Longtime Goldsboro tire shop closes doors
By Matt Caulder
Published in News on November 4, 2013 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Mechanic Joe Rands sweeps the shop floor at White's Tires Thursday. Employees of the business located on Ash Street have been working to move equipment and tires to the home office in Wilson after the announcement that the Goldsboro location is closing.
Gas was 79 cents a gallon when White's Tires moved to Ash Street from its building on John Street in 1982.
Used tires started at just $5 a tire.
The gas pumps are gone now and so is the rest of the business.
After 55 years in Goldsboro, White's Tires closed Thursday.
White's had been a constant presence in Goldsboro since 1958 when it opened its door on John Street.
"There ain't no way around it, low sales," store manager Jacob Walters said. "We've been trying to see it turn and we just haven't turned it around."
Sales at the location declined during the recession and never picked back up, Walters said.
"We tried a few things but never pushed off," he said. "We had a lot of customers, but we just had too many days where we were just sitting around."
Bobby White's father, Ed, started the Goldsboro store in 1958.
"We really like Goldsboro, it's a great market. We just decided to phase it out," Bobby White said. "We still own the building over on John Street. We hope to come back to Goldsboro."
White would like to return to the John Street location, but added that he is not sure with what type of business.
He said White's just ran into the same issues that most other companies did during the recession and closing the Goldsboro location just made sense.
Both Wilson locations and the Wilmington and Greenville locations will remain open.
"We had great customers in Goldsboro," White said. "We certainly loved being part of Goldsboro. It's almost sad to think that we're closing down. I'd love to stay but we have to deal with reality."
All of the Goldsboro employees have been offered jobs in Wilson.