RTF Tire and Service, formerly J & D Tires, is under new ownership.
Located at 20255 Highway 59 in Noel, RTF Tire and Service is owned by Robert and Shanna Faulkner. Son Trevyn Faulkner is the manager. They bought the shop from Will Dameron and took over on March 1.
Robert worked at McKee Foods in Gentry, Ark., for 21 years. Trevyn worked at O'Reilly Auto Parts for three years. Shanna works for the Noel post office running a mail route during the morning, then comes to the shop in the afternoon.
Shanna said Will Dameron is her substitute on her mail route, and she had begged him for five years to sell her the tire shop. He thought she was joking, she said. One day around Thanksgiving, he asked if she was serious. The group started the process after Christmastime, Robert said.
"I guess it was in the works for a long time; it was just a matter of when everybody was ready to do it," Shanna said.
Asked why he wanted to own a tire shop, Robert said, "I've worked on cars my whole life, built race cars, rock crawlers, four-by-fours. I pretty much fell into it. I didn't want to open up a shop where I'm tied on one car for a week. Tires and front end work is a little more in and out."
The new owners have made some changes since taking over. They gutted the office and put in new walls and doors. They are still working on cleaning up the outside. They added a new lift, new balancing machine, new welding and lift kit installs, new tire machine and updated the alignment machine. They plan to add at least one more bay so they can offer more services, Shanna said.
A lot of customers have returned since the new owners took over, and a lot of new customers have come along as well, she said. Services offered include wheels, oil changes, safety inspections, tires, alignments, brakes and welding. As for the name of the shop, Shanna said, "We argued on a name for about a month before we settled on RTF," which stands for Robert and Trevyn Faulkner.
General News on 10/20/2016