MELBOURNE, Fla. (Oct. 15, 2001)—Pam Fitzgerald isn't exactly sure what her company was waiting for, but there's no point dwelling on it. Ms. Fitzgerald, president of Gatto's Tire & Auto Service Inc., was talking about why Melbourne-based Gatto's waited so long to add a seventh store in Viera, Fla.
“We had the property for five years, so it should have been built,” she said. “I can't tell you (why it wasn't).”
Ms. Fitzgerald said the mistake won't be repeated. Plans are already on the drawing board for more Gatto's locations, with the Viera store—the company's first to be built from the ground up—to stand as the prototype.
Upon completion, the new store will be 7,000 square feet with 10 service bays.
The new store, like its predecessors, will be a Goodyear G3 location, selling Goodyear, Dunlop, Kelly and Michelin tires. It will house seven or eight employees, including a manager, service manager, a salesman, three auto technicians and two tire changers.
The Viera store, in what Ms. Fitzgerald called one of the fastest growing areas of Florida´s Broward County, is located on a main highway, just one-half mile from Interstate 95.
Ms. Fitzgerald said her dealership doesn't do much in terms of specialty tires, custom wheels or wholesaling, but its Cocoa, Fla., store has four service trucks to handle commercial customers.
Gatto's has been in existence for 30 years. Ms. Fitzgerald, daughter of founder and chairman of the board Mike Gatto, has been president for the past eight years.