Sally Thomas is a second-generation tire dealer with ambition, grit, and heart for the tire industry. Her father, Paul, founded the business in 1981 out of the driveway of their family home, and he and his wife, Sandra, soon blossomed the company into a full-blown tire and service location in Asheboro, North Carolina.
Sally grew up working in the business but pursued a career in nursing before making her way back. In 2012, Sally, with her business-savvy, and her brother, Bryan, with his tire and service-know how, took over J.P. Thomas & Company, which had grown significantly into a multi-division corporation. They have since added several locations and have more than tripled their revenues over the past decade.
Today, they operate eight retail stores known as Thomas Tire & Automotive, two commercial locations, three wholesale distribution warehouses known as East Coast Tires, a Mighty Auto Parts franchise, and an e-commerce business. They are also distributors for Hunter Engineering, Challenger Lifts, Atlas Copco and CPS Products.
In this episode of Johnny g & Friends, presented by Firestone, Sally Thomas discusses with Johnny g:
- The story of Sally’s parents starting their business (1:46);
- Why Sally chose to work for the family business (2:39);
- A valuable lesson Sally’s parents taught her (5:37);
- Discussing the new headquarters building (8:06);
- Sally describes how she and her brother have worked together to make the company what it is today (12:40);
- The Mighty Auto Parts business (15:21);
- What is the biggest challenge facing tire dealers today? (18:00);
- Rapid fire questions (22:54).
For more episodes of Johnny g & Friends, presented by Firestone, click here.
