Former Ray Carr stores go up for sale

Dec. 6, 2002

Ray Carr Tires Inc. has put the stores it closed last month up for sale; three have already been purchased.

McCarthy Tire Service Inc. of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., has acquired Ray Carr's York, Pa., store.

Virginia-based investment group Magnolia Resources Ltd. has bought and re-opened Carr outlets in Harrisonburg and Charlottesville, Va.

Ray Carr Tires is entertaining offers on two additional locations, according to Lee Diercks, managing director of Clear Thinking Group, a crisis management firm based in Hillsboro, N.J. that dealership owner Ray Carr Jr. hired in November.

"Hopefully, we'll have (the deals) done and closed sometime next week," says Diercks, who is acting as Carr's spokesman.

Diercks adds that Ray Carr Tires has received a number of bids for its Harrisonburg retread plant.

When asked why Carr decided to close his 40-year-old dealership, Diercks said the company "has had financial difficulties. It got to a point they felt it was the right business decision."

He declined to provide further details.

Ray Carr Tires had been the 22nd larget retreader in the United States, according to Modern Tire Dealer statistics.

At one point 10 years ago, it boasted the single largest truck tire retread plant in the country based on daily output.