Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations LLC has sold off more of its GCR Tires & Service business. And the buyer is a repeat customer: McCarthy Tire Service Co. Inc. The Pennsylvania-based tire dealer is buying 13 more stores, plus three GCR retread plants.
This sale comes three-plus months after Bridgestone sold 46 GCR Tires & Service stores and six GCR retread plants to Southern Tire Mart LLC.
The GCR-McCarthy Tire Service deal is expected to close in mid-August. It includes locations in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. In 2017 McCarthy Tire Service bought six GCR locations in Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York.
"We are excited to expand our service network in the Carolinas and Virginia," says John McCarthy Jr., president of McCarthy Tire Service, the seventh largest commercial tire dealer and eighth largest retreader in the U.S.
"The addition of 13 stores and three retread manufacturing plants will allow us to respond more quickly to our customers' needs, minimizing downtime and keeping their businesses moving."
In its 93-year history as a family owned and operated tire dealer, McCarthy Tire Service has grown into one of the largest in the nation. Before adding the latest GCR locations, McCarthy already operated 32 commercial stores, plus 13 more that offer a mix of commercial and retail business. McCarthy has seven existing Bandag retread plants that stretch from Georgia to New York.
Here's what Bridgestone says about the sale of these latest GCR assets:
“This transaction is an important step in Bridgestone’s ongoing effort to evolve our commercial tire distribution strategies to better meet the needs of fleet customers,” said Scott Damon, president, of Bridgestone's commercial group in the U.S. and Canada.
“Partnering with McCarthy Tire will strengthen our distribution network along the East Coast and drive further growth for Bridgestone products and fleet solutions.”
At the time of the announcement of the GCR sale to Southern Tire Mart in March, Bridgestone told Modern Tire Dealer that it would continue to operate more than 130 GCR stores in the U.S. and Canada. The tire maker also said GCR remained an important part of its commercial distribution strategy as a leading provider of commercial tires and service in key geographic markets.
McCarthy Tire and the GCR stores included in the sale will conduct business separately until the transaction closes.
For more information, visit www.mccarthytire.com or www.gcrtires.com.
