Discount Tire Stores claim that it is the world's largest independent tire and wheel retailer. It's come a long way from when its founder, Bruce Halle, started in 1960 with aportable air tank which he refilled at a local gas station because he didn't have an air compressor of his own.
Tire America/The Discount Tire/America's Tire Company claims that it is the largest independent tire dealer in the world. The company was founded in 1960 and has some colorful stories of the old days when its founder would show a great deal of inventiveness in cutting operational costs.
The guys behind Pep Boys Tires (Manny, Moe & Jack), started their business in 1921. Emanuel (Manny) Rosenfeld, Maurice L. (Moe) Strauss, and W. Graham (Jack) Jackson opened their first store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The organization now has 570 Pep Boys Tires stores and approximately 6,000 service bays in 35 states and Puerto Rico.
The tale of Big Ten Tires is one of those many wonderful American business stories that you can discover if you dig around. Growing from humble beginnings, Big Ten Tires grew to the success story it is today thanks to a little luck and a lot of determination.
The Tire Catalogue was first published in 1928. It's become something much more than just a piece of paper with a few tire offers since those earlier days when the founding partners decided to promote mail order to Canada.
After the succesful opening of the first Merchant's Tire (or MT) retail store in Manassas, a second store was established in Centreville. The company grew by 1972 to twelve stores. In the years to come, MT continued its expansion, concentrating on the East Coast of America. Stores were built in York, Pennsylvania; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Baltimore, Maryland; and the Northern Virginia/Metro D.C. area.
