Southern Tire Mart and Bridgestone Americas have reached an agreement for Southern Tire Mart to purchase 46 GCR Tires & Service stores and six GCR retread plants from Bridgestone, pending regulatory approval.
The purchase of these locations will enable Southern Tire Mart to serve more customers in markets where it currently operates as well as expand its footprint to include new geographic regions, the company says. Southern Tire Mart is a provider of commercial truck tires, off-the-road tires and Bandag retreads.
“As the largest commercial tire dealer in the U.S., our mission is to provide customers with best-in-class tires and service. To achieve this, we need a strong network of stores that are staffed by experts in the tire and service industry,” say Jim and Tom Duff of Southern Tire Mart. “The purchase of these GCR locations allows us to expand our footprint in the Southern U.S. while also bringing more knowledge and expertise to our team.”
The GCR stores and retread plants being purchased by Southern Tire Mart are located in Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, the Florida Panhandle, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Nevada, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Virginia. These locations currently serve customers in the commercial trucking, off-the-road and agriculture industries.
“At Bridgestone, we continually evaluate and evolve our distribution strategies to ensure we are meeting the needs of fleet customers across our company-owned GCR stores and the independent dealer channel,” says Scott Damon, president, Commercial Group, U.S. and Canada, Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations. “We believe partnering with Southern Tire Mart allows us to further strengthen our commercial tire distribution network and position the growth of our brands and fleet solutions.”
Bridgestone will continue to operate more than 130 GCR stores in the U.S. and Canada. GCR remains an important part of the company’s commercial distribution strategy as a leading provider of commercial tires and service in key geographic markets, the company says.
Southern Tire Mart and the GCR stores included in the sale will conduct business separately until the transaction closes, which is expected to occur in April. The stores will be transitioned from GCR to Southern Tire Mart following closing.
