“One of our strengths is found in our commitment to serve a diverse customer population with diverse teams of associates.”
About BFS Retail & Commercial Operations, LLC
Harvey S. Firestone (1868-1938) founded The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio, in August 1900, and started marketing solid rubber tires for carriage wheels. Firestone joined the retail store arena offering basic car service and tire sales in the mid-1920s when the original Firestone Service Centers were opened. The 1940s saw the emergence of the Firestone Home & Auto Store – a store concept of a one-stop retailer offering everything from automotive services and tires to large household appliances, televisions, toys, bicycles, lawnmowers and even outboard motors with the Firestone name brand affixed. The evolution of the retail stores continued with the complete Tire & Service Center opening in the 1960s offering expanded diagnostic under-car and under-hood service.
In the late 1970s the company, in an effort to re-focus its business solely on automotive service and tire sales, began to phase out the sale of all non-auto related merchandise. Shortly thereafter, in 1981, the Firestone MasterCare ® Car Service concept was introduced and established as a premier brand of quality service being delivered to customers in a consistent and distinctive manner.
Bridgestone Corporation, founded in 1931 in Kurume, Japan, purchased Firestone in 1988, transforming the company into the world’s largest manufacturer of tires and other rubber products. Bridgestone and Firestone operations in the Americas were consolidated in 1990 as Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc.
In 1992 the retail store group introduced distinct store concepts to answer the needs of different market niches. In addition to its Firestone Tire & Service Centers the company introduced Tire Station, Expert Tire and Commercial & Farm Stores (C&F) to continue to cater to the changing needs and desires of customers.
Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc. initiated a series of changes to its corporate structure in December 2001, reorganizing its operations in the Americas under a holding company, Bridgestone Americas Holding, Inc., and several operating subsidiaries. The largest of these operating subsidiary companies is BFS Retail & Commercial Operations, LLC (BFRC).
In 2001 Bridgestone/Firestone also announced its majority ownership stake in Morgan Tire & Auto, Inc. (MTA), then the nation’s second largest independent retailer of tires. Responsibility for MTA was shifted to BFRC following the reorganization of Bridgestone/Firestone.
In July 2003, BFRC combined GCR Truck Tire Centers and C&F Tire Centers to build a stronger commercial tire and service organization under the name BFRC Commercial Tire Group. This new entity consists of 192 store locations and 29 manufacturing locations in the United States and Canada.
Today, BFS Retail & Commercial Operations, LLC and its subsidiaries employ approximately 22,000 associates in North America. BFRC consists of more than 2,200 company-owned consumer and commercial stores in the United States and Canada as well as the company’s own credit card operations. The store channels include Firestone Tire & Service Centers, Morgan Tire / Tires Plus, Expert Tire, Commercial & Farm, and Mark Morris. GCR Truck Tire Centers offer truck tire sales, service and retreading outlets for truck and bus, off-the-road and agricultural tires.
Today BFRC operates the largest number of company-owned full-line automotive retail generalist stores in the world.
For further information, please visit our Web site at www.bfrc.jobs
At BFS Retail & Commercial Operations, LLC (BFRC) our vision includes being unsurpassed in earning and sustaining Superior Customer Loyalty in all phases of our business. To help achieve this vision we are committed to the mission of providing a Positive Customer Experience... Every Time. As we pursue our mission we are guided by our values, which are organized as follows:
Helping Our Associates Be Their Best
- Putting honesty, respect and caring for each other first.
- Insisting on injury-free work practices.
- Creating a diverse, fun, productive and harassment-free work environment.
- Providing and utilizing opportunities to learn, be involved, advance and excel.
- Offering appropriate levels of benefits and compensation, encouragement, recognition and special associate assistance.
- Providing the proper communications, tools, technology and practices.
- Encouraging necessary innovation, creativity and risk.
Earning The Loyalty Of Our Customers By…
- Providing prompt, friendly attention.
- Listening carefully to understand needs and concerns.
- Communicating information clearly, consistently, confidentially and honestly.
- Being sensitive to the cost and inconvenience that car repairs may involve.
- Presenting a clean, professional and positive image.
- Fixing the car right the first time.
- Keeping the promises we make or imply.
- Going out of our way to make each customer's experience a little easier.
Serving Our Communities…
- Offering our skills, expertise, resources and leadership.
- Encouraging associates to volunteer.
- Working toward a clean and safe environment.
Achieving Long Term Growth and Prosperity for Our Company…
- Attracting and retaining the best associates.
- Creating a pro-company environment.
- Committing to serve a diverse customer population with a diverse team of associates.
- Protecting and enhancing the company name, assets and reputation in everything we do.
- Never compromising safety or quality.
- Continuous growth in customers, sales, profits and market share.
Automotive service is the largest part of BFRC’s business, accounting for approximately 50 percent of sales with tire and financial services making up the rest. Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire manufactures Bridgestone, Firestone, and Dayton truck tires along with tires for virtually every wheeled vehicle made. In fact, more than 8,000 different types and sizes of tires from a 13-foot-tall giant radial for earthmoving equipment to a kart tire that stands only 10 inches high - are provided to customers around the world.
As a premium, technology-driven consumer tire brand, Bridgestone is the choice for many of the world’s most prestigious cars. Firestone is known in the United States as “America’s Tire Since 1900,” and also, “Firestone -- the Legend,” referencing its success in Indy® racing and domination throughout the series’ history. In addition to tires, both the Bridgestone and Firestone brands are recognized internationally for producing a variety of quality products and services, including air springs, building materials, synthetic and natural rubber, and industrial fibers and textiles.
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