Black’s Tire Service Inc. continues to expand both its wholesale and retail businesses with the addition of another distribution center and the opening of two new retail stores in North Carolina.
Ryan Benton says the distribution center in Wilmington, N.C., will serve as a satellite wholesale site. It’s about 15,000 square feet, which makes it smaller than one of the company’s major distribution centers, but Benton notes it has a multi-level racking system.
The company’s wholesale business operates under the BTS Tire & Wheel Distributors name.
On the retail side, Benton says the company is leasing a former Firestone Complete Auto Care store in Rockingham, N.C., and the space will reopen on June 1 under the Black’s Tire & Auto Service banner. (The transaction is complete, but Black’s has been waiting on an environmental remediation report before it reopens.)
Benton says while Firestone operated a retail-only store there, Black’s eventually will add commercial service and use some space as a satellite wholesale warehouse.
Another new retail store, near Charlotte in Mint Hill, N.C., opened last month, Benton says. Black’s Tire bought the retail location from McCarthy Tire Service Co. Inc. and took ownership on April 1. The former McCarthy employees joined the Black’s Tire team.
Benton says both stores and the added distribution center fit nicely into “our overall footprint, which allows us to better serve our customer base which often trade with us in multiple locations.”
With four dozen locations in the Carolinas, Benton says the added locations also help its commercial customers and provide additional service capacity for fleets.
Benton is part of the second generation of his family leading Black's Tire. His father, Ricky Benton, was MTD's Tire Dealer of the Year in 2015.
