Royal Tire Inc. recently acquired Midstates Retreading & Wholesale and a commercial service location from Northwestern Tire Co. Inc. Midstates, a family-owned and operated Bandag franchise, and the Northwestern commercial facility are located in Rochester, Minn.
As part of the Midstates purchase, Royal Tire receives a Bandag franchise and a 40,000-square-foot warehouse -- but not the wholesale business itself (which recently was sold to U.S. AutoForce). The acquisition increases the company's number of commercial outlets to 16.
The purchases will enhance Royal Tire’s commercial service and retreading outreach in southeastern Minnesota, southwestern Wisconsin, northeastern Iowa, according to President Mick Pickens. They also will further support continued growth across the Upper Midwest region.
“This strategic acquisition will give Royal Tire the ability to reach into markets we could not get to before and is consistent with our long term growth strategy,” he says. “It will also give us additional retread capabilities which will result in greater efficiencies and significantly enhance service for our fleet customers.”
Prior to the addition, Royal Tire was 44th on Modern Tire Dealer's "Top 100 Retreaders in the U.S." list; its two Bandag retread plants produce 280 truck tire and three Continuum OTR tire retreads per day.
Royal Tire (www.royaltire.com) also is tied for 46th on the MTD 100 list, with 16 commercial and 10 retail outlets.
In December of last year, Royal Tire acquired St. Paul Tire, a full-service commercial tire store in Newport, Minn.
“This organizational growth will allow us to become an even stronger company, which can provide even greater opportunity for our associates,” adds Pickens.
Northwestern Tire also sold its commercial wholesale business to U.S. AutoForce, a division of U.S. Venture Inc. That leaves owners Tim and Mary Gallagher with combination commercial/retail store in Minneapolis.
"As the tire industry continues to change on what seems to be a daily basis, we’ve made the decision to focus our attention on our retail stores," they said in a joint statement. "We will continue to operate our retail locations in the Twin Cities, and will be working with U.S. AutoForce to make this transition as smooth as possible for you.
"U.S. AutoForce has the resources to provide you with excellent coverage of the Hankook and Cooper tire lines -- along with Michelin, Goodyear, Continental, and many of the other lines that you may already be buying; great customer service; competitive pricing; training; and a variety of other quality undercar products as well as bulk oil offerings."
Former Midstates customers may continue to order online simply by visiting www.usautoforce.com. Midstates Tire usernames and passwords still can be used on the new site by adding the letters “US” in front of the username (i.e., username of “9999” will now be “US9999”). Anyone having any problems getting logged into the website can call 800-490-4901 for assistance.
