BRANDON, Fla.RNR Tire Express & Custom Wheels CEO Larry Sutton has teamed up with a longtime company employee and a family member to open RNR Tire outlets in Brandon and Sebring, Fla.
Matt King, a 14-year RNR employee, opened his RNR franchise location in Brandon this past summer in partnership Mr. Sutton, who said, The Brandon market has been on our radar screen for the last couple years and we have finally found a location that serves our needs.
Brandon is a suburb of Tampa, where RNR has its headquarters and eight affiliate stores.
In Sebring, Mr. Sutton is teaming with his nephew and RNR veteran Kelly Pierce, who said he was waiting for just the right opportunity to arrive. The store opened in late September.
Mr. Sutton said Mr. King deserves the opportunity [to manage this store], and I am really the one who benefits from having a terrific young man as a partner in our newest location in Brandon.
Matt was integral in opening many stores for us and I am glad he finally gets to open one for himself.
The store is a renovation of an existing commercial business location. RNR said the store is using digital marketing on-site to show customers products and how they will look on their particular vehicles.
Our customers are going to get a very unique tire buying experience when they come in to the store for the first time, Mr. King said. The new store features will really highlight what we have to offer.
The options that we provide to our customers for payments on new tires and wheels have been embraced by the 70-plus markets that we are currently serving and we expect Brandon will be similar, Mr. Sutton added.
The Brandon store is Mr. Sutton's third joint venture franchise. He owns nine others outright, according to RNR.
Mr. Sutton said the company has had its eye on the Sebring market for some time and thought it would be a perfect place for us, and the fact that Kelly had interest in opening a location there is a huge advantage for us as he knows and understands the industry as well as anyone in our system.
Mr. Pierce said he has had this goal since I was 19 years old and cleaning appliances in my uncle's traditional rent-to-own business.
I was actually the first employee for RNR back in 2000 and realized that this industry is where I was going to build a career.
Mr. Sutton, who provided Mr. Pierce's introduction to the rent-to-own industry, said he knew right away that Kelly was going to be a star in our system. He wanted to make a difference in our customers' lives and accomplished this by learning every facet of the business, and I am so excited that he finally has reached his goal of a partnership in his own store in our system.
RNR said Mr. Pierce was instrumental in the early development of the model and created and wrote the original training manuals and first jingle back in 2001.
Mr. Pierce said he has already hired a team that understands how important our clients are and how focused we are as a business on the customer experience.
The new location is located at 585 U.S Highway 27 North in Sebring.
We think that the community will embrace the RNR brand, and Kelly and his team are the perfect people to introduce the RNR concept to the area, the company said.
RNR, which rents and sells new and used tires and wheels, operates about 75 franchise locations in 21 states.
Its outlets carry both new and previously rented merchandise in most major brands of custom wheels and tires, including Dub, KMC, Lexani, Michelin, Goodyear and others.