EDENTON, N.C. (May 9, 2012) — Monro Muffler Brake Inc. is buying 18 Colony Tire Inc. retail stores in North Carolina and Virginia, and in turn Colony is buying the commercial assets Monro acquired in March from Kramer Tire Co.
The agreement is in line with Colony Tire's plans to expand its commercial and wholesale businesses and shrink its retail business, Andrew Bergeron, chief operations officer/EVP of Colony Tire, told Tire Business. The companies are not disclosing the financial terms of the deal, he added.
Retail accounted for about 35 percent of Colony's annual sales, according to company information, although Colony does not disclose its actual sales.
With the purchase, Colony Tire acquires two former Kramer Tire truck tire centers in Norfolk and Hampton, Va., as well as Kramer's former retread plant. Colony will continue to operate 25 commercial and commercial/retail outlets, he said.
Colony Tire will not make retreads at the Kramer retread plant, according to Mr. Bergeron. Instead, Colony Tire will invite Kramer's former retread clients to become customers of Colony's Edenton facility, which uses Michelin Retread Technology systems, he said.
The sale of the 18 retail outlets to Monro will leave Colony Tire with only one retail store, in Edenton, Mr. Bergeron said.
The purchase of the Kramer assets becomes final May 12, and the sale of the Colony Tire retail outlets becomes final June 2, Mr. Bergeron said.
Monro officials could not be reached for comment.
The stores will fill a hole in Monro's distribution footprint. The company has only a handful of Monro-badged stores in North Carolina.
At the time of purchasing Kramer Tire in March 2012, Monro said it did not know what it would do with Kramer's commercial operations. Monro has no commercial outlets among its more than 800 locations.