BUSINESS
FAMILY KEEPS PANORAMA TIRE ROLLING
Tom and Sarah Smith didn’t have to look far for employees in their latest venture.
Posted 3/7/2022
By Susan Thompson
Lake Panorama Times
Tom Smith of Yale has been in the tire business for 40 years. He started at the age of 20 with a small shop in Yale. Later he moved into a bigger building in Yale and also opened Smith Tire locations in Perry and Jefferson.
His latest venture, in partnership with his wife, Sarah, is Panorama Tire. They sold their other three locations to employees and, in June 2019, purchased the former Panora Oil Company building at 418 E. Main St. in Panora. They spent a couple of months renovating the building to better suit their needs.
Smith farms several hundred acres of row crops on both rented land north of Lake Panorama and land he owns in the Yale area. He also has a small Angus cow/calf herd.
He says he enjoyed the first few months in the building.
“We were able to get our own farm equipment here and everything fixed up,” Smith says. “Then, one by one, people started coming in to ask if we were open. We never advertised or had a specific opening date. We already had a tire machine and plenty of other equipment here, so we started to help people.”
They didn’t have to look far for employees. Tom’s daughter, Amanda Doran, works fulltime in the shop, changing tires and oil, and handling whatever else comes her way.
Besides working at Panorama Tire, Amanda helps Tom with his farm operation, and 2022 will be her second year managing 125 acres of row crops on land she rents from Tom and Sarah. Amanda is a 2003 Iowa State University graduate in animal science. She and her daughter Kylie, a junior at Panorama, live with Amanda’s significant other, Darrell, on his family farm near Yale. She has a small collection of animals including cattle, chickens, ducks, rabbits and pot belly pigs.
A grandson, Kade Arganbright, has been working in the Panorama Tire shop since it opened. He was in high school then. Now he’s specializing in auto mechanics at Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) and will graduate in August. He currently works in the shop Fridays and Saturdays. After graduation, he plans to work full-time alongside his grandfather and aunt.
Kade has two younger sisters who help out. Hallie, age 16, and Lillie, age 13, come after school and spend time cleaning, sweeping, resupplying product and other tasks.
“Tom likes to keep a clean shop, and they’re a big help doing that,” says Sarah.
Sarah took a different route to the family business. She moved to Yale in 2008 after buying the Yale Hotel. It was built in the 1890s near the railroad, which now is the Raccoon River Valley Trail. She began to renovate the hotel, which she named The Windsor, and planned to open it as a bed and breakfast when it was finished.
Tom’s shop was across the street from the hotel. They met, and as often is said, the rest is history. They’ve been married nine years. A decision was made to move The Windsor to Tom’s farm north of Yale and make it their home. Three guest bedrooms and bathrooms were created on the second floor. The couple operated The Windsor bed and breakfast for five years until early 2020 when the COVID pandemic hit.
“We had people from all over stay with us,” Tom says. “Germany, Bulgaria, Florida, plus people locally using it for reunions or special events. Some came to stay who were riding the bike trail. We met some really interesting people.”
Sarah calls those five years of running the bed and breakfast “really fun,” and says she hated to shut it down.
“But with all the issues surrounding COVID, it just made sense. Now we come to work each day, then go home at night to relax, not worry about getting ready for guests.”
Sarah works in an office adjoining the shop. She answers the phone, schedules appointments, handles the billing and taxes, and places orders for all tires and parts.
“I try to keep things at a nice, steady flow, and leave enough time between appointments in the schedule to take care of unexpected tire repairs,” she says.
About 20 percent of the business comes from a tire service truck Tom takes on the road when a call for help comes in. He lists Rose Acre Farms, UPS, Lake Panorama Association, Guthrie County Conservation, and semis stranded on Interstate 80 as some of the tire service calls he handles. Calls from area farmers are year-round but become more frequent during spring planting and fall harvest.
Before selling his shops in Yale, Perry and Jefferson, Yale was a hub for service calls, and he spent most of his days driving from job to job.
“This place allows me to be more in touch with our customers instead of in a truck all day,” he says.
Smith says he, Amanda and Kade do oil changes, fix brakes, work on air conditioners, handle some tune-ups and repair, replace and sell lots of tires and tire tubes.
“We sell most brands and sizes of tires, to fit anything from lawn mowers and trailers, to cars and trucks, up to tires on ag equipment that are 7-feet-tall,” Smith says.
He used to work with three specific tire suppliers.
“When COVID hit, we couldn’t keep enough tires in inventory, so we had to expand. Now we have up to nine tire suppliers we work with to make sure we have what our customers need,” Smith says.
Business has been increasing 10 percent each year.
“People have been really friendly, and we’ve enjoyed meeting more people in the area,” Smith says. “This seemed like a good opportunity, and Sarah knows I like taking chances.”
Sarah smiles. “This was a big undertaking, and I wasn’t sure at first. But we do enjoy working together, so here we are,” she says.
