Canadian Tire store in Markham, Ontario
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Canadian Tire | |
Public | |
Traded as | : CTC (voting) : CTC.A () |
Industry | Retail |
Founded | 1922 |
Founder |
Alfred J. Billes J. William Billes |
Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario |
Number of locations
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1700 |
Key people
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Stephen Wetmore (President and CEO) [1] |
Products | Automotive, sports and leisure, and home products |
Revenue | $12.46 billion (2014) |
$639 million (2014) | |
Total assets | $14.55 billion (2014) |
Number of employees
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58,000 |
Subsidiaries |
PartSource Forzani Group Canadian Tire Financial Services Mark's Canadian Tire Petroleum |
Website | www |
Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited is a Canadian retail company which sells a wide range of automotive, sports and leisure, and home products. Some stores also sell toys and food products. Retail operations include Canadian Tire, the core retail and automotive service operation, which operates a large car repair garage in each store; Canadian Tire Petroleum; men’s, women’s, and work apparel retailer Mark's; sporting goods and sportswear retail conglomerate Forzani Group Limited, and PartSource, retailing auto parts and accessories. Its head office is in Toronto, Ontario. The retailer is known for its Canadian Tire money, a loyalty program first introduced in 1958, where customers are provided with coupons resembling paper money worth 0.4% of their purchase that can be used in subsequent purchases as scrip at Canadian Tire stores and gas stations.
On September 15, 1922, at 8:34 John William Billes and Alfred Jackson Billes invested their combined savings of $1,800 in the Hamilton Tire and Garage Ltd (established in 1909 as the Hamilton Garage and Rubber Company) in Toronto. Hamilton Tire & Garage was sold in 1923 and the Billes brothers moved several times before they settled their site at 639 Yonge Street.
In 1934, the first official associate store opened in Hamilton, Ontario. In 1937, Canadian Tire moved into the new Main store at 837 Yonge Street, after completing extensive alterations to what once was the Grand Central Market. This location remains as an associate store in the chain today. The first Canadian Tire catalogue consisted of a price list in the format of a 24" × 10" folder. Sent in 1926 to car owners in Southern Ontario, this initial price sheet folder heralded the beginning of the Mail Order Department at Canadian Tire. Since then, the company has grown to over 487 stores. The company is listed on the .
Canadian Tire has experienced a period of significant growth and success, having transformed its store network in three major waves beginning in 1994. In its last five-year strategic plan it attained top-quartile total returns to shareholders among all publicly traded North American retailers, with a total return of 286%. Canadian Tire is an industry partner of the University of Waterloo Stratford Campus.