Tire Warehouse Central Inc., (TWC) a New Hampshire-based tire and auto parts retailer and wholesaler, opened its 18th franchise store with the addition of a location in Essex Junction, Vt., in June. Mark Hill, who has been a Meineke Discount Muffler Shops Inc. franchisee since 1978, owns the franchise. The TWC franchise will operate in conjunction with the Meineke franchise, TWC said.
TWC also plans to open its 26th company-owned outlet in Gardner, Mass., in July. The new, 7,000-sq.-ft. building also will house an auto parts section.
TWC also operates 23 auto parts businesses and a wholesale distribution center in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. The company said it plans on opening ``at least six more locations in 1995.''
Tires Plus Groupe brought its total number of stores to 62 with the recent openings of a corporate outlet and a separate franchised dealership location in Minnesota.
The Burnsville, Minn.-based tire retailer opened its 40th companyowned store, a 6,500-sq.-ft. corporate ``super store'' in Maple Grove, June 11. About one month earlier, the firm opened its 22nd franchised outlet in Elk River.
The Maple Grove super store is the first Tires Plus outlet to include eight service bays, a company spokeswoman said.
Petro Plus is franchising the six-bay Elk River outlet.
Beggs Tire Factory opened its fourth store April 11 with a location in Keizer, Ore., a suburb located about one mile north of Salem.
The new outlet retails only wheels and tires, but owner Shane Beggs said he would like to branch into alignment service in a year.
``You have to start small,'' Mr. Beggs said. ``A lot of guys get into (service) too fast.''
Mr. Beggs' brother, Arnold Beggs, owns three other Beggs Tire Factory dealerships in Corvallis, Philomath and Albany, Ore. Shane Beggs had managed the Philomath store for the past 10 years.
ITCO Tire Co. held an open house at its new Harrisonburg, Va., warehouse, May 20.
The 90,000-sq.-ft. facility, which also includes a 15,000-sq.-ft. fenced-in area outside, is more than three times the size of the firm's previous warehouse in that city.
The additional capacity allowed ITCO to pick up Dunlop, BFGoodrich and Dico brand tire lines.
ITCO also operates warehouses in Virginia Beach, Wytheville and Richmond, Va., and Landover, Md.