Rod's Tires expands with new warehouse
Staff reporter
susan@marionrecord.com
Necessity may be the mother of invention but necessity can be the mother of expansion.
Rod Koons owner of Rod's Tire & Service, Hillsboro, recently added another building, 200x50-foot, to his business lot because of the necessity to handle more tires, particularly agriculture-type tires.
"The ag tire business is becoming almost like a niche," Koons said, "because the amount of inventory you have to have, and equipment and knowledge to service is specific."
Koons is no stranger to customer service and business expansion.
His business started in May 1999, in a rented building on Main Street. In May 2000, a new building was constructed at the current location at 401 Orchard Drive.
Koons is trying to keep up with manufacturers' demands.
"The way that manufacturing goes, we're forced to buy inventory six to eight months out. It's tough to sell something you don't have."
For the past four years, Koons had rented a machine shed off-site of his business for the storage of farm tires.
"The ag side of the business has been good to us. It's where our roots are," Koons said.
Understanding the need for getting ag producers back to producing, Koons knows the importance of having the inventory available. Today.
"Ag repairs have a small window to repair that item," he said. "Telling a customer 'We can do it tomorrow' doesn't cut it. Timing is everything.
"We have people coming from a long way away because they know we have the product. That's how we're able to grow because we have the inventory. If we don't have it and miss a sale a couple of times, we'll probably bring it into stock because we know there's a demand for it."
Are there more expansions in the future?
"The next piece would be to expand the main shop building which may include removing one of the current warehouse buildings," Koons said. "It's not anything we're going to do tomorrow but it's on our radar."
