Business grows to include more than used tires

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Each Sunday, the Middletown Journal gives you a look inside a local business that is important to you.

Don’s Tire Center has seen several changes in its 37 years in business, but it’s commitment to service and safety have remained constant.

Don Banks started the shop at 2600 N. Verity Parkway in 1975 as a used tire store. He had one employee.

The current owner, Eddie Sorrell, bought the business from Banks in 2004. The shop now has five employees, including Sorrell, and offers new tire sales as well as mechanical work.

“Don was very helpful in a lot of ways during the transition,” Sorrell said.

Banks routinely came to the shop for the first six months after the sale and “he taught me everything he knew about running a business,” Sorrell said.

Before buying the tire center, Sorrell owned a dog grooming business and a laundromat in Middletown, but he has always had a passion for cars.

“I got my first car when I was 15 and I tore the interior out and put new carpet in it,” Sorrell said. “You used to be able to work on a car yourself with just a regular tool box, but now it’s a lot tougher with all the technology to just do with sockets and wrenches.”

But the technology of the business is now something Sorrell said he and his employees pride themselves in.

“It’s unbelievable how advanced things are today,” Sorrell said. “We pride ourselves in keeping up to date with that technology and the training for our employees so we can give our customers the best service possible.”

Customer service is the main component to running a successful business, Sorrell said.

“That is the bottom line,” he said. “Customer service and safety are the two main areas we focus on.”