Flynn's Tire is a slam dunk on growth

Apr. 19—SHENANGO TOWNSHIP — Mike DeAngelis knows how to score points with his boss — when they're on the same basketball team.

DeAngelis is among the regulars who plays at the Flynn's Tire & Auto Service basketball court in the warehouse section of their Shenango Township headquarters. The company recently created the court, which is slightly smaller than regulation size.

"I just love to play basketball," DeAngelis, the service manager at Flynn's Hermitage store, said.

Every other Wednesday pickup basketball is played at center. A dozen or so of Flynn's employees with a few of their children play friendly games.

Relocating a large chunk of tires at the warehouse created the necessary empty space.

All the other indoor basketball courts were already spoken for, Joe Flynn, company president said.

"My son and I like to play basketball," Flynn said. "So when the space became available, we created the court here."

There's more going on here than just basketball.

Owned by the local Flynn family, the business was founded in 1964 by Joe's grandfather, Joe Flynn, his father Joe Flynn II, and his uncle, R.P. Flynn.

Flynn's Tire got its start in Sharon along Sharpsville Avenue on what is now a section of a parking lot for Our Gang's Lounge.

Since then, Flynn's has been on the road opening new stores.

Counting retail stores along with warehouses, commercial and wholesale sites, Flynn's has 33 locations, mainly in western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio, with deliveries into West Virginia, New York and a slice of Maryland.

A retail store in Montrose, Ohio, and another in the Pittsburgh area are set to open soon.

Along with tires company stores also offer regular car care such as oil changes, state inspections, brakes, batteries and belts to name a few.

"We like sticking to the basics," Flynn said. "And we're the best in that niche."

The Shenango Township headquarters originally was a Dow Jones and Co. newspaper printing plant, where The Wall Street Journal and The Herald rolled off the large pressline. The basketball court once was used for newsprint storage.

In addition to offices, the company's headquarters also serves as a training center for these car care essentials.

It's far easier to train workers in this controlled environment versus the daily hustle and bustle in stores, Flynn said. Class sizes are typically 10 or less.

"You learn best by repetition," Flynn said. "We can teach our people things like how to change and balance tires and have them do it 20 times here before they have to do it in a store."

Training in sales and technology also is provided.

Further, the company has developed its own system on how each task is performed. For example when a car is placed on a lift one of the things required is to place wheel locks on the vehicle to prevent it from rolling off.

Simple courtesies also are taught.

"If you see a customer say 'hello' to them," DeAngelis told one class.

Flynn's draws from a diverse group of employees.

Cooper Dodd from Akron was training this day. Before joining the company he earned an associate's degree in computer technology.

But Dodd found the work dull.

"I don't like sitting for hours on end in an office," he said. "I need to be constantly working on something."

Employee Bret Macrania from Irwin, Westmorland County, enjoyed working on cars when growing up.

"But I never learned how to do things the right way," Macrania said. "I'm learning how to do that here."

And that's what Flynn harps on to attract new workers.

"Even if you have no experience in cars we can train you," he said. "We want to find people to learn our industry and grow with us so that they can become a manager at one of our stores."

As for future growth, Flynn said employees interested in playing at the basketball court had better hurry.

"We plan to fill it up again with tires," he said.