Tire Center stays in family

Growing up, the Portland Tire Center was a family business for Josh Atkinson and his dad, Mike Wangler.

Even though it wasn’t their original intention, it will stay a family business.

Approaching retirement, Wangler is selling Tire Center Inc. to Atkinson, though that’s about the only change planned.

“People probably aren’t going to see much of a change,” said Atkinson, who plans to let current manager Brandon Stump continue to oversee operations.

Beyond the sale, which is “more or less” finalized, Wangler said he plans to continue to work at the Tire Center, as he has since he was in high school 42 years ago, until they can find someone else to hire to replace him.

Atkinson, who is an attorney at Coldren, Frantz & Sprunger, worked at the Tire Center in high school and in college during the summer and said he may go down there to work on tires or change a car’s oil if he’s bored of the office.

“I had no idea he’d be interested,” Wangler said.

But Atkinson approached him about buying the business in March. Prior to that, Wangler was looking for someone to buy the business but didn’t have anything set in stone.

A college roommate of Atkinson’s who also bought a tire shop put the idea in his head of doing the same with his business, Wangler said.

Atkinson will be the sole owner of the Tire Center once the sale is finalized. His father began buying into the business around the time he began working there and became 100% owner around 20 years ago.

After retirement, Wangler plans on working on his farm near Kilmore, north of Frankfort. He said the Tire Center is looking to hire someone with experience working on cars so that he can retire.