‘Sullivan Tire depends on consumers, and we directly recognize the hardships that they have. The average automobile today is in excess of 12 years old.’
The owners of Sullivan Tire and Auto Service surprised the industry in 2023 when the family business turned over ownership of the company to its employees through an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP).
The Norwell, Mass.-based company’s operations stretch across Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Maine and include retail centers, commercial truck centers, wholesale distribution satellite centers, truck tire retread plants, automotive equipment service facilities and distribution centers.
Robert J. Sullivan founded the company in 1955, choosing to strike out on his own rather than obey a directive from his corporate bosses to lay off three of his seven employees.
“My father at the time was working for a national tire dealer, who will remain anonymous because we’re a good customer today,” says Paul Sullivan, vice president of marketing.
Going into business for himself might not have seemed like a smart move for Robert Sullivan at the time.
“He was running a store and there were seven Sullivans at home, soon to be 10,” his son recalls.
But the elder Sullivan believed he possessed the most important recipe for success: his team.
“He always attributed his success to the people that he had and the hard work and dedication that they had,” Paul Sullivan says.
After finding a business for rent on a dead-end street in Rockland, Mass., Robert Sullivan opened what would become a regional chain of businesses. In 1979, the company acquired another tire company that had four locations in New Hampshire, expanding Sullivan Tire’s footprint here.
Paul Sullivan recently traveled from his home in Plymouth, Mass., to the Manchester Millyard to appear as a guest on NH Business Review’s “Down to Business” podcast. This article was adapted from that interview, and was edited for space and clarity.
Q. We want to just make it known that we’re hanging out with our fellow ESOP folks. Yankee Publishing (the parent company of NH Business Review) is an employee stock ownership plan company, which means we’re all owners. That’s the same structure for Sullivan Tire.
A. That’s exactly right. Just to give you a little background of Sullivan Tire: Currently, we have 132 locations. We have 1,600 employees. We have three different channels of distribution. One, we’re in the consumer (business). That’s where you bring your automobiles. And then we’re in the commercial, where we do sand and gravel and FedEx and UPS and all the big trucking firms. That’s our commercial distribution. Then we have a distribution channel where we sell to other tire dealers and car dealers. We represent 17 brands of tires directly.
And we’re in the lift business. We sell and install pneumatic lifts. When some of these huge mega car dealers decide to build, there’s a good chance we put the lifts right in. We’re pretty well rounded. We feel like we have all the bases covered, but today you never know. You got to stay flexible. That’s the way the business climate is. That’s the way life is.
Q. What led to the company becoming owned by its employees?
A. The Sullivans are starting to get a little older, and there are fewer of the Sullivans. There were 10 of us, and now there are six. In this business, there was a huge consolidation, merger and acquisitions, going on. And everyone’s saying, “Wow, what are the Sullivans going to do? Are they going to sell out?” We had a hard time with that, because when you sell out, you turn your back on people and it’s never the same. It’s never the same for the communities in which you serve.
We started hearing about employee stock ownership.
And we said, well, this maybe makes sense. Let’s recognize the people just the way the company started. We went full circle on Oct. 30, 2023. We had people come in to the corporate headquarters. It was a Friday. There was only about 60 people in the vicinity and we said, do we have some news for you. And you could hear a pin drop.
Then it got real quiet. And I said, if you look to your right and you look to your left, shake hands with the new owners because we’re selling it back to you, and it’s going to cost you, the employees, nothing.
It continues to be a proud moment for us. Because at the end of the day, your name’s on the building.
Q. How are you dealing with tariffs, inflation and other economic challenges?
A. Sullivan Tire depends on consumers, and we directly recognize the hardships that they have. The average automobile today is in excess of 12 years old. With tariffs starting to add a tax on the price (of vehicles), it’ll be up to 14 years before you know it. People won’t be able to afford a vehicle. When you add in the fact that there’s high financing, that’s probably not a good use of your money, so maybe it’s better to take a look at just making sure (your vehicle) is road worthy.
But overall, the larger concern is just caring about people.
The episode of NH Business Review’s “Down to Business” podcast this Q&A is adapted from is sponsored by Delta Dental.
