tire centers type private industry automotive retail founded 1952 headquarters bend oregon united states number of locations 478 2015 key people dick borgman ceo and chairman products tires brakes shocks revenue 1.48 billion 2007 est. number of employees 7 900 2007 slogan if we can t guarantee it we won t sell it website lesschwab.com footnotes references data 1 les schwab tire centers is a tire retail chain operating in the western united states . founded in 1952 the company is named for founder les schwab and is headquartered in the central oregon city of bend . the private company employs over 7 000 people in nine western states . the company is known for its customer oriented employees and product guarantees . citation needed contents 1 history 2 operations 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit les schwab founded the company with a single store in prineville oregon when he bought ok rubber welders in 1952 . corporate headquarters were later moved to nearby prineville and to bend in 2008 . 2 from 1964 until 2011 the firm offered an innovative february free beef promotion to boost sales during slow late winter months . citation needed the company was sued by the equal employment opportunity commission in 2006 over allegations of gender based job discrimination . 3 the eeoc suit claimed the company denied women top management positions in the company and noted that at the time of the filing there was but a single female assistant store manager . 3 they were also sued by former employees over the same allegations in a class action lawsuit filed the same year . 3 the federal case was settled in 2010 . on december 12 2006 dick borgman became ceo of the company . 4 that year the company ranked as the 318th largest private company according to forbes . 5 as of 2007 the chain operates more than 410 stores 6 in alaska california idaho montana nevada oregon utah and washington . 6 the company does more than 1.6 billion in sales each year 6 and is the second largest independent tire retailer in the united states . 3 founder les schwab died in may 2007 with ownership remaining within the family . 2 les schwab s distribution center remained in prineville . 2 the company was named the 23rd best company to work for in oregon for large employers in 2008 . 7 founder les schwab died in 2007 and then chairman phil wick died in 2010 . 8 les schwab tires entered the denver metropolitan area with five stores in october 2012 the first in colorado bringing the total number of company owned stores to 374 . 9 operations edit a les schwab store in wilsonville oregon in addition to tires the company sells a variety of other auto parts and auto related services including brakes and shocks . in 2008 forbes magazine ranked les schwab as the 324th largest privately held company in the country . 1 modern tire dealer has called the les schwab arguably the most respected independent tire store chain in the united states . 6 the company closes all of its stores on sundays and employees are known for running to customer vehicles when they pull in to park . 6 see also edit list of companies based in oregon references edit a b les schwab tire centers . hoovers . retrieved on march 12 2008 . a b c rogoway mike december 16 2008 . les schwab moves to new bend site . the oregonian . retrieved 2008 12 18 . a b c d hunsberger brent . suit says tire chain practices job bias the oregonian june 1 2006 . mike rogoway tire giant rolls hub out of town the oregonian 13 december 2006 p. b1 the largest private companies 318 les schwab tire centers . forbes . november 9 2006 . retrieved 2009 02 21 . a b c d e tire industry icon les schwab dies at 89 . modern tire dealer may 18 2007 . retrieved on november 4 2011 . 100 best companies . oregon business magazine . march 2008 . les schwab tire centers inc. . businessweek . bloomberg . retrieved 23 july 2011 . huspeni dennis october 17 2012 . les schwab tire centers opens 1st colorado stores . portland business journal . retrieved 17 october 2012 . external links edit profile of founder les schwab les schwab and conservation partnerships v t e oregon based companies nyse listed greenbrier companies lithia motors nike nw natural portland general electric nasdaq listed columbia sportswear electro scientific industries erickson inc. fei flir lattice mentor graphics radisys rentrak schnitzer steel umpqua holdings private companies a dec banfield consumer cellular esco franz bakery hoffman construction infocus kindercare education laika leupold & stevens les schwab the old spaghetti factory parr lumber plaid pantry reser s fine foods roseburg forest products shari s vigor industrial other bi mart tillamook creamery western family foods list of companies based in oregon retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title les schwab tire centers & oldid 718344896 categories companies based in bend oregonautomotive part retailers of the united statesautomotive repair shopsprivately held companies based in oregoncompanies established in 19521952 establishments in oregonhidden categories all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from january 2010articles with unsourced statements from september 2008 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 2 may 2016 at 23 47 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy 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