Sales keep ‘booming’ at T&T
Posted on Wednesday, July 2, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/hl/News/24928/
For a quarter of a century,
Butch Thompson has sat
at a dark, wooden desk at 1851 E. Main St. in Siloam Springs ready to make a deal. Pen in hand and a devilish twinkle playing from behind wire-rimmed glasses, he’s a Southern-tongued business man through-and-through. T & T Car Lot, owned and operated by Thompson and his wife, Sheva, is in its 25 th year of operation. The local lot’s ever-changing stock includes a wide range of vehicles ranging from 15-passenger vans to vintage motorcycles. “ I’ll sell anything that I can make a dollar on, ” Thompson said. T & T offers in-house financing. The business weighs heavily on buying, selling and trading. In-house financing is available for qualifying customers.
“ To sell a car you’ve got to know what they want and what they can afford, ” Thompson said. “ I want them to be able to pay me and still be happy with their choice and still be able to survive and enjoy life. ”
Thompson, who laughs while swearing that he has never worked hard a day in his life and doesn’t plan to any time in the near future, purchases much of his automotive stock from wholesalers. Many of the wholesalers he works with have become more like friends over the years.
At the desk adjacent to Thompson’s sits longtime employee, Bob Weir. “ Way too long, ” Weir quickly replied with a laugh when asked about his decade of service at T & T.
Weir and one other employee who has worked at the business for more than five years have become close like family, Thompson said.
The three man team, and Sheva, who handles the paperwork and bookkeeping, answer phones, show cars, negotiate deals, gossip with customers and collect payments Monday through Friday from 8 a. m. to 5 p. m. and Saturday from 9 a. m. to 1 p. m. During business hours they may be reached at 479-524-6600.
“ I crawled before I walked, ” Thompson said. “ I worked my way up to what I have now. ”
On site at the lot are 148 storage unit buildings that are rented out to local customers. Beginning in 1980, Thompson slowly began erecting individual buildings and now has a small legion of the rental units.
“ My family has been traders forever. ” Thompson said. “ My grandparents were trading in horse and buggies and my parents traded in cows and horses. ”
The family trading tradition has been kept alive in the local business.
Thompson, who also owns a cattle farm locally, has been known to trade motorcycles and cars for tractors and livestock.
T & T opened under the partnership of Thompson and his father.
After three years of working together, Thompson bought his father’s portion of the business and continued expanding upon the original idea.
A variety of different types of vehicles are also available for rent at T & T. Local church groups, university groups and vacationing families are frequent renters of large, multiple passenger vans.
Other rental customers include people in need of transportation after automobile accidents or while their own vehicles are being worked on.
“ The thing about me is that I can beat anyone’s prices because I own everything on the lot, ” Thompson said. “ I’m local too and I definitely think that that means something. ”
In addition to owning the car lot, Thompson also rents homes and owns the Herford Motel — a rent-by-the-week establishment — that is across the street from T & T.
“ I’ve sold to grandparents, parents and grandkids, ” Thompson said. “ This is just what I do. ”
For additional information about T & T a Web site is available at www. ttcarlot. com.