BISMARCK, N.D.—Northwest Tire Inc. has added two stores in North Dakota and is expecting to open two more in the coming year.
The Bismarck-based retail and commercial tire dealer's newest locations are a nine-bay, 15,000-sq.-ft. passenger and light truck tire shop in Minot, which opened Aug. 14, and a 12,000-sq.-ft. commercial truck tire center with five service bays in Dickinson opened earlier in August, according to Northwest Tire President Dan Pearson.
He told Tire Business he expects the new stores will increase the company's annual sales volume by about 12 percent, though he declined to discuss specific figures.
The new stores give Northwest Tire three commercial centers, five retail outlets and three combination retail/commercial locations, in addition to two Bandag retread plants and five wholesale outlets. The dealership services customers in eight states.
In addition to the new outlets, Northwest Tire is planning to open two shops next year—a six-bay, commercial and retail tire center in Williston, N.D., and a second store in Dickinson, which will operate out of an existing building that the company is renovating.
“We bought out a tire dealership a couple of years ago, and (at that time) we just leased the building out,” Mr. Pearson said. “We knew we were building these two. What we did is we finished these two and then we just started remodeling” the other outlet afterward.
Mr. Pearson noted that the Dickinson store should be open by January and the Williston opening should follow soon after. He did not specify how many employees will work in the two locations.
“I think that's enough expansion for right now,” he said. “We're going to try to get these up and running and make them profitable.”
In March, Northwest Tire became the official Mighty Auto Parts distributor for North Dakota, making it Mighty's 23rd multi-location tire dealer and 114th distributor overall.
Northwest Tire, which was founded in 1977, sells a variety of tire brands, including Bridgestone, Firestone, Toyo, Nokian and TBC Corp. offerings. The company also is a member of Del-Nat Tire Corp.
To reach this reporter: wschertz@ crain.com; 330-865-6148.