Customers, employees are top priority
By JIM LARSEN
News-Times editor
Talk about Northwest business legends and you have to talk about Les Schwab, notwithstanding the presence of a fellow named Bill Gates.
Sure, Mr. Gates is worth billions, but his Northwest presence is limited to the Seattle area. Les Schwab, by contrast, is present in scores of tire stores in Washington, Idaho and Oregon. Everybody knows Les Schwab. His image beams out from newspaper ads throughout the region, he’s famous for giving away “free beef” in an annual promotion, and to his employees he’s the folksy head of a huge company they enjoy working for.
Les Schwab visited Oak Harbor Thursday to help Bud and Mia Wallgren open their new Wallgren’s Les Schwab Tire Center, a state-of-the-art facility that replaces the previous Les Schwab store at the same location on Highway 20.
Wearing his trademark cowboy hat and pushing a walker around as if it were more of an annoyance than a help, the 84-year-old Schwab took employees to lunch, presided at the grand opening ceremony and was soon on his way back home to Prineville, Ore.
“This is outstanding,” Schwab said as he stood outside in the bright sunlight. “We had snow at home yesterday.” But he didn’t let the weather stop him from flying up to help Bud Wallgren celebrate, as Wallgren has been a long-time business partner. “Bud’s got seven stores,” he said, sounding impressed, even though Schwab’s company operates 261 stores. Wallgren’s stores are member dealerships, rather than company-owned.
Schwab was impressed by the new Wallgren’s in Oak Harbor. “This is a beautiful store, Bud did a lot of planning,” he said. Schwab originated the idea of letting customers shop for tires like they shop for bread: they’re all out on the shelf, ready to have their tread squeezed by picky customers.
The new store also boasts drive-through service bays, which Schwab said is the way all his company’s tire stores are built these days.
Schwab couldn’t help but think back to when he bought his first tire store in 1952 in Prineville. At the time, he was circulation manager of a newspaper and he didn’t know anything about tires. All he knew was he wanted his own business.
“My wife cried when she saw it,” he chuckled, referring to Dorothy, to whom he has been married for 66 years. The store, called O.K. Rubber Welders, didn’t even have indoor plumbing. Water came from a pump, and the restroom consisted of what Schwab described as “a two-holer out back.”
He invested $3,500 in the store and in the first year increased sales from $32,000 to $150,000. He adopted a policy of putting customers first and treating employees well. He started sharing profits with employees in 1954. Today, tire sales are over $1 billion annually.
To Schwab, the secret of success is basic. “Our people give the service,” he said. And of course he lives by the company slogan, “If we can’t guarantee it, we won’t sell it.”
The employees were thrilled to have a living legend among them for a few hours. “We all had lunch at the country club,” said Dick Eggen, manager of the Oak Harbor store. “It’s such a treat to have him come up. He’s kind of like a god almost, he’s so admired. His strength is his employees.”
