Emil’s Tires to Open Shop at Peotone Travel Center
By Nick Reiher
Dominique Dettmering of Emil’s Tires Co. knew it upset a lot of customers when they closed their Matteson location a year ago along Interstate 57.
But now, they will be back on I-57, in a new location at the Peotone Travel Center, 601 S. 88th Ave; 708-720-1257.
“When we closed the Matteson location, we started looking for a new one,” said Dominique Dettmering, who took over the business from her grandfather, Emil, in 2019.
“We went to the Peotone Travel Center and asked if we could provide any services, like snow plowing, etc. He said, ‘Why don’t you sell tires here? You can use this smaller building for now. We’ll have a new building here in a couple years, and you can just move into that one.’”
So, as of October 1, Emil’s Tires will have a shop at the Peotone Travel Center. Dettmering said it is a small building, so they won’t have the large stock on hand as they do at the Grant Park location. So, special orders may take a day, she said.
As with the Grant Park location, the new site will be open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. And Dettmering stressed they will continue to provide tires and services for all types of vehicles: ag, commercial, passenger and industrial. They’ll head out to a farm field for a tire replacement if necessary.
Dettmering said she hadn’t planned on taking over the tire business from her grandfather. She was running a trucking company for grain transport when one of her haulers said Emil told him he was closing.
“My grandfather started the business more than 50 years ago,” she said. “I thought it would be a shame to see it close. I asked others in the family if they were interested in taking it over. When no one was, I put the trucking business aside to concentrate on the tire business.
“We know closing our Matteson location was a huge inconvenience to some of our customers so we are hoping this helps!”
The phone number for the Peotone Travel Center location is 708-720-1257. And it will be business as usual at the existing location in Grant Park, 9853 N. State Rt. 1; 708-247-2075.
Nick Reiher is editor of Farmers Weekly Review.