Opportunity Knocks For Stephens Garage

Changes in local market bring automotive business into lawn and garden segment.

BY DAN SHELL

LUVERNE, Ala.

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 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.

Luverne is a small town of 3,000 in a decidedly rural area of south Alabama, but with multiple communities nearby. The bulk of lawn and garden customers are homeowners, and there’s also a decent commercial customer segment though many tend to be smaller and part-time. The move into Mahindra tractors opened up a new customer base and also broadened its geographic reach.

Stephens offers battery-powered handheld equipment, and while he says he’s not seeing the overall demand he’d like, he’s sold on the product category. He notes that many customers may have tried an older generation of lower powered electrics that didn’t perform as well, but the new machines are much higher quality. The lack of a starter pull cord is definitely an attraction for women and older customers, he believes.

Operations

The facility’s original eight automotive bays are still in use, with two bays dedicated to tractor service. The lot slopes downhill, with a large lot for auto parking and staging above, the building with showroom, parts counters and service bays in the middle, and a large lot below the building that’s used for tractor display. Stephens added a covered area in the lower lot for tractor staging and final assembly. The handheld service area is in a room just below the main service bay floor.

Stephens Garage employs 11, and that includes two dedicated auto mechanics, a dedicated tractor technician, handheld technician and a “floater” mechanic who works where he’s most needed. Stephens says he’s not currently looking for additional technician capacity here in the winter, but he’ll probably be looking to hire some summer help soon.

Posted labor rate is $100/hr. on lawn and garden and tractor work, and $85/hr. for automotive. The lawn and garden rate went up from $90/hr. in 2022, Stephens says. The dealership uses an informal handheld flat rate system to avoid the labor charges that might send customers elsewhere.

Currently, the dealership is working through an advertised January-February service special that features free pickup and delivery for in-town customers.

Courtney Barrow, Stephens’ daughter-in-law, began working more closely with the dealership’s marketing effort in the past three to four years, especially as the dealership has sought to raise its online profile and presence.

In an area where customers are scattered in rural counties, Barrow says she finds Facebook “boosting” to be the most effective form of marketing overall. The Facebook advertising program boosts the dealership’s geographic reach and drawing power. She also uses GoogleAds to keep the dealership near the top of search engine results.

To get the word out about special offers, and to keep up with customers in real time, Stephens Garage utilizes the Kenect business texting system to send out promotions and stay in contact with the customer base.

Though Barrow questions its overall effectiveness compared to online advertising, she does run a schedule of football season radio ads as a sponsor of the Troy University game broadcasts and also home games for local high schools to maintain a community support profile.

The dealership also maintains a couple of billboards, and does some print advertising in local media, usually around special events and not on a regular schedule.

Expansion

For a dealer who’s been in the lawn and garden market now 13 years, Stephens sees opportunity in his trading area. In fact, in 2022 he and a longtime friend went into a partnership and started a new, separate dealership, S&K Lawn & Equipment, in Troy, a much larger community 20 miles to the east with more population and a major university. Plus, a longtime and well established dealership, Troy Small Motors, had recently closed, leaving a big hole in local service capacity and premium power equipment representation.

The new dealership offers Ferris, Snapper and Cub Cadet wheeled goods, Maruyama and Efco handheld and Dewalt battery powered handheld products. Stephens notes that S&K is adding the Kress battery powered product line this year as well. “There’s a lot of market in Troy, and we’ve already got a good clientele we’re building there,” he says.

Across both businesses, Stephens says employees are straightening, organizing and cleaning through the relatively slow winter months. “We won’t have time after the spring really gets going, and it gets wild in April, May and June and some years won’t slow down at all until late August,” he exclaims. PET