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Updated: January 14, 2022 @ 8:43 am
VIP Tires and Service, an auto and tire service company with multiple stores in four states, is proposing a new store in a former Hyundai dealership building off North Bennington Road.
Bennington Banner
Reporter/editor
VIP Tires and Service, an auto and tire service company with multiple stores in four states, is proposing a new store in a former Hyundai dealership building off North Bennington Road.
Bennington Banner
BENNINGTON — VIP Tires and Service, a Maine company that has been expanding into Vermont, plans to open an auto service and tire center in town in the fall.
President and CEO Tim Winkeler said Wednesday the location would be the firm’s fifth in Vermont, with others in the Burlington area and Rutland. VIP Tires and Service is based in Auburn, Maine.
The company will be seeking approval of its plan from the town Development Review Board on Jan. 18.
After renovation work and expansion of the front of a former auto dealership building at 167 North Bennington Road, the business would tentatively be expected to open in September, Winkeler said.
The one-story building once housed a Hyundai dealership.
“We will offer everything from timing belts to tires,” Winkeler said. “We do it all.”
The business will be open seven days a week.
There will be a staff of about 10 employees, who will be hired and provided training before the opening, he said.
Features of VIP Tires and Service stores, Winkeler said, include a large number of tires in stock — about 3,000 at the Bennington store — and “state of the art” equipment that can read a vehicle’s tire tread and wheel alignment status, providing photographs for the technicians and the customer to view.
The system, which will be located in one of seven service bays in the building, “can tell whether your four wheels are lined up or not,” when a vehicle is parked there, he said.
Winkeler said the company is owned by John Quirk, of Maine, who represents the fourth generation of his family in the auto service business.
The company has more than 60 locations in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Vermont.
The development plan for the renovation and expansion project was prepared by MSK Engineers.
Winkeler added that the new store “has been under development for several years.”
The company, he said, first had to have a surveyor prepare a report that led to changes in the Federal Emergency Management Agency flood level maps of the site, which were determined to be incorrect.
Jim Therrien writes for Vermont News and Media, including the Bennington Banner, Manchester Journal and Brattleboro Reformer. Email jtherrien@benningtonbanner.com
Reporter/editor
Jim Therrien reports for the three Vermont News and Media newspapers in Southern Vermont. He previously worked as a reporter and editor at the Berkshire Eagle, the Bennington Banner, the Springfield Republican, and the former North Adams Transcript.
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