Wheels Keep on Turning at Family-Owned Tire Center in Oxford

BY Hotty Toddy News Services

November 4, 2019

Story contributed by Ava Leigh Bryan, abryan@go.olemiss.edu.

Oxford Tire Center is a family-run business and has been open in Oxford, Mississippi since 1996. Their mission? To keep local cars running smoothly.

Johnny Simmons has owned Oxford Tire Center since 1996 and he works there with his wife and son. He calls his wife the “queen of customer service.” Her job is taking calls and making appointments. His son is following in Johnny’s footsteps running the show behind the garage doors, as a car mechanic.

Out in the back is the tire graveyard, where all the old worn down tires go to be recycled.

The shop may look cluttered and dirty but the mechanics know where every little scrap of metal is and can find the right tools for the job in seconds.

One of the mechanics carefully focuses as he refills a customer’s washer fluid in a routine inspection on a vehicle. “We go through hundreds of these a week,” he says as he pops the cap to the fluid.

Another day another oil change. Mechanics raise the cars up on hydraulics in order to easily access the undercarriage of the vehicles.

This mechanic is repairing a tire for a customer who came in with a flat. They use this machine to separate the tire from the metal hubcap. This mechanic can change it in under a minute, making him the most efficient tire changer in the shop.

Hotty Toddy News Services