opened up. It was big step – and it took a bit of a leap of faith. We now have a waiting room, heat and a washroom. After working outside in our four season weather, moving indoors with in-floor heat felt like we hit the jackpot. This worked great and clients kept asking for more – more services, more appointments and the option to take over the rest of the building came up and here we are today.” “It originally started as a backyard business. They were long days. I would start in the early morning and often work until 11 at night. When we got even busier, we experienced resistance from our neighbours – they didn’t like the traffic volume.” The acquisition of two additional onsite bays in early April has really allowed Crowell to give his customers what they want. Timberlea Tire currently offers: New tire sales, installation, studding, repair, balancing, oil changes, full automotive repairs, and fleet services. What is more, these services are performed by Automotive Service Technicians who have been certified by the Inter-provincial Standards Red Seal Program. “We have hardworking young men who are there to get the job done in a timely fashion,” Crowell explains. “I ask that my workers have a good attitude, believe in our mission, and the growth of the company.” Off the bay floor and behind the counter, Crowell credits Carol Clattenburg with keeping Timberlea Tire between the ditches, so to speak: “She can often be seen helping me out in front with customers but mostly she manages
our accounting and paperwork – the behind the scenes work.”
That mission, Crowell elaborates, has not changed since day one: “We don’t offer annual or seasonal discounts at Timberlea Tire; we offer daily discounts. Everything we do here is at a low markup because our mandate is to be affordable all the time. Even our new automo- tive services like alignments are affordably priced. The way we see it, our clientele are people like us: everyday, hardworking people. We work hard in Nova Scotia and deserve affordable prices. We offer and honour fair extended warranties. I don’t even look at it like we’re chal- lenging our competitors directly – we’re car people and if we can use what we know and what we do to help hardworking people we feel like the rest will take care of itself.” A quick visit to Facebook.com/TimberleaTire will show you that the hard- working people of Nova Scotia have taken to Crowell’s business model. They have given Timberlea Tire a 5/5 numerical review, not to mention the glowing – and some heartfelt – alphabetical ones. Crowell’s empathy for the work force of his province has given him entre- preneurial insight since Timberlea Tire’s early days. Shortly after he moved his operation from his backyard, he began to dabble in mobile services around Greater Halifax. While Timberlea Tire found success on the road, Crowell says they were met with even broader resistance con- cerning traffic. A tune-up was in order. “Now we offer a mobile corpo- rate fleet oil service in Greater Halifax and Moncton, New Brunswick. We have Oil Technicians who travel to your company and service fleet vehicles, light trucks, vans and cars onsite. This saves valuable down time for both the company and the employee.” The Mobile Oil Fleet Service also performs preventative maintenance. “We have hardworking young men who are there to get the job done in a timely fashion.”
The Mobile Oil Fleet Service is also one of the few elements of the Timberlea Tire business model that has not been pilfered by copycats. The com-
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS • JUNE 2016
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