We often highlight new business ventures as the lone entrepreneur starting up in a garage. While that narrative doesn’t always match reality—this one does. What began decades ago in a Kansas garage has grown into a multi-location family business. This year, Great Western Tire took a bold new step by launching a commercial truck tire retread plant in Sterling, Colorado. Their new venture was due to grants and tax incentives via Colorado’s Rural Jump-Start Grant program, along with support from the Logan County Economic Development Corporation (EDC).
The Sterling location originally opened in 2019, but 2025 marked the start of its retread operation—an effort that brings both economic opportunity and a specialized service to the region.
Expanding a Family Business
Founded in Oakley, Kansas in 1972, Great Western Tire grew into a generational family business that has steadily expanded across the state. When the Thompson family began exploring opportunities to grow beyond Kansas, Sterling caught their attention. A local tire shop was for sale, and the Thompsons decided to purchase it—drawn in part by its proximity to Denver and the potential to serve a larger base of trucking companies in need of tire repair and retread services.
While the idea of starting a retread business had been in the works for some time, the Sterling location offered the right opportunity to make it happen. Compared to their Kansas locations, Sterling had a stronger labor pool, which made staffing more feasible. On top of that, they were introduced to a state incentive program that helped seal the deal.
[Learn more about Colorado’s state incentive programs here.]
Trae Miller of the Logan County EDC connected them with Colorado’s Rural Jump-Start Program—a grant and tax incentive initiative designed to support new businesses or those relocating to the state.
“He’s the one that got us hooked on that,” Ryan Thompson, co-owner of Great Western Tire said. “He showed us the benefits of it. He helped us figure out it was for us, and then he helped us apply. He’s really helped us through the whole process.”
Great Western Tire received a grant to help offset significant upfront costs, including specialized equipment—much of it imported from Italy—as well as tax incentives to hire five new employees. After major upgrades to the facility, including new insulation, a monorail system to move tires between 14 different retread stations, and updated electrical wiring, the operation was up and running by January 2025.
Currently, the plant operates with a team of five employees and has a daily production goal of 25 tires. The facility has the capacity to triple that output, should demand grow. For now, the focus is on building a consistent customer base and keeping the plant running at full capacity.
“A retread plant is an animal to feed,” Ryan said. “That’s really what we’re going to focus on this year. Just keep it full and then we’ll see where we go from there.”
Creating Local Jobs
Tire retreading is one of the largest remanufacturing industries in the United States. Retreading tires is typically used by commercial shipping fleets as a more economical option than purchasing new tires. According to the Tire Retread Information Bureau, 24 million tires are retread and sold annually in the United States and Canada. The process reduces the number of tires that end up in landfills and requires significantly less oil to produce than new tires.
Retreading tires is a multi-step process, Ryan explained. Each tire is first carefully inspected to ensure the casing is still in good condition. The old tread is then removed, and a new layer of rubber is applied. The tire is placed in a pressurized chamber where heat and pressure bond the new tread to the casing. Afterward, the retreaded tire goes through a final inspection to ensure it meets safety and performance standards before returning to service.
As Great Western Tire expands their operations regionally, Ryan said he hopes to hire an additional five local employees.
“The highly sophisticated and computerized operation shows how technology and innovation are happening in many unexpected places throughout rural communities,” said Trae Miller, of the Logan County EDC. “Rural areas have always survived and thrived from their ability to innovate, this story is a great example of another rural enterprise applying that innovative spirit to create growth and economic impact.”
We often think of business success stories as flashy new startups, but Great Western Tire shows that growth can take many forms. Their expansion into Sterling highlights how traditional industries can create local jobs and contribute to the long-term success of rural communities. And in this case, it really did all start in a garage.
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