Discount Tire history

In 1963 Halle took on a partner, Ted Von Voigtlander, a man well versed in the tire business and someone who was especially good in negotiating prices with tire manufacturers.

In 1964, four years after opening his first store, Halle opened his second.

With that location established, Halle then opened a store in Flint, Michigan, in 1966.

Halle and Von Voigtlander paid a visit to Phoenix in April 1969 and were immediately impressed with the potential of the Valley of the Sun.

The first Phoenix Discount Tire store opened in January 1970.

By the end of 1980 the chain included 44 stores, but it was just the start of a period of exceptional growth.

The alliance proved so successful that it would lead to other Discount Tire house brands: the Arizonian Rocky Mountain, the Arizonian Silver Edition (to commemorate the company's 25th anniversary in 1985), and the Arizonian Limited Edition.

The operation opened in the Los Angeles, California, market in an old supermarket in 1988.

Seven stores were purchased from the Michelin Tire Company in 1991, giving Discount Tire entrance into Oregon and northern California.

Halle and his wife, Diane, whom he married in 1999, also received a papal award for supporting the restoration of the pope's private chapel.

Discount Tire entered Georgia, Minnesota, and South Carolina in 2001 and the following year opened its 500th store.

Discount Tire also developed a new business in 2002, establishing the Mobile Service unit to provide new tires and wheels to used car dealerships in southern California.

In 2010, the Arizona Board of Regents honored Bruce and Diane Halle with the Regents' Award for Outstanding Service to Higher Education.

Halle was listed as Arizona's wealthiest individual for the past eight years by Forbes, with a net-worth tally of $5.2 billion as of January 2018.