Panorama Tire hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, and 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.
By Susan Thompson
Lake Panorama Times
Tom Smith of Yale has been in the tire business for 40 years. He started at the age of 20 with a small shop in Yale. Later he moved into a bigger building in Yale and also opened Smith Tire locations in Perry and Jefferson.
His latest venture, in partnership with his wife, Sarah, is Panorama Tire. They sold their other three locations to employees and, in June 2019, purchased the former Panora Oil Company building at 418 E. Main St. in Panora. They spent a couple of months renovating the building to better suit their needs.
Smith farms several hundred acres of row crops on both rented land north of Lake Panorama and land he owns in the Yale area. He also has a small Angus cow/calf herd.
He says he enjoyed the first few months in the building.
“We were able to get our own farm equipment here and everything fixed up,” Smith says. “Then, one by one, people started coming in to ask if we were open. We never advertised or had a specific opening date. We already had a tire machine and plenty of other equipment here, so we started to help people.”
They didn’t have to look far for employees. Tom’s daughter, Amanda Doran, works fulltime in the shop, changing tires and oil, and handling whatever else comes her way.
Besides working at Panorama Tire, Amanda helps Tom with his farm operation, and 2022 will be her second year managing 125 acres of row crops on land she rents from Tom and Sarah. Amanda is a 2003 Iowa State University graduate in animal science. She and her daughter Kylie, a junior at Panorama, live with Amanda’s significant other, Darrell, on his family farm near Yale. She has a small collection of animals including cattle, chickens, ducks, rabbits and pot belly pigs.
A grandson, Kade Arganbright, has been working in the Panorama Tire shop since it opened. He was in high school then. Now he’s specializing in auto mechanics at Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) and will graduate in August. He currently works in the shop Fridays and Saturdays. After graduation, he plans to work full-time alongside his grandfather and aunt.
Kade has two younger sisters who help out. Hallie, age 16, and Lillie, age 13, come after school and spend time cleaning, sweeping, resupplying product and other tasks.
“Tom likes to keep a clean shop, and they’re a big help doing that,” says Sarah.
Sarah took a different route to the family business. She moved to Yale in 2008 after buying the Yale Hotel. It was built in the 1890s near the railroad, which now is the Raccoon River Valley Trail. She began to renovate the hotel, which she named The Windsor, and planned to open it as a bed and breakfast when it was finished.
Tom’s shop was across the street from the hotel. They met, and as often is said, the rest is history. They’ve been married nine years. A decision was made to move The Windsor to Tom’s farm north of Yale and make it their home. Three guest bedrooms and bathrooms were created on the second floor. The couple operated The Windsor bed and breakfast for five years until early 2020 when the COVID pandemic hit.
“We had people from all over stay with us,” Tom says. “Germany, Bulgaria, Florida, plus people locally using it for reunions or special events. Some came to stay who were riding the bike trail. We met some really interesting people.”
Sarah calls those five years of running the bed and breakfast “really fun,” and says she hated to shut it down.
“But with all the issues surrounding COVID, it just made sense. Now we come to work each day, then go home at night to relax, not worry about getting ready for guests.”
Sarah works in an office adjoining the shop. She answers the phone, schedules appointments, handles the billing and taxes, and places orders for all tires and parts.
“I try to keep things at a nice, steady flow, and leave enough time between appointments in the schedule to take care of unexpected tire repairs,” she says.
About 20 percent of the business comes from a tire service truck Tom takes on the road when a call for help comes in. He lists Rose Acre Farms, UPS, Lake Panorama Association, Guthrie County Conservation, and semis stranded on Interstate 80 as some of the tire service calls he handles. Calls from area farmers are year-round but become more frequent during spring planting and fall harvest.
Before selling his shops in Yale, Perry and Jefferson, Yale was a hub for service calls, and he spent most of his days driving from job to job.
“This place allows me to be more in touch with our customers instead of in a truck all day,” he says.
Smith says he, Amanda and Kade do oil changes, fix brakes, work on air conditioners, handle some tune-ups and repair, replace and sell lots of tires and tire tubes.
“We sell most brands and sizes of tires, to fit anything from lawn mowers and trailers, to cars and trucks, up to tires on ag equipment that are 7-feet-tall,” Smith says.
He used to work with three specific tire suppliers.
“When COVID hit, we couldn’t keep enough tires in inventory, so we had to expand. Now we have up to nine tire suppliers we work with to make sure we have what our customers need,” Smith says.
Business has been increasing 10 percent each year.
“People have been really friendly, and we’ve enjoyed meeting more people in the area,” Smith says. “This seemed like a good opportunity, and Sarah knows I like taking chances.”
Sarah smiles. “This was a big undertaking, and I wasn’t sure at first. But we do enjoy working together, so here we are,” she says.
Panorama Tire hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, and 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.
