Online tyre fitter Blackcircles.com has opened its first fitting centre in Scotland under a tie-up with supermarket group Tesco.
The Tesco PitStop, at the retailer’s Silverburn site in Glasgow, is the fourth in the UK and comes as Blackcircles.com founder and chief executive Mike Welch said talks were ongoing with potential backers to drive further growth.
The first PitStop opened in Milton Keynes last year. Since then further sites have opened at Tesco Extra stores in Cambridge and Cheshire.
Welch, who set up the business in 2001, told The Scotsman: “It’s always been my ambition to achieve something similar to Sir Tom Farmer at Kwik-Fit and, all in all, we’re not far off where we want to be at this point in time."
In March, Blackcircles.com appointed former Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy to its board to work alongside Welch and chairman Graeme Bissett – a former Kwik-Fit finance chief – on financing plans that could lead to a flotation valuing the company at up to £150 million.
Blackcircles.com this month added the 450th franchisee garage under its Premier Partner scheme, and Welch is aiming to grow this number to 1,000 by 2017.
As editor, Tim is responsible for the media content, planning and production of AM's multiple channels (AM print and digital magazines, website, social media and contributing to our events planning). He interviews and writes about as many franchised dealer groups and UK divisions of motor manufacturers as possible, to explore the issues facing UK motor retail and understand what solutions dealers and suppliers are using to overcome these.
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