Scott Sullivan had been sitting on the idea of opening a tire shop in Pendleton for the past eight or nine years, but the timing never felt right.

My past business interests were keeping me too busy, said Sullivan, who also owns Coyote Creek Coach Works. We really got serious about this around the first of June.

Sullivan bought into the Tire Factory and opened up in the old Ford dealership at 25 Highway 11 last week.

I wanted to be on the east end of town. This came available kind of last minute, Sullivan said of his spacious new digs. Its a much better location than what we were going to have. This is the busiest intersection in town. Its going to give us a lot of opportunity to service people who live in Athena and Adams who work in town.

While he only has a handful of employees now, his goal is to employ as many as 15 people eventually. There also are plans to add a lube station sometime in the future, once things get settled down from opening.

The new Tire Factory store has some built-in competition in Pendleton in the form of Les Schwab and Walmart, and the Hermiston Tire Factory, but Sullivan said his goal isnt to drive the other guys out of business.

Competition is good for everybody, he said. I have nothing against Les Schwab or any of their employees.

Sullivan said that so far, business is good, considering theyve only been open two weeks.

Were getting a lot of interest, he said. Were getting a lot of people stopping by.