Since the 1940s, Dels O.K. Tire Factory has been providing the local community its wheels. Started by Del Thompson, the business has been run since 1978 by his son Klyde Thompson. Its open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

What do you do?

We do tire sales and service. We do other car care, front-end alignment, brakes, shocks, that kind of thing, wheel bearings. We do commercial vehicles. We do anything from wheelbarrows to earth movers.

How did you get started doing this?

It was my dads business, and he passed away in 1978. We just kept selling tires, and here we are 35 years later. (We opened) 65 years ago, and thats as far as I can trace it back. I think it was closer to the wartime, but as far as I can trace it back is 48.

What is the volume of your business?

It fluctuates quite a bit with the seasons, especially with snow season. When it gets busy, we probably do, easily, 100 a day. Peaks are probably the first snow and then the stud deadline thats a good time too. Our best sales other than that would probably be June, July, August.

How does the economy and the weather affect your business?

The weather is directly (affecting), but the economy too. The thing about tires is you have to have tires. The days of people running their tires insufficiently is almost a thing of the past. There are still people out there that run tires that they shouldnt be. As the economy gets bad, people shop more, because they dont have the money to spend. And/or theyre looking for used tires instead of new tires, which plays a big part. The used tire market in the last couple of years has just skyrocketed, but then there are so many more regulations on older tires and aging tires, that thats getting pretty critical.