One of Houston’s oldest businesses has new ownership.
Steve’s Tire – at the south end of town on U.S. 63 – has been sold by longtime owners Steve and Judy Pounds. The new owners are Springfield residents Terin Cantrell and Caleb Arthur, and the new name of the business is Wheelhouse Tire and Auto.
The Pounds are Texas County natives. After they purchased what was then Mason Tire from original owner Lyle Mason, Steve’s Tire began operation on June 1, 1996. Mason founded the business in 1980, so it’s been in the Houston landscape for 44 years.
While Steve, 63, worked in the shop, Judy Pounds manned the office. Their last day as owners was Jan. 31.
“I feel good about the situation,” Steve said. “Terin is really good with people and really good with customers. He’ll have a bit of a learning curve, but he’s hit the ground running already and isn’t needing me for much of anything other than a bit of advice.”
A native of Norwood, Cantrell, 37, will run the business with Arthur as a financial partner. Cantrell previously worked for about seven years as a sales representative for Arthur’s Sun Solar business (that he founded in Houston in 2012). He also spent about six years working in law enforcement (and was police chief at Pleasant Hope for about three years) and has been a sales rep for Morton Buildings for about two years.
Cantrell is married, and he and his wife, Tana, have a 3-year-old daughter. Tana is a Mountain Grove native, and the couple plans to find a home closer to where they grew up and to Houston.
“We’ve always been looking for a reason to get back to the area where we still have lots of friends and family,” Cantrell said. “The opportunity with Steve’s Tire presented itself and everything kind of happened at the right time.”
Cantrell said plans are in place to give the old building a makeover and to add a few new services.
“We’re going to try to expand and modernize the business,” Cantrell said, “but it’s still going to be about the same friendly faces you see when you come in. I’m going to try to talk to every customer that comes in and let them know we’re going to take care of them and invite them to come by any time they need something.”
One new service Cantrell hopes to offer is upfitting emergency vehicles.
“We hope to add that fairly quickly,” he said. “I know that a lot of the departments around use a provider in Ozark, and they’re swamped. It typically takes four or five months to get a vehicle back, when a department could utilize it immediately.”
Longtime Steve’s Tire employee George Kennedy will remain with the new business.
“He’s a guy people are used to seeing,” Cantrell said, “and he’s not going anywhere.”
The phone number at Wheelhouse Tire and Auto is 417-967-4500 (unchanged since Mason opened the original business in 1980).
“Something I’ve been telling everyone who comes in is that my goal is to continue everything Steve and Judy have done for the past 27 or 28 years,” Cantrell said. “I want to provide great service at affordable prices and just keep doing what they’ve always done.”