Owner is ready to hit the road after 30 years
One of Townsville’s icons will celebrate nearly 30 years of service with a smile before he hangs up the tools for good.
John Muller, the man at the heart of Townsville’s locally owned and operated Tyreplus dealership, will call time on his career next week after selling the family-owned business to new owners Shaun and Gordan Mccormack.
“It’s a pretty good feeling,” John said of the momentous occasion.
“Nearly 30 years in the same spot and previously the business was in the family with dad and mum and my brothers. We’ve been in the industry for over 50 years.”
While the decision to hand over the keys was a bittersweet one for John, he said he was confident the new owners were the right pair of hands to
carry the venture forward.
“I really wanted to find the right people to buy it, there were a few other people looking to take it on, but I wasn’t really happy until Gordan
came along and there won’t be a great deal of changes from what I was doing.”
Gordan, who has a background in running a security business, and Shaun, who was a hospitality franchisee, both echoed John’s insistence on good quality work and a local connection.
“We were looking for a change in lifestyle and a better work-life balance for us, but the values that John has are very important and they’re what our values are as business people,” Gordan said.
“We want to run an honest business and we want people to know that yes, John is leaving, but they’re going to get the same great customer service, the same quality product and those same values.”
While the business has added a few new staff members brought over from Gordan and Shaun’s previous ventures, the pair stressed that the core group of workers would remain.
“This is really just a bit of a freshen up. It’s the same service and the same staff and we’ve been learning a lot from John since we took over in February,” Gordan said.
John, who has decided not to look too far into the future, says he’ll miss the rapport with his loyal customer base.
“There's been a lot of good customers over the years and it’s a bit sad to say goodbye to them, but I just had to make the break at some point, otherwise I’d die here,” John said.
“I’d thought about just buying a pallet of beer and drinking it away for a couple of months when I retired, but I think we’re going to do a bit of travel. We’re not rushing into anything at the moment.”