BENTONVILLE, Ark. — America's Car-Mart recently opened up its 100th dealership, extending its network that now stretches through eight states.

Former Auburn football coach Pat Dye was on hand as part of the celebration to usher in the new store in Opelika, Ala., the sixth location the company now has in Alabama.

This store also is the third one Car-Mart has opened during its 2011 fiscal year. President and chief executive officer William "Hank" Henderson expects to roll out five to seven more dealerships during the remainder of this fiscal year.

"The opening of our 100th location is a very significant milestone, and certainly worthy of celebrating," Henderson emphasized.

"For many years we have talked of preparing for that day when we'll have 100 stores and now that day has arrived. It is truly an exciting time to be a part of Car-Mart," he went on to say. "The Opelika dealership will be our sixth dealership in Alabama, a state where Car-Mart has tremendous opportunities for future expansion."

In light of its aggressive expansion plans for the fiscal year and beyond, Henderson elaborated about where he thinks Car-Mart is headed.

"We expect to open additional dealerships at an approximate 10 percent annual rate after fiscal 2011," Henderson insisted.

"The longer-term potential we have in Alabama could be compared to Arkansas, where we currently have 36 dealerships," he added.

To merit such growth, chief financial officer Jeff Williams reflected back on the company's recent performance as well as sales goals for the new dealership.

"As we have previously discussed, we will continue to focus on increasing sales volumes at our existing stores and at the same time adding great new locations like Opelika," Williams stated.

"For the first quarter of fiscal year 2011, which ended on July 31, we had the best quarter in our company's history," Williams reiterated. "We had record earnings of 70 cents per diluted share and saw solid top-line revenue growth with a strong same store revenue increase.

"Our solid financial results, strong balance sheet and competitive strengths will continue to allow us to provide the best possible service to our almost 49,000 active customers and to future customers we will gain as we grow," he continued.

Beyond the financial statements, Henderson also credited Car-Mart's executive team for making the most recent expansion possible.

"The first people we must thank for making this happen are our customers," Henderson began. "We are so fortunate to have such great, loyal customers who continue to do business with us year after year.

"I'd also like to express appreciation to our general managers, recruiters, and our associate development team who have all worked diligently to support and develop our new managers through our MIT program," Henderson continued.

"We must certainly as well say hat's off to Ted Taylor, our director of expansion, and Jennifer Neuberger, our expansion specialist, for all of their hard work in finding and developing our great new locations," Henderson added. "Our facilities look better than ever. Their hard work is duly noted and greatly appreciated."

Finally, Henderson felt a little sentimental about how far Car-Mart has come in almost 30 years.

"From Bill Fleeman's one dealership in Rogers, Ark., in 1981 to our current footprint of 100 locations in eight states across the South, we have a long and successful history of serving our customers," Henderson declared.

"We are committed to continuing our expansion to serve a growing customer base in need of affordable transportation and excellent Car-Mart service," he concluded.