Monro Muffler and Brake
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| Monro Muffler/Brake & Service, Inc. | |
|---|---|
| Type | |
| Founded | 2007 |
| Headquarters | Rochester, New York, USA |
| Industry | Automobile Care |
| Revenue | ▲ 417.2 million USD (2007) |
| Employees | 3,000 (2007) |
| Website | www.monro.com |
Monro Muffler Brake (NASDAQ: MNRO) is a company was founded by Charles (Chuck) J. August in 1957 as a franchise of another company. After several years, Chuck decided that his muffler shops should offer an expanded list of services. This was not in line with the other organization's wishes. In 1966, Chuck discontinued his affiliation and placed his stores under the "Monro" name.
Monro began a deliberate course of prudent expansion, arriving at 20 stores by 1977. Afterwards, a more aggressive expansion program was instituted when the company began to make a number of large acquisitions.
In 1991, Monro went public and its stock began trading on NASDAQ under the symbol "MNRO".
In September 1998, Monro successfully purchased all 205 Speedy Muffler King locations within the United States from Speedy Muffler King, Inc. of Toronto, Canada.
In March 2004, Monro purchased the 25 stores and 10 kiosks of Mr. Tire in the Baltimore, MD area. Later that year, five Rice Tire locations were purchased, and are now run as Mr. Tire Auto Service Centers.
In April 2006, Monro acquired 75 ProCare shops out of bankruptcy. 44 of these stores operate as Monro Muffler Brake & Service, and 31 operate as Mr. Tire. With this latest merger, Monro now operates over 700 stores in 17 states.
35 of the Monro Muffler Brake & Service shops are located in BJ’s stores.
This strategy of new acquisitions and converting existing stores to carry the Monro name continues under the leadership of President and CEO, Rob Gross. Since his arrival in 1999, the company has steadily increased its sales and profitability. Monro is the largest, most profitable independently owned under-car repair specialist in the USA.
