By paNOW Staff

Local tire shop takes national award

Mar 4, 2017 | 3:00 PM

After beating more than 300 stores nationwide, Prince Albert’s OK Tire has a lot to be proud of.

The local store beat out the competition to win this year’s Ok Tire Stores Inc. National Store of the Year award. This was the first time that a Prairie location has taken home the national-level award.

Colin Fraser, owner and general manager of the P.A. OK Tire, called the award humbling.

“It was [an] absolutely amazing experience, probably the best in my life,” Fraser said. “Our company has so many good qualified stores across the entire country that I thought it was never going to be possible for us to even win a national award.”

Fraser received notice the local store was a nominee for either the regional or national award back in December, but it wasn’t until March at the company’s annual conference in Cancun that Fraser was presented with the award.

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He said the regional awards were given out first, and when a store in Regina took home that prize Fraser thought his chances were gone. When it came time to announce the national award, the news took Fraser by surprise.

“My jaw hit the floor,” he said. “It was absolutely amazing. My wife started to cry and my kids were teared up. [They were] just ecstatic over the whole thing.”

Fraser, who was a member of the Kinsmen Club of Prince Albert for 17 years, believes what made his store shine this year were the staff and customers. He said those two components are the reasons the store is successful. Fraser noted his experience with the Kinsmen also helped prepare him for his role at OK Tire because of the lessons he learned about community and service.

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