GVW Tire, Inc
Gyuriak – Voltin Wholesale
In March of 1983 Tom Gyuriak Sr. met Carol Voltin through mutual friends. Their relationship developed quickly. Time spent together was limited with Carol working nights and Tom working days. May of 1983 Carol proceeded to quit her job. Three months later Tom’s position was eliminated, at a local tire company because of ownership restructuring.
Decisions had to be made. Tom shared his long time desire to own his own tire company with Carol. Carol had experience from high school working in multiple office environments. So the two of them got together and after many discarded name attempts came up with Gyuriak – Voltin Wholesale. We thought this was appropriate since the acronym also was GVW or Gross Vehicle Weight which is a major part of the trucking industry.
Once we decided on the name the hard part started. We were living in a 100 year old house in downtown South Bend. We moved a desk into the living room, hooked up a phone line, bought a truck, printed some business cards and we were off! Tom had over 15 years of experience in the commercial truck tire industry by this time. He had numerous accounts that we were very lucky were loyal to Tom. Also we were fortunate that Tom had a very good business relationship with Sam Currier of Sam’s Tire in Bristol, Indiana. Sam was kind enough to offer us a credit account without any collateral, something the banks were not willing to do for a new business. Things took off with a bang and before we knew it we had outgrown the living room and the carriage house where we were storing our tires.
We checked into warehouse space with an office. We were fortunate to find space that fit our needs on State Road 23 in Granger. Ernie Joy the founder of Joy’s Johns rented us part of his buildings. Giving us our first “store front”.
We remained in Granger for six years. At that time we had grown so much that we needed to be able to get a better buying price. Also our customers were requesting that we get into the servicing of truck tires. So Tom and I did some research and decided that the Zurcher Group offered us the best chance for growth. Paul Zurcher started Zurcher Tire in Monroe Indiana, out of a small gas station. He had through partnerships with manufacturers and other tire people grown his volume of stores quite rapidly. He was a partner in Michiana Truck Tire Inc. which was located on Olive St, in South Bend. In 1990 he was also in the process of purchasing Singer General Tire which was located on US 31 South, on the south side of South Bend. He planned to move the Michiana Truck Tire operation to the US 31 South location. Like all things, timing was everything! We joined in partnership with the various owners of Michiana Truck Tire Center and Tom and I became the managing owners.
After about a year of managing Michiana Truck Tire Center, Tom & I decided that having numerous partners was not quite what we were used to. We sold our equity and the location was eventually scheduled to be closed. Tom & I rented the front building for our own use again. Tom was going to go back to wholesaling tires, as Gyuriak – Voltin Wholesale and I was going to realize a dream of running an antique store called The Treasure Chest. On the Grand Opening day of The Treasure Chest, we reached an agreement with Paul Zurcher to reestablish the commercial truck tire business at that location under GVW Tire, Inc. with just Paul and ourselves as partners. The Treasure Chest had a Grand Opening and a Going Out Of Business sale all in one day!
GVW Tire, Inc operated at the US 31 South location for nine years. The last two years we were in the process of trying to purchase the location so that we could build a new facility. With the land restrictions that were all ready established there we were never able to come to an agreement. We then broadened our search for an appropriate location. The tire manufacturers at the time were telling us that their research showed that the northwest side of South Bend would be the next growth area. With the Indiana toll road and the 31 bypass coming together at that spot there was an immense amount of truck traffic. We finally negotiated for six acres of land on the northwest corner of the Blackthorn Development, the corner of Olive and Brick Road.
We broke ground in 2000 and we were ready to move into the building by August of 2001. We set the Grand Opening for Friday September 14th, 2001. This was a special day for Tom and I because it was a culmination of our dreams and also our 16th wedding anniversary. Unfortunately, September, 2001 was a dark week in the history of our country. Three days after 9/11, we still proceeded with our Grand Opening and to our surprise we had over 500 people attend the event. We think it offered a chance for everyone to bond together as they were trying to deal with the shock of the events, and also to see a Commercial Truck Tire center the likes of which had never been in South Bend/Mishawaka.
The economy took a tumble after September 2001 and we questioned whether timing was going to be our down fall, but through hard work and determination GVW Tire is still going strong! We have expanded our operations to include 30 employees, five customer sales representatives, four mobile service trucks, two off road boom trucks, three delivery trucks, a mobile nitrogen membrane truck, lube oil and the best mobile truck tire alignment in the region! All this besides a state of art facility at 4411 Quality Dr!
Tom & I are proud to be celebrating our 25th year in business! We get asked a lot what “GVW” stands for. And we are proud to remember and share our meager beginnings as Gyuriak – Voltin Wholesale!