Honoring Their Roots
New JKB Tire owners continue long-standing family business. BY JENNIFER BROZAK
Even at the age of 90, longtime Murrysville resident and business owner Jack Paton was still heading to work six days a week. Therefore, when he passed away in January 2016, the future of his business, JKB Tire, remained uncertain. After all, Paton had steered the business since the day it opened more than 30 years ago.
Born in Sewickley in 1925, Paton and his wife, Eve, had been an instrumental part of the burgeoning Murrysville business scene. A World War II veteran, he was a founding member of the Murrysville Telephone Company, as well as the Murrysville Swim Club. Eve, who died in 2013, was a longstanding member of the Murrysville Women’ s Club, and both were active in numerous local and national charities.
Not wanting this legacy to wane, Paton’ s grandchildren, Jack Basilone and Jamie Schneider, have breathed new life into JKB Tire. They decided to take over the business shortly after their grandfather’ s funeral.
Basilone and Schneider moved quickly, uprooting their professional careers and personal lives to take the reins of the business— while still grieving the loss of their grandfather as well as their mother, Deborah Paton, who had passed away just three weeks before.
“ Of course we would have liked more time to process everything, but we wanted to carry on the legacy of my grandfather,” says Basilone.“ Murrysville is such a small, tight-knit community. We had to send a message to our customers that our doors would remain open.”
Paton and Ralston Schneider pose with their great-grandfather Jack Paton.
Both siblings have extensive retail and e-commerce marketing backgrounds, but running a tire business was a completely different experience.
“ We had to rely on the knowledge of the employees who, collectively, have more than 100 years of experience in this business,” notes Basilone.
The company’ s general manager, Tim Renko, has been with JKB Tire from the start, and other staff members have been with the company for a dozen years or more, he adds.
“ The guys who work there are so good and so loyal— some of them have been there for more than 30 years,” Schneider says.“ This business is a piece of our family history.”
Since taking over the business, Basilone and Schneider have implemented numerous upgrades. JKB Tire began as a wholesaler, and still maintains its wholesale business, but over time transformed into a customer-facing retail business. The first order of business, then, was to give the old building on Mellon Road in Export a facelift. They remodeled the interior, updated the carpet and office and added a kitchen area where customers can enjoy drinks and snacks while they wait.
As marketing professionals, the new owners recognize the importance of branding. They created a logo, purchased new uniforms for their employees, and launched an interactive website.
“ We’ re a family-owned business, and just like my grandfather was, we’ re on a first-name basis with many of our customers,” says Basilone.“ We wanted to create a more appealing retail environment for them. Let’ s face it: tires are important, but no one gets particularly excited about having to buy them. If they have to be sitting in a room waiting for us to fix their tires, we want them to be comfortable.”
Following the path of her grandparents, Schneider and her family are now fully ingrained in Murrysville life; they relocated from Pine Township and are now living in her grandparents’ old home in Murrysville.
“ It was a huge change for us, but we didn’ t want to have a family business and not be part
Jamie Schneider and Jack Basilone
of the community,” explains Schneider.“ It was important for us to live here.”
She notes that she now understands the charm Murrysville held for her grandparents, as both residents and business owners.
“ Even though it’ s not a small town, I absolutely love the small-town feel of it,” she says.“ Our grandparents didn’ t just live here— they were embedded in the community. That sense of community has trickled down to us.” Basilone, who commutes from Ligonier, agrees.
JKB staff members
“ Being from Ligonier, it’ s been a great experience to learn firsthand how entrenched in the community my grandfather was,” he says.“ There is so much growth in Murrysville. We want to be a part of it and become that honest, personable place that customers come to. That’ s who my grandfather was, and that’ s who we are, too.” n
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