both needed new tires.
Their cheapest tires out the door were about 25% higher than Discount tire and a few other local chains.
I asked why they were more expensive than Discount. The answer was we dont sell anything we can't guarantee.
Of course we passed on them.

 

[Oro_O]

Long time customer, now switched. I totally understand why they want to sell the company. Declining customer satisfaction, uncompetitive prices, narrow selection.

After 15 years, last two sets of tires came from DT (last year) and local Chevy dealer (last month). Both have been MUCH more helpful and competent than the last few years with LS.

 

[Mr Nice]

Ultimately each site depends on the staff.

Some are crap and others are very good.

 

[AdmdeVilleneuve]

When I saw this thread it dawned on me they haven't been doing much advertising of late in my area. No direct mail, no newspaper inserts, no TV ads (that I have seen). Costco, Discount and on-line retailers like Tire Rack taking huge bites out of their former market share.

Any readers here have an idea what other regional dealer may want to purchase Les Schwab as an expansion plan?

 

[Cadenza]

My son worked for them and loved the company, especially the esprit de corps among the other twenty something employees. We got the favored employee tour of the enormous facilities in Prineville and were very impressed. But when the old man died, the executives moved the administration to Bend and began living large on the resort golf courses and lost the common touch that made it all work. Then the bean counters took over, selling junk and the working phrase was "we don't sell tires, we sell warranties" and the end was in sight. Promotions went to outsiders and they couldn't find guys willing to work like slaves anymore for a shot at management. A good/great company down the drain.

 

[GaryMX5]

Funny, but here in the Denver area they're building a bunch of new stores. One just opened a couple of miles north of me and there's one under construction a few miles to the west. Anybody besides me notice they do not use Toyo's name in their advertising? They pretty much only use the Toyo model name on their web site and ads. I recently bought some new rubber for my CX5 and got a much better deal on a quality tire from DT after checking out the new Les S. store. The salesman was really pushing their follow up service which was more or less identical to DT. Plus DT will still repair flats for free even if you didn't buy the tire from them. Les only offers free flat repair on their tires.

 

[Corollaman]

I bought tires from them for years until their prices were so high I just couldn't justify it anymore. They sell a lot of off brand tires most people have never heard of for the same prices as well known tires. Toyo used to be their top brand , but they wouldn't call the tire Toyo, which was always kind of weird to me you could read it right on the side wall. Now they are the most expensive place in town to buy tires and their warranty is no longer a selling point because everyone offers the same warranty. I hope whomever buys them makes some good changes. They definitely have a large chain of stores in many states and a lot of small towns. I'm assuming maybe another retailer from back east or the Midwest that is looking to expand would make sense.

 

[KE7JFF]

My observation with Les Schawb having been to many of their locations is that they have become inconsistent with their service. And yeah, I liked them when they were the exclusive Toyo dealer, but that ended not long after Les died.

 

[nthach]

I used to go there for alignments - no more since I can get a lifetime from Firestone for not that much more.

Their pricing for 2nd-3rd tier tires is offensive. I can get Toyos cheaper from the local Toyota dealer or one of the shops that caters to the Hispanic community.

 

[KE7JFF]

Funny enough, I was shopping for some used tires to put on my 05 Grand Cherokee, I went to the pretty good Les Schwab location by me in North Portland and the sales gal said I would have a hard time finding used tires in either 235/65/17 or 245/65/17 because they are a less common tire, so I said OK, lets look at new. The 4 options they had in stock, were all overpriced, so I told her I'll take my business elsewhere and she was surprised for some reason. Which is weird for this location, I've been there before and they were a bit more helpful.

So I checked out Discount Tire, which I always had good luck with. Didn't have anything used, but they did have a good deal on the Atturo Trail Blade A/T in my size, but the manager found out the computer was lying and he had only 2 in stock, and couldn't get more in till next week. But chatting with him while he was having the employees scour the store for the other two, I mentioned the fun I had at Les Schwab earlier, he knew some of what going with them. First problem was that they started having employee issues, namely the lawsuit regarding the favoring of men over women in hiring and promotion that actually opened up a lot of dirt about how the company operates when Les isn't looking. Second was they managed to start managing to annoy long time tire maker Toyo; from what he understands, Toyo wanted them to be a full Toyo dealer and actually honor the manufacturer Toyo warranty no matter where they bought the tires instead of just their house tire guarantee. They didn't want to do this as it would cut into their high margins due to their previous arrangement....so it lead to their tire inventory changing. Thats why oddly you now see Goodyear and Firestone tires for sale in Les Schwab.

 

[PimTac]

Just to clarify, Les hasn't been looking for around a dozen years or so.

 

[Errtt]

There is one a couple miles from me and I pass by on way home from work (go to work a different route).
I noticed over time less and less cars there, lately seems empty of business (couple to no vehicles).
Now maybe 1/8 mile or less from Les is a Discount Tire being built.
At least I'll have a DT near home.

Years ago I bought Toyo tires from Les for wife's vehicle. Less than a month later took it in as she got a screw in one tire. They patched the tire for free (they better) and when it was done they told me good thing they could fix it because they didn't sell that tire anymore, then one employee said he thinks I was the one that bought the last set of that tire they used to carry. I was like why couldn't they tell me that when I first went in to buy new tires. Never went to them since.

I'm glad DT will have a store very nearby. Now I won't have to drive the 10 or so miles through very busy traffic & lots of lights for tires & rotations.
(FYI - my DD currently has DT house Yokohama tires and I have been very happy with them, the tires and service). The other 3 vehicles have tires from DT too.