TBC Corp. is rebranding the last 46 Merchant's Tire & Auto Service Center stores. By the end of November those final locations, in Maryland and Virginia, will take on the NTB Tire & Service Center name.
TBC acquired Merchant's Tire in 2003. In 2016 it rebranded the stores in the Carolinas, and earlier this year it continued with the conversion of 39 Merchant's stores in select Virginia markets. All have taken on the NTB brand. When the final conversions are complete, there will be nearly 550 NTB retail stores in 23 states.
The Merchant’s brand was founded in 1943 by the Merchant family from Manassas, Va.
“With more than 75 years serving customers, there is no denying the strength of the Merchant’s brand, however, after careful evaluation, we have decided it is an appropriate time for us to operate these locations under NTB,” says Erik Olsen, CEO and president of TBC. “The phased rebrand of Merchant’s locations to NTB over the past few years has yielded positive results, and has been positively received by our associates and our customers, and we are confident that this rebrand will have the same outcome.
“We have enjoyed the opportunity to introduce our customers to the NTB brand while providing them the same great service that they have become accustomed to at all of our locations."
In the retail sector, TBC also operates Tire Kingdom Service Centers, Big O Tires and Midas. In all, the company has more than 3,200 franchised and company-owned tire and automotive service centers.
For more information about NTB, visit www.NTB.com.
