American Tire Distributors hosted 99 tire dealers at its first national TireStarz Dealer Conference. The recent four-day event was held in Nashville, Tenn.
“We felt it was important to bring the group together with American Tire Distributors (ATD) and BFS (Bridgestone/Firestone) management to share our growth plans for the future," said Ron Sinclair, ATD's vice president of marketing.
The meeting featured a series of seminars and workshops designed to give the dealers timely information on important market trends and strategies for building their business.
"It was very informative, especially on the trends in the tire industry," said David Cunningham, owner of Cunningham Tire in Bassett, Va.
Cunningham said ATD already is planning for 2009. "Independent tire dealers don't have the time to look that far ahead."
Cunningham has been a TireStarz dealer for four years. In that time, he said his business has grown about 10% a year, despite doing business in an area hit hard by layoffs in the furniture and textile industries.
