Shops sold to focus on tennis dream of Tik Tok star daughter

It’s not often when a TikTok sensation — who happens to embrace her inner Brock Purdy — shakes up the retail tire industry.

It probably has never happened, at least before this year.

That’s when it became clear to Wade and Tanner Frey, owners of two Utah tire dealerships — Murray Point S Tire & Auto in Murray and Bountiful Point S Tire & Auto in Bountiful, just south of Salt Lake City — that they had to sell.

It was just 18 months earlier the Freys were in expansion mode, in discussions to grow exponentially. They had just bought the Bountiful Point S location, a Point S showpiece that generates $2.5 million in sales annually.

“We bought that and got it going,” Wade said. “Then something really crazy happened.”

Earlier this year, the social media career of Wade’s 16-year-old granddaughter — Tanner’s daughter, Anna Frey — went viral.

Anna, a budding professional tennis player, bears a striking resemblance to Brock Purdy, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback who led his team to the Super Bowl in February.

@annafrey #duet with @ mr. relevant😎 #fyp #annafrey #brockpurdy ♬ original sound - Chubba Purdy

She began wearing a Purdy 49ers jersey on TikTok videos earlier this year, becoming an overnight sensation. Today, she has more than 2 million followers on TikTok and more than 730,000 followers on Instagram.

And her pro tennis career is exploding, too, taking her to different states across the U.S. as she works to improve her United States Tennis Association (USTA) ranking, now at 1,030. The high school sophomore out of Farmington, Utah, is one of the most highly recruited tennis players in the U.S.

Tanner began managing his burgeoning daughter’s career, Wade said, and was out of town half of his time.

“He was getting to be at a point of exhaustion,” Wade said. “He was not in position to be true partner, so we made an abrupt decision to look for a buyer.”

Gills Point S Chief Operating Officer Shane Vorderstrasse told Wade he needed to reach out to Gills Point S owner Eric Gill, who continues to look for ways to expand his dealership, now with 71 locations in the Northwest and Northeast U.S.

Wade said Gill was familiar with his stores, and once they began to talk, a deal was consummated quickly.

“He saw our numbers and knew they were solid stores,” Wade said.

The 65-year-old Wade was a relative newcomer to the tire industry. After retiring from a career with an orthopedic firm, he decided to go into business with Tanner, buying the Murray store in 2014.

@annafrey yo @damian #fyp #annfrey #tennis ♬ original sound - Anna Frey

One of Wade’s core tenets is relationships. It drove him to strike a deal with Gill not only because of his relationship with him, but also because he knew Gill would take care of his 18 employees.

“First and foremost, I had to find a right home for my employees,” Wade said. “You develop a great association with them, so you want to make sure you find good home for the people who have sacrificed so much for you.”

And keeping the dealership within the Point S family was important.

“I felt that knowing where Point S is going, it’s representative of the independent tire dealer,” Frey said. “And knowing what Eric’s philosophy is and the organization he put together, I did not want to look too far outside the Point S family.”

Wade said he was “grateful to know a guy who was in expansion mode and fit what I wanted to do.”

If you’re an independent tire dealer looking to sell, Wade said to consider two key aspects.

First, he said, be sure to find a good home for the people who helped make you successful.

Second, he said, is to make sure your accounting books are clean.

“If you have efficient accounting practice, and your books are clean,” Wade said, “(the prospective buyer) will know this is a solid business. There are no red herrings to find.”