Longtime Miller Place staple Mount Sinai Tire closes shop after 54 years

When Gary Prechtl, 74, of Miller Place, started his tire business 54 years ago, he operated it out of a beat-up black and blue van called "The Bruiser" that he would drive to customers' homes.

“He wanted to get into the tire business, and he didn’t have a brick-and-mortar place, so he bought a used old van,” said his wife, Karen Prechtl, 72. She gave it the nickname because "it was black and blue and ugly.”

Now, after more than half a century, Mount Sinai Tire Inc., a longtime staple of the Miller Place small business community, has closed its doors, owners of the auto repair and tire replacement business confirmed Monday.

The 2,500-square-foot shop and its two vehicle bay doors, located along NY-25A between Parkside and Oakland avenues, announced it had closed earlier this month in light of owner Gary Prechtl’s planned retirement, according to a letter posted outside the business. Prechtl started the business in 1972, Karen Prechtl, said.

“It’s about time,” said Karen, who has been with Gary since before he launched the business. “He’s been in business for more than 50 years and he’s a diehard.”

Later in the '70s, Gary Prechtl secured a location at the site of a former Amoco gas station at the corner of Landing and North Country roads and before eventually setting up shop 2.5 miles away at Mount Sinai Tire’s long-running home along Route 25A.

“It was pleasant working there with him and the local community,” said the Prechtl’s son Dan, who has worked at the shop since 2011. “Everyone was very grateful for the work we’ve done, and I’m very sad to see us close our doors.”

Karen Prechtl said the building, which is owner-operated, is in the process of being sold. She expects the interior of the building to be emptied out later this week and a closing date for the sale to be set soon after. She did not say who the property was being sold to.

"It was a business that was well known, local and around for a long time," said Lenny Bottiglieri, secretary and board member of the Mount Sinai Miller Place Chamber of Commerce. 

Bottiglieri, who owns Long Island Tax Accounting & Advisory Services Inc., said the closure is a loss for the local business community. 

"It has an impact when anybody leaves but it has a big impact when someone was established for all these years leaves," he said. "We wish everybody the best."