Southern Tire Service is celebrating 75 years of service today at its landmark East Market St. store in Louisville, Ky. Four generations of the Feige family have been a part of the dealership.
Brothers Herbert Feige III and Fred Feige run the tire retail business along with Herbert´s children, Dustin and Brittnie.
Herbert Funk, the brother-in-law of Herb Feige Sr., started the business in 1920. Funk sold the business to Feige Sr. and the late Julius O´Koon in 1956.
Herbert Feige Jr., who ran the business when his father died in 1996, passed away earlier this year.
Funk was a member of the first Dunlop dealer committee, held in Louisville on Jan. 29, 1929. Southern Tire became an exclusive supplier of Dunlop tires that year, and remains the oldest Dunlop dealer in the United States.
"We´ve viewed Dunlop tires as something our competitors didn´t offer," says Feige III. "For so long, we´ve had the market cornered with Dunlop."
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. officials will be on hand for the festivities. "The Feiges still treat their customers with respect," says Brent Strandberg, channel marketing manager for Dunlop consumer tires. "They develop personal relationships and rely on word-of-mouth to keep their business growing."
Southern Tire has been at the same location since moving one block from its original location in 1930. In 1958 Feige Sr. and O´Koon razed the building and built a 10,000-square-foot facility at the site.
