Katie and Tyler Smith of Rick’s Paint and Body and Trucks and Moore do not shy away from a challenge.  They purchased Rick’s from Katie’s father in 2019 after both working there for seven years and then bought Trucks and Moore when the owner decided to retire in December 2021. Before heading these two businesses, Tyler and Katie lived in Fort Mill, South Carolina, where Tyler sold insurance. When that company closed, Tyler had a new business idea ready to go. “He came home one day and asked me if I could make some flyers and when I asked why, he said because we are going to open a landscaping business,” says Katie. “ We didn’t even own a lawn mower.”  After canvasing local neighborhoods handing out more than 3,000 flyers, the couple had enough potential customers to buy a lawn mower and formally start Southern-Eze. The landscaping business deemed successful and grew from two to 25 employees during the 12 years they owned it.

After their time in the landscaping world, Katie and Tyler joined Katie’s father at Rick’s Paint and Body. Rick’s offers everything from car repairs, towing, body work, paint jobs and more. They recently opened their own in-house calibration company. Rick’s is also the only Lexus-authorized shop within 100 miles. This includes intensive training for the employees. Rick’s was the first to be accepted into the pilot certification program with Lexus and the second in North America to go through the audit process, according to Tyler.  The auditing process is extremely detailed and precise, and surprise visits are not uncommon. 

Add in Trucks and Moore, and Katie and Tyler have close to 100 employees. Located right next door to Rick’s, Trucks and Moore provides any type of maintenance and sells and installs accessories such as wheels, tires, lifts and more. People are taking much better care of their cars today so this is the place to maintain and enhance any vehicle.  

With one of the biggest showrooms in the Southeast, Trucks and Moore has the perfect gift for the car lover in your life.  Some popular gift ideas include:

– Gift Cards

– Wheels 

– Tires

– Tool Boxes (they have their own branded ones)

– WeatherTech Mats 

– Spray-on Bedliners

– Truck Bed Covers 

– Lighting

– Heated Seats

– Remote Starts

– Garmin Dog Collars

As Katie sits at her desk with her pink fridge and accessories surrounding her, she says, “I never in my whole life thought I would be here, but I love it. The guys come up here, and I tell them ‘you can’t leave the office in a bad mood’ — it’s a happy office.” Tyler agrees and says, “We are busy, but we like it and enjoy it.”Both Katie and Tyler welcome a challenge and that can be seen by how they run their two successful businesses, with a warm smile and a can-do attitude.