How Kal Tire is making tracks

Gordon Pitts Published on Monday, Oct. 12, 2009 8:00PM EDT Globe and Mail:

The picture-postcard image of British Columia's Okanagan region suggests a vacation playground of pristine lakes and vineyard-dotted hillsides.But a complete picture of the area's economic foundations would have to include something more prosaic – tires. Tires for big transports, tires for mining vehicles, tires for pickups and minivans.

They are the stock in trade of Kal Tire, an Okanagan family business that calls itself the largest independent tire dealer in Canada and among the five largest in North America. It has 3,700 employees, about $1-billion in annual sales, and sales and service operations in seven countries. “They're in Vernon and that's incredible – they're this massive business,” says Judi Cunningham, executive director of University of British Columbia's Business Families Centre, which recently held a dinner honouring the company's family owners, led by founder Tom Foord, 87. Indeed, nothing could drag the company out of Vernon, population 40,000. While the business has grown spectacularly in its 56 years, its identity remains wrapped up in the region. Mr. Foord named the company after Kalamalka Lake, which sits on one side of Vernon, with Okanagan Lake on the other.

“We live in a small town and we stay under the radar,” says president Ken Finch, Mr. Foord's son-in-law, who says the company patriarch still likes to come to the office those days when he isn't on the golf course. Staying under the radar may be more difficult in the future as Kal Tire spreads its wings. It has plans for a major expansion in Ontario, where it owns 25 stores. And it is looking to become more of a global player as it follows Canadian mining companies around the world, changing and repairing their tires. (More)