Canadian Tire

Canadian Tire traces to 1922, when brothers John William (J.W.) and Alfred Jackson (A.J.) Billes pooled roughly $1,800 in savings to buy Hamilton Tire and Garage Ltd., an auto-service garage and tire depot. Their edge was arbitrage: buying tires wholesale in the off-season and reselling at markup in summer, backed by an unusually generous one-year unconditional guarantee at a time when tire blowouts were common. The business was formally incorporated as Canadian Tire Corporation in 1927.

The associate dealer model

In 1934, Canadian Tire opened its first associate-owned store — the template for the dealer-owned-store model that still defines the chain today, with local operators owning inventory and taking a share of local profit. Over the following two decades the Billes brothers pushed the company beyond tires and auto parts into hardware and home goods, building the "general store for Canada" identity.

Canadian Tire money

Canadian Tire's loyalty coupons — "Canadian Tire money" — were introduced in the 1950s as a cash-register giveaway tied to purchase amount, redeemable like scrip at any store. It became so widely accepted informally at other local businesses that it functions as a piece of Canadian pop culture in its own right.

Sources

• The Canadian Encyclopedia — Canadian Tire Corporation Limited
• FundingUniverse — Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited History