Fountain Tire

65 Years in Business  

Submitted by Brent Hesje, CEO—Fountain Tire Ltd.

What’s your story?  

For 65 years, Fountain Tire has been driven by a passion for customer service, the spirit of partnership and a love for vehicles.  

The company started in 1956 when Bill Fountain opened his first store in Wainwright, Alberta. Bill’s outstanding customer service, infectious work ethic, and commitment to partnerships were integral to the company’s success. Under a unique business model, successful store managers were offered ownership of the business through a 50/50 partnership in their operation, a system still followed today. Fountain Tire quickly grew from one double-bay garage to include stores across Alberta, the Prairies, and Canada.  

Today, Fountain Tire is one of Canada’s premier tire and automotive service networks with 160 locations from British Columbia to Ontario. It is also a leading provider of tires and tire-related services to commercial truck fleets and off-road vehicles used in agriculture, oil and gas, mining, and construction. All of these lines of business are proudly guided by a tight-knit team of employees at the company’s head office in Edmonton.    

 

What do you enjoy most about being a member of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce?  

Partnerships are engrained in every level of Fountain Tire’s business, from our shared store ownership model to the way we work with our customers to the deep involvement we have in the communities in which we operate. The Edmonton Chamber of Commerce operates in the same way—it provides the ideal environment to connect, collaborate and contribute. We’re honoured to be a part of it.  

 

What is one thing people are surprised to learn about your business? 

Our roots are right here in Alberta! Fountain Tire started in Wainwright and, to accommodate the company’s growth, a corporate head office was established in Edmonton. As our network of stores grows across the country, this city will always be our home. 
 

What has been your biggest challenge in business, and how did you overcome it? 

The tire industry is rapidly changing. Discount and online retailers are gaining market share and commercial customers face increasingly complex business challenges. In the face of disruption, Fountain Tire wants to ensure that personalization and a collaborative approach remain at the forefront of our business. 

Through every level of our company and through every relationship, our end goal is to take care of our customers’ fleets and personal vehicles like they are our own, and to solve problems with our customers so they never have to solve them alone. We’ve done extensive work in the past few years to uncover the fundamentals of our brand, solidify our corporate purpose, and structure our teams to deliver on those tenets. 

 

If you could make one substantial improvement to Edmonton’s business environment, what would it be? 

Rather than dwell on improvements, we’d like to point out one exceptional feature of Edmonton’s business environment—its sense of community. While not a small city, we keep that small-town feel. We’re a collaborative, “pitch in and get it done” kind of place. Our business leaders, community leaders and thought leaders come together to achieve great things.