Monro Comparable Sales Fell 1.8 Percent as Store Traffic Dropped
Tires and brakes fell 4 percent. Maintenance rose 3 percent. The average ticket rose, and fewer customers came in.
Story in Brief
- Sales fell 1.8 percent to $283.6 million, all from comparable store sales.
- Tires and brakes each fell 4 percent. Batteries rose 8 percent and maintenance rose 3 percent.
- Operating income fell to $2.6 million from $12.8 million.
- O'Reilly sales to professional customers rose 12.7 percent in the quarter ended September 30.
- One chain does not speak for the trade, so test each reading on your own books.
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Monro comparable store sales fell 1.8 percent in the quarter ended September 26, 2026, the company said in its October 29 earnings release. Its quarterly report says traffic fell and the average ticket rose. Monro does tires, brakes and maintenance at 1,114 company stores, so its numbers give independent shops a look at the same work at scale.
This is one chain, in one quarter. It does not speak for the whole trade. It is still one of the few places a shop can read tire, brake and maintenance results by category, filed with the SEC.
Disclosure. Auto Mechanic USA is published by Supercanic LLC, an auto repair company that also makes Shop Desk, which is shop software. Monro and O'Reilly work in the same trade.
What the Filing Says
Sales fell 1.8 percent to $283.6 million, from $288.9 million a year earlier. The company says the drop came entirely from comparable store sales. Monro defines those as sales at locations open or owned for at least one full fiscal year.
Profit moved faster than sales. Operating income fell to $2.6 million, or 0.9 percent of sales, from $12.8 million, or 4.4 percent. The company reported a net loss of $1.6 million, against net income of $5.7 million a year earlier.
By category, the quarter split in two. Batteries and maintenance rose. Tires, brakes, alignment and front end work fell.
Monro comparable store sales change and share of sales, second fiscal quarter. Figures from the company's quarterly report.
| Category | Quarter Ended Sep 26, 2026 | Quarter Ended Sep 27, 2025 | Share of Sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Batteries | Up 8 percent | Down 21 percent | 2 percent |
| Maintenance Service | Up 3 percent | Flat | 27 percent |
| Alignment | Down 2 percent | Down 5 percent | Part of Steering, 9 percent |
| Tires | Down 4 percent | Flat | 47 percent |
| Brakes | Down 4 percent | Up 6 percent | 14 percent |
| Front End and Shocks | Down 5 percent | Up 18 percent | Part of Steering, 9 percent |
The mix matters when you read that table. Tires are 47 percent of Monro's sales, so a 4 percent drop there outweighs an 8 percent gain in batteries at 2 percent of sales. Your own mix may weigh those lines differently.
Why Monro Says It Happened
The company's explanation is in the release. It points to lower store traffic. It says customers kept putting off higher ticket spending and moved down to lower cost tires. It also says it funded its own promotions to grow brake units. These are Monro's own reasons, and the filing does not test them.
The same release credits its courtesy inspection process for growth in the average repair order. It also ties that process to the gains in batteries and maintenance.
Costs moved the wrong way. Total operating expenses rose to $97.4 million, or 34.3 percent of sales, from $90.4 million, or 31.3 percent. The release lists a $6.1 million rise in store closing costs, net of sale gains, $3.4 million more at continuing locations, mainly front shop labor, and $3.2 million more in marketing. Lower consultant costs of $7.1 million offset part of that.
Gross margin fell 50 basis points, or half a point. The quarterly report breaks that into 80 basis points of higher occupancy cost, offset by 30 basis points of lower material cost. Technician labor cost held level as a share of sales.
Prices Rose, Parts Sales Rose, Traffic Fell
Two other public numbers from the same months add context. Neither one explains Monro on its own.
Consumer prices for maintenance and repair rose 5.79 percent in the 12 months to September 2026, from 442.843 to 468.491, per BLS series CUUR0000SETD. That is an Auto Mechanic USA calculation. So Monro's comparable sales fell while the national price index rose.
O'Reilly, which sells parts to shops and to do it yourself customers, reported the other side of the counter. Its third quarter release shows sales to professional service providers of $2.60 billion, up 12.7 percent from $2.31 billion. Sales to do it yourself customers rose 6.2 percent to $2.45 billion. Those percents are computed from the dollar figures in the release, for the quarter ended September 30, 2026. O'Reilly credits share gains.
Read that with care. Parts sellers gain when shops switch suppliers and when part prices rise. A rise in sales to shops does not prove that shops did better.
What a Shop Can Take From It
These are readings of one chain's results, and each one is a question to test on your own books.
Split car count from ticket. Monro's sales fell only 1.8 percent because a higher ticket covered part of a traffic drop. The filing does not give the traffic number. A shop that looks only at sales can miss the same pattern. Pull car count and average repair order as two lines.
Have a lower tire option ready. If your customers are trading down the way Monro describes, a single premium quote may send them away. Price a second tier before they ask.
Do not expect a discount to fix brakes. Monro ran promotions to grow brake units, and brake comparable sales still fell 4 percent. The filing does not show what units did. Check your own brake units and dollars before you run a sale.
Look at the inspection before the ad. Monro kept up its marketing spend and traffic still fell. The gains it reports came with an inspection in the bay. A written inspection on every car is a cheap thing to test.
Know your fixed costs. A 1.8 percent sales drop cost Monro 80 basis points on occupancy alone. Its rent and building costs did not shrink with sales. At a small shop, a slow month works the same way.
Monro closed one store in the quarter and ended with 1,114 company stores and 47 franchised locations. That follows 145 closures in its 2026 fiscal year. Sales per company store came to about $254,600 for the quarter. That figure is $283.6 million divided by the 1,114 ending stores, so it is rough.
Reader Mail
- What are comparable store sales?
- Monro counts sales at locations open or owned for at least one full fiscal year. That removes the effect of stores opening and closing.
- Did the filing give the traffic number?
- No. The quarterly report says traffic fell and the average ticket rose, and it gives no figure for either one.
- Is this a sign the whole repair trade is slowing?
- Not by itself. It is one chain, with a mix heavy on tires. O'Reilly reported growth in sales to shops in nearly the same months.
- Is this story advice on Monro stock?
- No. It reads the filing for what a shop can use. It says nothing about whether to buy or sell any stock.
Record and Data Links
- Monro, Inc. Form 8-K exhibit 99.1, second quarter fiscal 2027 results, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
- Monro, Inc. Form 10-Q, quarter ended September 26, 2026, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
- O'Reilly Automotive, Inc. Form 8-K exhibit 99.1, third quarter 2026 results, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
- Motor vehicle maintenance and repair, series CUUR0000SETD, Bureau of Labor Statistics