.
Lighting the patch was the coolest part of the whole process. After the tightening of the vice and then the cleaning and buff down came the fire. Light the match and then burn the patch. That was all there was to it, now the inner tube for your bike was good to go for at least 1,000,000 miles. And the best place to get that patch kit and ALL parts for your bike was OTASCO. OTASCO stood for Oklahoma Tire and Supply Company. They sold tires but they also sold just about everything else except groceries. OTASCO was a place where you could buy a couch and a gun and a window air conditioner and a clock radio all from the same clerk and all within a 15 feet radius of one another. The small shops sold just about everything. They even had their own in-store credit system kept on ledger cards in the back.
The sold car stereos and home stereos and furniture and of course tires and auto parts. I remember that my old man was a hard core OTASCO man. I am pretty sure we had one of the store credit accounts because I always remember my Dad doing a lot of business at the desk behind the cashier. We lived near two different OTASCO’s. There was the one at 44th & Bryant that we went to most of the time and there was also one at 15th & Sunnylane that was a little bit larger as I recall.
When I was really young I can remember that around Christmas they would run animated ads with a little character named Timothy, who I am guessing they used some creative licensing with Tiny Tim of the Dickens story. But anyway the ads would open up with the little animated kid saying, “Time for Timothy...” and then Little Tim would set forth about telling you which toys were cool and which ones were on sale.
I loved OTASCO. The neighborhood kids would ride our bikes up there and look at guns and toys and bikes parts and guns and radios and more guns. At the risk of further cementing myself into the crotchety old man character, I have to say that things really were different back then. We were probably between 8 and 12 but they would just hand us rifles and pistols to hold and admire and never told us to come back with our parents or anything like that. In this day and age if a kid rode his bike to a store and asked to look at and hold a gun they would probably call a social worker and want to commit the kid to in-house treatment somewhere for a 72 hour observation and I am certain that DHS would demand that the parents be counseled and attend court ordered sensitivity training.
I am going to spare everyone the lengthy details but I will certainly give you all a link that will tell you all about the history of the store and how it rose only to fall in the 1989’s when Oklahoma was at its most prosperous.
The origins of OTASCO began in 1918 in Okmulgee, OK when three Lithuanian brothers named Sanditen opened their store. 1922 saw the business expand to nearby Henryetta and then eventually in 1925 they headquartered the growing business in Tulsa. Eventually by 1943 they had expanded to 83 stores in Oklahoma and the surrounding states. The chain did well, 1960 saw a change in ownership as the Sanditens sold the chain to the McCrory Corporation. At this time there were 86 company owned stores and 167 franchised outlets. Then an action took place that started the downfall, it seems that in 1984 the employees themselves purchases all of the shares and it became one of the largest employee owned operations in the country. 1988 saw the company file bankruptcy and then 1989 saw the closing of the stores.
All I know is I liked OTASCO and even though it may not have HAD everything a Walmart has, I would still patronize OTASCO and pay a little more if given the opportunity.
According to Wikipedia there are still two stores operating under the OTASCO name, one in Beaver, OK and one in Borger, TX.
The link below is from a site that deals with some of Oklahoma’s commercial history. You might find it to be of interest
http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/O/OT004.html
The sold car stereos and home stereos and furniture and of course tires and auto parts. I remember that my old man was a hard core OTASCO man. I am pretty sure we had one of the store credit accounts because I always remember my Dad doing a lot of business at the desk behind the cashier. We lived near two different OTASCO’s. There was the one at 44th & Bryant that we went to most of the time and there was also one at 15th & Sunnylane that was a little bit larger as I recall.
When I was really young I can remember that around Christmas they would run animated ads with a little character named Timothy, who I am guessing they used some creative licensing with Tiny Tim of the Dickens story. But anyway the ads would open up with the little animated kid saying, “Time for Timothy...” and then Little Tim would set forth about telling you which toys were cool and which ones were on sale.
I loved OTASCO. The neighborhood kids would ride our bikes up there and look at guns and toys and bikes parts and guns and radios and more guns. At the risk of further cementing myself into the crotchety old man character, I have to say that things really were different back then. We were probably between 8 and 12 but they would just hand us rifles and pistols to hold and admire and never told us to come back with our parents or anything like that. In this day and age if a kid rode his bike to a store and asked to look at and hold a gun they would probably call a social worker and want to commit the kid to in-house treatment somewhere for a 72 hour observation and I am certain that DHS would demand that the parents be counseled and attend court ordered sensitivity training.
I am going to spare everyone the lengthy details but I will certainly give you all a link that will tell you all about the history of the store and how it rose only to fall in the 1989’s when Oklahoma was at its most prosperous.
The origins of OTASCO began in 1918 in Okmulgee, OK when three Lithuanian brothers named Sanditen opened their store. 1922 saw the business expand to nearby Henryetta and then eventually in 1925 they headquartered the growing business in Tulsa. Eventually by 1943 they had expanded to 83 stores in Oklahoma and the surrounding states. The chain did well, 1960 saw a change in ownership as the Sanditens sold the chain to the McCrory Corporation. At this time there were 86 company owned stores and 167 franchised outlets. Then an action took place that started the downfall, it seems that in 1984 the employees themselves purchases all of the shares and it became one of the largest employee owned operations in the country. 1988 saw the company file bankruptcy and then 1989 saw the closing of the stores.
All I know is I liked OTASCO and even though it may not have HAD everything a Walmart has, I would still patronize OTASCO and pay a little more if given the opportunity.
According to Wikipedia there are still two stores operating under the OTASCO name, one in Beaver, OK and one in Borger, TX.
The link below is from a site that deals with some of Oklahoma’s commercial history. You might find it to be of interest
http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/O/OT004.html
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7 comments:
I used to go here. Bought a BB gun or two as a kid. Also got a scope for one bb gun. I did not know what OTASCO meant until now.
That's right...I forgot they used to have the complete line of Daisey... They had both the 880 and the 888 models... damn fine guns
I got my grand dads 880 in my garage.
I've been looking for video of the Timothy ads. My brother and I still refer to those ads all the time. They had a big impact on us as kids.
Loved my OTASCO,got my first guns there a 22 semi auto rifle and a 410 single shot. Lucky enough to still have both.Not to mention my orange sting ray flying O bike. My store was in seneca square shopping center in wichita ks.
I never haard of Otasco till I bought a yellow and black model of a die-cast 1913 Model-T Van with
"OTASCO 65th Anniversary 1918-
1983" inscribed on each side.
This was the place back then. I got my first bike from here, a Huffy.
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