Cape Girardeau, Mo.-based Plaza Tire Service is celebrating its 50th Anniversary throughout 2013 with a series of special customer and sales events at all of its 56 stores.
Plaza Tire Service kicked off its golden anniversary year by replacing its flagship store in Cape Girardeau, which first opened in 1963. This past May, the dealer opened the doors on a state-of-the-art store positioned on the opposite side of the same block as its original home.
Earlier this year, Plaza Tire Service purchased five Ewers Tire locations, two in Jefferson City, two in Columbia, and one in Mexico, Mo. Currently, the dealer is constructing its 57th store St. Peters which will open later this summer.
Established in 1963 by Vernon “Pee Wee” Rhodes, Plaza Tire Service started life as Plaza Car Wash, a hand-operated car wash. The company gradually expanded to provide basic tire services in addition to washing cars, and later began selling and changing tires along the sidewalk outside the carwash.
Local regulations forced Rhodes to choose a path, and he chose to be a tire dealer, exclusively providing tire and automotive services from that point on. The car wash was renovated over one weekend, without losing a single day’s work, and Plaza Car Wash became Plaza Tire Service.