Green Bay, Wis.-based Pomp’s Tire Service Inc. has acquired Tredroc Tire Services Inc., which is based in Elk Grove Village, Ill. The transaction - which includes 17 locations, four retread plants and two distribution centers - closed on Sept. 2.
The acquisition of Tredroc gives Pomp’s Tire Service nearly 60 commercial-only locations for a total of nearly 160 locations.
Terms of the deal have not been made public.
Tredroc was owned by Don Barnes Jr. and Bob Barnes, who also own Allen Park, Mich.-based Belle Tire Distributors Ltd.
“There had been conversations going back and forth between (Pomp’s Tire Service CEO) Jim Wochinske and Don Barnes off and on for a few years,” Paul Wochinske, Pomp's Tire Service's president, told MTD.
“Then the end of 2021 and the first quarter of 2022 is when it really started to pick up steam and we knew we could work out an agreement.”
Tredroc’s “go-to-market strategy is very similar to Pomp's,” notes the younger Wochinske. “And with (its) number of locations in Michigan, it was very appealing to us.”
The acquisition also “further strengthens” Pomp’s presence in the Chicago market. Tredroc has a retread plant in the Chicago area, as well as two in Michigan and another in the Cleveland, Ohio, market.
Tredroc employs around 350 people. One of them, Tredroc CEO Larry Jeffries, has exited the company.
“Tredroc has been a wonderful success,” Jeffries told MTD before the transaction closed. “The team here did an amazing job and it’s nice to see the team migrate over to the Pomp’s side and have a longer runway. Our people can stand up to anybody."
Jeffries, who was named Tredroc's CEO in October 2018, told MTD that the former Tredroc locations will operate as Pomp's Tire Service locations.
Post-acquisition, Pomp's Tire Service's goal, “first and foremost, is to onboard all teammates and make sure they understand our systems and our go-to-market strategy,” says Wochinske.
“The acquisition doesn’t change our strategy. It just enhances what we can offer to fleets, especially in the Michigan market. Having two locations in Michigan will be huge. And the (location) in Chicago just further enhances our supply and the customers we can go after.”
Tredroc, he notes, has “a great, great customer list.”
Pomp’s Tire Service is the fourth largest independent commercial tire dealership in the United States, according to MTD’s 2021 U.S. Commercial Tire Dealer list. Tredroc was the country’s 17th largest commercial tire dealership. The 2022 MTD 100, published this past July, lists Pomp’s Tire Service as the 10th overall largest independent tire dealership in the U.S.
John Lavelle founded what would eventually become Tredroc in 1977, when he opened Antioch Tire Inc. in Antioch, Ill.
Pomp’s Tire Service's purchase of Tredroc comes on the heels of other recent commercial tire dealership acquisitions, including Southern Tire Mart LLC’s purchase of Phoenix, Ariz.-based Redburn Tire Co. and Southern Tire Mart’s acquisition of 26 GCR Tires & Service stores. (Click here to read more about those transactions.)
