The Badie Tour: Flat sales, and tires, sign of the times in Gwinnett

Enrique Valencia has managed the Norcross Tires Plus the past four years. Only recently, though, has he been expected to be a miracle worker. Customers want him to shrink a $400 car repair bill to say, oh, $100 or less.

“Any repair over $400 — that starts being a problem,” Valencia said. “They don’t want to hear it. Even a $31 oil change is way too much money. The average customer wants you to do an oil change for $16 or $19.”

It rained like mad the day the Badie Tour pulled into his shop, located off Singleton Road. This area is arguably the heart of Gwinnett’s Hispanic community. The Tires Plus location serves more Latino motorists than any of the chain’s other metro Atlanta locations. Times are a-changing. Business has slowed.

Valencia has laid off technicians and cut the hours of those still on payroll. There’s no overtime. To date, the current profit margin is 20 percent less than last year’s. Those subcontractors who used to bring their white vans in for service and repairs stay away. When they do come, they ask for the basics — what must be repaired and what they can skirt by on. It’s the same scenario with everyday drivers. They can’t afford the note.

Corporate management “doesn’t want to hear that we only did 14 cars today,” Valencia said, “when we used to average 24 or 28 cars. I understand that. When you talk to a lot of Hispanics, they say they don’t know how they are going to get their vehicles serviced. I had one guy — a roofer and carpenter — he almost broke down in tears when I told him the price.”

Because his clientele is primarily Spanish-speaking, some are potentially illegal immigrants. They have endured a recession that dried up or curtailed what used to be stable jobs in construction, landscaping and the food industry.

Their inability to work trickles down to all businesses, not just those such as Tires Plus. It hurts profitability, the bottom line. The ripple effect is evident along Jimmy Carter Boulevard.

Fronteras Mex-Mex Grill, located off Britt Road, closed its doors a year or so ago. Ditto for Hooters. Dunkin’ Donuts, located next to the U-Haul rental store, used to be a popular spot for day laborers. The men looking for work bought plenty of coffee and chocolate eclairs. No more. A month ago, I noticed the marquee had been removed. The business is gone. You may have never eaten at Fronteras. I didn’t. You may have never grabbed a doughnut and a cup of joe from Dunkin’ Donuts. I did.

But you still live here. It doesn’t bode well for the county as a whole when franchise-style operations, or independents, start to drop like flies. And that’s what concerns Valencia.

When I visited, some of the garage bays sat empty, no repairs to be made. A few customers came and went. One wanted an oil change. He quibbled about the price, then gave Valencia a $10-off card.

“This is terrible,” Valencia said before I left. “It’s stressful to deal with your regular, everyday customers, and they are broke.”

Rick Badie, an Opinion columnist, is based in Gwinnett. Reach him at rbadie@ajc.com or 770-263-3875.