| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retailing |
| Founded | Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States (1960) |
| Headquarters | Scottsdale, Arizona, United States |
| Number of locations | 800 (May 2011)[1] |
| Key people | Bruce Halle, founder Thomas P Englert, CEO Gary VanBrundt, Vice Chairman Christian Rowe, CFO |
| Products | Tires, Wheels |
| Website | www.discounttire.com |
Discount Tire Company is a tire and wheel retailer headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona.[2] It is the largest independent tire retailer in the United States, and sole retail outlet for the Arizonian brand of tires.
The company was founded in 1960 when Bruce T. Halle rented a building on Stadium Boulevard in Ann Arbor, Michigan.[3] Halle is a Alumni of Eastern Michigan University. At Eastern Michigan University, the university's library is name after Halle.[4]
The company's outlets are branded America's Tire Company in Oregon, Washington, and California (except for San Diego County) where it is known as Southern California Discount Tire Co. The company's television ads still feature a ten-second clip first filmed and used in 1975,[5] in which a "little old lady" tosses a tire through a storefront window. This ad has made the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest continuously-running television ad.[6]