Peter Gerry, owner and founder of Pete’s Tire Barn, sells tires of all sizes. Staff Photo/Paul Franz

Peter Gerry, owner and founder of Pete’s Tire Barn, sells tires of all sizes. Staff Photo/Paul Franz

Peter Gerry, owner and founder of Pete’s Tire Barn, stands where he plans to construct a 62,500-square-foot steel building to store tires, chains and other items on New Athol Road in Orange. Staff Photo/Paul Franz

Pete’s Tire Barn plans to construct a 62,500-square-foot steel building to store tires, chains and other items at this lot at 114 New Athol Road in Orange. Staff Photo/Paul Franz

ORANGE — A 62,500-square-foot steel building will soon be built next to the Pete’s Tire Barn warehouse at 114 New Athol Road, allowing the business to store more supplies.

Founder and owner Peter Gerry said the business he started in 1968 desperately needs more space to store tires, chains and other items. A steel building is set to be delivered on May 22 and it will take several months to build.

“That’s a lot of steel to put up in the air,” Gerry said, adding that the building should be usable by fall.

Soil samples have been taken and final plans are being submitted to the town to complete necessary permitting.

Gerry said he has not calculated and doesn’t “really want to know” the project’s cost — he figures it will likely be very expensive because the price of steel has risen substantially. He said the space will house the contents of shipping containers from the 43 countries Pete’s Tire Barn buys from. The new building will equal more employment, as Gerry is looking to hire 10 to 12 people to his payroll of roughly 300, of which 60 work in Orange. Gerry has 22 locations in five states.

He explained his business started when he and his friends would go drag racing at Orange Municipal Airport on weekends and he started buying tires wholesale to replace the ones that burned out, which happened frequently.

“And we just kinda developed from there,” Gerry said.

According to the company’s website, Gerry started in a small garage in Athol selling vehicles and performance tires before expanding to include a full line of passenger tires, new and retreaded truck tires, agricultural tires, off-road tires and other product lines. Ninety percent of its business today is in the commercial truck tire and related markets.

Pete’s Tire Barn’s corporate headquarters is at 275 East Main St. in Orange, in a building that was once a factory for Grout Brothers, a short-lived manufacturer of steam-powered automobiles at the turn of the 20th century.

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 262.

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