For 58 of the 63 years Ambrosius Outdoor Power has been in business, they’ve been Ariens dealers. Co-Owner/Operator Barb (Ambrosius) Nohr remembers when her father, William Ambrosius, Sr., started selling the first Ariens tillers. Now, she and Dan Ariens enjoy a passing friendship as their fathers did. In 2012 Ambrosius Outdoor Power received the Ariens Million Dollar Dealer Award, the first dealer to receive the honor in Wisconsin.

Today, the dealership employs eight, including Co-Owner/Operators Barb and Steve Nohr as well as Barb’s son Bryan Rottier. There are also three full-time mechanics, one-full time parts manager and one full-time driver/set up person. Nohr says that everyone in the dealership is flexible. It is not out of the ordinary for her husband to drive the delivery truck or her parts manager to sell wholegoods.

Frequently, customers came in for a specific part, but called it something unfamiliar. Rottier noticed customers would then huddle over diagrams on the computer. That’s when he used his technological background to install a television mounted above the parts counter coupled with the computer. This allows any of the employees to project diagrams visible to customers in a large format; they simply point to the part or area of trouble and the Ambrosius team can take it from there.

When founded in 1953, Ambrosius was a bulk garden seed retailer. Each year Nohr and Rottier both say they are going to quit dealing in seeds, but the display is still up, year after year. It is an homage to the beginning of the store and niche market for customers.