FEBRUARY 2023

Article by Dan Shell, Senior Editor, Power Equipment Trade

LUVERNE, Alabama – There’s always plenty of activity as lawn and garden and automotive customers come and go at the cool building on the south end of old downtown Luverne, with its county seat courthouse and two redlights, straddling U.S. Hwy 331 in south central Alabama.

The building with its striking curved window and full lot of autos and tractors is the home of Stephens Garage and Small Motors, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2022 since owner Keith Stephens, 53, bought the building in 1997. Originally a Chevrolet dealership that dates back to the 1940s, the building and surrounding lots offer plenty of room to operate an automotive service center and lawn and garden dealership from the same facility.

Background

Stephens worked at the dealership as a mechanic when he was in his 20s, then after the dealership closed he rented the service area and started the automotive service center.

The automotive business rocked along, with the operation doing service and warranty work for another car dealership that rented some of the lot; Stephens also expanded into working on industrial haul trucks and trailer trucks.

In 2010, he made the move into premium lawn and garden equipment. His late wife, Janna, managed a local Jiffy Lube near a small dealership and noticed the customer traffic at the operation. (She died tragically and unexpectedly in 2017 of a heart condition.)

Janna was the one who had the idea the garage ought to go into the lawn and garden segment, Stephens remembers, especially after the nearby dealership went out of business. Stephens Garage started with two product lines the business still has today: Husqvarna (the only handheld brand) and Ferris. The dealership added Mahindra tractors in 2019 and Scag mowers in 2022. The dealership also carries Kawasaki and Briggs & Stratton engines, along with Oregon aftermarket parts. In these times of parts scarcity and backorders, the dealership also works with RBI and NHC Distributors for their parts needs.

Here at Power Equipment Trade we’ve repeatedly noted the trend of dealership owners skewing older and the impact that will have on the dealer base. It’s another dynamic that affects the dealership “churn” that’s always been there as power equipment businesses startup, rise and fall, expand and grow or simply fade away and disappear: In general, when a dealership churns through a transition and remains intact, it’s usually either a family member, staff member or new owner who takes the reins and seizes the opportunity the churn has wrought.

Article by Dan Shell, Senior Editor

Super Max is PET's employee of the month from Santana's Mowers in Tampa, Florida because I mean, when was the last time you saw a Super Goat that is clearly a Super Salesman.

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Is your service department operating as efficiently as it could be? If you’re operating with a team that is already stretched thin, unexpected roadblocks like parts shortages, customer complaints, and employee turnover can really throw a wrench in things. The secret to some of the most efficient dealership service departments out there? They’ve optimized the most time-consuming, headache-inducing pieces of their service department processes using technology.

Cristina Baciu is a content marketing writer with Ideal Computer Systems.

The 2023 season is going to have its challenges, as all years do. Our job as business owners/managers is to identify the challenges and get ahead of them. All of us have challenges that are unique to each of our businesses. You may have challenges related to your particular location, your particular health or motivation (hey, it happens!), or with the brands you carry at your dealership. Something that seems to be pretty widespread among dealerships the past few years is personnel challenges, but even something like that will have unique expressions from business to business.

Sam Stearns owns and operates Mr. Mower Man, Scottsburg, Indiana.