Hennelly Tire & Auto Inc. is at it again. Two recent acquisitions give the Fort Lauderdale-based company 27 Tire Choice & Total Car Care stores in Florida.
The New Port Richey store, formerly a 10-bay Top Line Tire store, will officially open on Saturday, Aug. 8.
"New Port Richey is an outlining Tampa/ Clearwater market that fit very well with our six current new stores in the Tampa market," says Dan Hennelly, chairman and CEO.
The other acquisition, a former Goodyear store, is located north of Clearwater in Palm Harbor, Fla. Hennelly says this outlet, when ready, also will help fill in the Tampa/ Clearwater market.
"Palm Harbor is a market that we have been scouting for a few years, and here, we had a great opportunity to step in an 11-bay facility with excellent frontage to Route 19," he says. "We are doing extensive renovations to bring the location up to our image standards, and we should open over the next four to five weeks."
Hennelly says he and his wife, Diane, the company's vice chairperson and CFO, are on track to have 35 Tire Choice locations by the end of 2010. Expansion plans are well underway both in new stores and strategic acquisitions.
They recently secured two new sites in Cape Coral and Venice, Fla., and hope to begin construction at both locations by year’s end.
"These markets will fill in the open markets between St. Pete and Naples, where we currently have nine locations," he says.
Hennelly Tire is the 50th largest independent dealer on the Modern Tire Dealer 100 list.
