Sixty years ago this spring, an army of ambitious entrepreneurs and innovators banded together and placed their trust in a new idea: Midas.
As the brand’s founding franchisees, they were responding to the needs of a changing market, delivering what consumers demanded, but often couldn’t get –fast and efficient, while-you-wait muffler service.
Fast forward 60 years, and the multi-national Midas brand is responding to the market again – this time as a provider of tire and total car care for today’s time-pressed customers.
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The company was launched on April 20, 1956 by Nate H. Sherman, an Omaha farm boy who dreamed of becoming a journalist but instead went into business and rewrote the history of the aftermarket auto industry. Sherman called his company the Muffler Installation Dealers Associated Service – ever since known as Midas – and the muffler his franchisees installed back then was a brass-speckled beauty that came with a warranty “for as long as you own your car.”
The first store opened in Macon, Ga. Within a year, there were 100 nationwide. In subsequent years, Midas expanded into a range of services such as brakes, tires, oil changes and ride control. Today, nearly 1,300 Midas locations in the U.S. and Canada service almost all of the typical car’s needs.
In May 2012, Midas became the newest member of an expanding family of auto-service brands owned by the Florida-based TBC Corporation, whose heft, tire expertise and buying power has helped reinvigorate the brand. Under TBC management, Midas introduced 10 Service Absolutes geared to wowing customers and then successfully executed a brand relaunch featuring a new image, a return to TV advertising (after a five-year absence) and a series of national promotions enhanced by a strategic media schedule and a “For brakes, tires, oil, everything, Trust the Midas Touch” tag line.
The wide-ranging revamp included the debut of the animated Midas Golden Hand, which helped set the brand apart and position it as a friendly, full-service car care provider.
Under TBC’s stewardship, Midas’ North American sales increased for 29 straight months through November 2015, and the brand opened 21 locations in the U.S. and Canada last year, including several formerly independent stores that converted to Midas franchises.
Building on this, the company has set its sights on securing a permanent place at the apex of the industry with the launch of a tire sales initiative geared to making Midas a full-service tire and auto service destination. The pilot will launch in April in the Philadelphia market and then roll across North America in the rest of 2016 -- and into 2017.
“The future of our brand is in tires and auto service,” said Midas Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Mike Gould. “It’s a major change, and we are confident about it because change is in our DNA: Midas started out as a muffler specialist and then graduated into brakes, followed by maintenance. Two years from now, we will be a full-service tire and auto-service company-- and a significant player in the tire business.”
For more information about Midas’ expansion, (highly ranked automotive and maintenance franchise in Entrepreneur Magazine’s 2015 Franchise 500 and the top ranked auto repair franchise on Franchise Times Top 200 in 2015) contact Midas International Corporation by phone at 1-877-890-5874 or email [email protected].
The Midas Timeline
1956 First Midas store opens
1957 100th Midas store opens
1961 Midas expands into Canada
1968 Midas opens first overseas store
1979 Midas introduces nationwide brake service
1996 Midas moves into multiple services
2012 Florida-based TBC Corp. merges with Midas
2013 Midas brand relaunched with a new image and new advertising
2015 Midas completes 29 straight months of comp store sales increases
2015 Company opens 21 Midas locations in the U.S. and Canada
2016 Midas launches the ‘Midas Tires’ initiative with the goal of profitably transforming Midas into a major retailer of tire and total care services
About Midas
Midas is one of the world’s largest providers of automotive services, offering brake, maintenance, tires, exhaust, steering and suspension services at more than 2,100 franchised, licensed and company-owned Midas shops in 13 countries, including nearly 1,300 in the United States and Canada. Midas also owns the SpeeDee Oil Change and Auto Service business, with more than 100 auto service centers in the United States and Mexico. For more information visit www.midas.com.
