Tire Bargains Changes Management by Kris Richards

Tire Bargains, located in the middle of Potosi at 403 East High Street is having its first big change in almost 40 years.

There’s a new manager on duty.

Jack Politte’s dad, John Politte, started the Tire Bargains store on July 7th, 1980 in the building next door to the present location, the old East End Market.

Jack said he took over from his dad in 1982, with John retiring from the business.

The Polittes expanded in 1987 to a second store in Flat River (Park Hills) until a fire destroyed that location. Jack said, “We were building the place back and I had a guy approach me about buying it. I said okay and we where back to Potosi.”

Tire Bargains moved next door, to the 403 address (the old Western Auto store) in 1993 when Jack bought the building from Harry Chapman.

Derek Walton, the new manager of Tire Bargains, has been at the shop since 2002. He has gained a lot of experience and knowledge from working with Jack.

The guys said that they’ve both seen a lot of things change. Derek said, “You wouldn’t realize it, but computers and technology changed the tire business just like everything else.” Jack said that the biggest thing that has changed the day to day operations is that cars have so many different sizes and styles.

“We used to have about 5 size tires that covered about 95% of what people were driving. Now you can have one model of car that can have three different packages of suspension and need three different sizes of tire - for the same car. There’s no way to keep a perfect inventory. But that is where we can get any tire needed by tomorrow. That’s the technology part. It really is different from how I started.”

Jack said he and Rhonda want to thank everyone for their continued support and the community has been great over the years. He said he’s looking forward to retirement, however that shapes up.

Tire Bargains is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 403 East High Street. The phone is 573-438-3930.