BARRE, Vt. — VIP Tires & Service has opened a store in Barre, its sixth location in Vermont and 74th throughout New England.
The Barre store — which formerly housed a Volkswagen-Mazda car dealership — joins other VIP stores Vermont, in Burlington, Shelburne, Williston, Rutland and Bennington.
The new store will host a grand opening and customer appreciation event Nov. 19, which will include live radio broadcasting, food from Taste VT catering, giveaways and a ribbon cutting ceremony.
Since the opening is occurring during the start of winter tire season, the Barre store will have a "buy three/get one free" sale on all tires Nov. 19-24.
The new location, like all VIP stores, sells tires in addition to offering a full range of automotive services and is staffed with automotive professionals certified by Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) and Tire Industry Association (TIA), the company said.
The Barre store is managed by Nick Haskins and employs eight, with plans eventually to employ a team of 12. Barre is a city of roughly 8,500 residents in north-central Vermont.
The approximately 13,000-sq.-ft. building was renovated to include a remodeled customer lounge, an expanded shop with new state-of-the-art equipment and the conversion of office spaces into a dedicated tire storage area. The shop is outfitted with eight service bays.
"We are really excited to be opening another VIP location to serve the great Vermont residents in the Barre-Montpelier region," Tim Winkeler, VIP president and CEO, said.
"This has been a target area for us, and it's a perfect complement to our existing Vermont locations, all providing great deals on tires and our full range of VIP automotive services. This also marks VIP's 74th location across New England, so our customers can drive anywhere in the region and know that they can turn to VIP if their vehicle needs service.
"This new store also gives a few of our team members promotion opportunities, which is always great to see."