Matlock Tire #5 to open in Valley
Matlock Tire Service and Auto Repair is
making a long-awaited expansion into Hardin Valley.
Owner Jimmy Matlock recently announced the company will add
its fifth brick-and-mortar store, which will be located
along Hardin Valley Road later this year, and expects it
will open before the end of 2019.
The move is a culmination of nearly a decade of careful
evaluation, as Matlock, along with his older son, Joe, have
been following the exponential growth in that community.
“We started looking at Hardin Valley about eight years ago —
just driving up and down the road,” said Joe, among the
third generation of the family business begun by his
grandfather, Joe (for whom he was named) in Lenoir City in
1953. “Originally, we thought we might build on the east
side of Pellissippi, but then we started watching the
schools and housing just explode in the area.”
From that growth a new customer base began rising, and the
Matlocks saw these new clients driving either 6 miles to the
Lenoir City location or the 4.5 miles to the Farragut site.
“This new location just seemed to be a
natural step for us,” Joe said. “It will put us closer to
our customers and also be able to reach the ones who maybe
aren’t familiar with us yet.”
It also was a natural extension of the growth of the
Farragut store, which Jimmy said has expanded three times
over the last 20 years, and is currently the single largest
independent tire service and auto repair store in Knox
County.
“We were to the point there where we either expanded that
store again or make another location, and here we are,”
Jimmy said.
Currently, the company is planning an Aug. 3 celebration on
the Hardin Valley site, Joe said.
“We will be celebrating with our families, our employees and
their families,” he added, estimating anywhere from 150 to
180 would be in attendance from all four current locations,
including Maryville and Athens. “We are planning a festival,
lots of food, a massive tent and things for the kids to do.”
Joe said that day will be a celebration, but not an official
ground-breaking.
“We will shovel dirt later at the site itself,” he said. “We
hope to start that in early September and get the permits
and everything we need, then hope to be in the store and
have it open by the end of the year.”
The planned 10,000-square foot building “will be identical
to the one we have in Maryville,” Joe said, estimating they
would be starting with at least a dozen employees to open
and initially stock the store.
“We are really looking forward to being involved in the
growth, and continued growth, in Hardin Valley,” he added.
“Nobody here is doing auto repair. There is a real need, and
we want to fill it.”