Yellowknife (Dec 06/06) - Blowing a tire in the North may be a common occurrence, but finding the right replacement may not be that easy.

Roland Rudkevitch hopes his new store, Tirecraft, can provide solutions for customers with a flat.

Roland Rudkevitch, pictured, and his brother Darwin recently opened up Tirecraft, situated beside their existing company, Arctic Farmer. The new store will sell tires, rims and batteries and will also repair and fit tires. - David Ryan/NNSL photo

The outlet, which opened three weeks ago, is owned by Roland and his brother Darwin Rudkevitch. It's part of 200 Tirecraft stores throughout Canada, Roland said.

Tirecraft is stocked with more than 200 tires, but can also order from other Tirecraft locations across the country. "We can get a tire here within a week in most cases," Roland said.

Tirecraft is able to purchase tires through Remington Tire Distributors, which features a wide range of brands including Bridgestone, Hankook, Firelli, and Toyo.

The store, located on Drybones Drive, also does tire repair and mounting work and provides 24-hour roadside assistance.

The siblings also own Arctic Farmer in the Kam Lake industrial park and they figured a tire store to service businesses in the park made sense.

"We thought there was a need for another tire shop in town," said Roland.

With that in mind, the brothers began speaking with Tirecraft less than a year ago. Now the former storage facility for Arctic Farmer has been transformed into a 1,260 square foot show room and shop.

Besides offering tires, the business also sells vehicle batteries and rims, said manager Carine Pattin.

Speciality rims may take two to three weeks to ship in but the wait is often worth it for the buyer, she said.

"We can get in a variety of rims from fancy rims with spinners to regular steel ones."

The business will continue to focus on securing contracts with businesses along with building up their inventory, said Pattin. Tirecraft currently has three employees working in the shop and showing area.