Adrian “Ace” PARKER^[1]

- 1991

• Name	Adrian “Ace” PARKER  [2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]
  Gender	Male
  HIST	Business Spotlight: Saturday, Sept. 4, 2010 Print Posted: Saturday, September 4, 2010 6:00 am | Updated: 12:49 am, Sat Sep 4, 2010. WHAT DO YOU DO AND HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN HERE? I've been the president and general manager of Ace Parker Tires for 29 years. I oversee the administration part of the business and I try to talk to customers about how they felt their service went. I feel you're only as good as the people you work with and my goal is to surround myself with the best. My life has always been about work and trying to reach my every goal. HOW DID YOU GET STARTED IN THE AUTOMOTIVE BUSINESS? I started work at a service station, and then a venetian blind company until I enlisted in the U.S. Army and served in Vietnam. After serving in the Army, I decided to enlist in the Army National Guard and worked as captain with the Sumter County police reserve unit and became a state constable. While working I attended automotive school at night. After many years of working with the Sumter Police Department, I had to make a hard decision to stay or to follow another dream in the automotive industry to better support my family. I was given the opportunity to work with a wonderful group of people at Boyle Motor Company that was located in downtown Sumter. This work experience led to a greater opportunity, which allowed me to form a closer relationship with two other men, Adrian "Ace" Parker and William "Billy" Burrows. I worked 17 years as a front end break technician under Mr. Parker. HOW DID ACE PARKER TIRES COME ABOUT? Mr. Parker, Billy and myself wanted to start our own business and we had a chance to buy our own place. We started our business in 1979 on Main Street across from the post office and moved in this current location in 1982. We were three owners, but Mr. Parker was a little older and more well established in the area, so that's why the business was named after him. He taught us how to get customers to come back and that we should always be honest and fair to them. Mr. Parker died in March of 1991, and he was such an inspiration to us all and we take every bit of advice that he gave us and use it in our everyday work. WHERE ARE YOU ORIGINALLY FROM? I'm born and raised in Sumter County and I will turn 63 years old on Saturday (today). Being born and raised in Sumter, I feel that I am a hometown boy trying to make it better and do what it takes to make the community a better place to live for my children and grandchildren. WHO ARE YOUR CUSTOMERS? We still have elderly customers, but there are also many of them that have passed away. We are getting a younger generation of customers, and we try to guide them about the importance of keeping their car up like the older people have done. We especially try to make it apparent to the college students, and we occasionally try to give out student coupons. We want to make them aware to take care of their car. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL SLOGAN OR MISSION STATEMENT YOU FOLLOW? "Come see the hometown boys raised in Sumter." HOW HAS THE LAGGING ECONOMY AFFECTED YOUR BUSINESS? The economy has slowed down our business. People are holding onto their money a little tighter and I can't blame them with inflation high. People are putting cars on the back burner and are not putting money in cars like they did 10 to 15 years ago. I've never seen as many people out of jobs in Sumter as it is now. We've got to get new industry in town to hire people who are struggling. I think with the Third Army coming in Sumter that it should help contractors and help businesses get back up to par. Reach Corey Davis at (803) 774-1295. ADDRESS: 930 N. Lafayette Blvd. PHONE: (803) 775-1277 PRESIDENT/GENERAL MANAGER: Arthur Bradley VICE PRESIDENT: Billy Burrows Reach Corey Davis at (803) 774-1295 Posted in Business on Saturday, September 4, 2010  [4]
  _UID	E42721E162744DAE806A295149DADB428293
  Death	Mar 1991  [4, 6]
  Person ID	I162235	Singleton and Related Families
  Last Modified	10 May 2017

  
  

  Father	PARKER
  _UID	68B1DD388A89420C829CE0DEDEAD38FC2AFD
  _UID	68B1DD388A89420C829CE0DEDEAD38FC2AFD
  Family ID	F208568	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Margaret PLAYER,   b. 1930, Sumter, Sumter County, South Carolina d. 3 Jan 2017, at her home, (Sumter, Sumter County, South Carolina) (Age 87 years)
  _UID	3C798D966ACC4D89A9D368922D85B407C7C3
  _UID	3C798D966ACC4D89A9D368922D85B407C7C3
  Children	1. Karen PARKER   2. Lillian PARKER   3. Linda PARKER   4. Adrienne PARKER
  Family ID	F110578	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	15 Jan 2017

  
  

• Sources

  [S25106] Parker Chappell and Michael Rouse wed. [S5698] Bessie H. Player. [S10441] Hudson L. Player. [S14880] Business Spotlight - Arthur Bradley of Ace Parker Tires Inc. [S19815] Doris P. Kolb. [S24691] Chappell-Rouse. [S24735] Margaret P. Parker.