I started writing stories about the business more than 20 years ago. I began arranging stories by decades. Some chapters were easy to split in half. The 1960s weren't. Rental, which became the center of the business, was started in 1960. My involvement in the business began in 1962 when we moved into a house behind the Store. In 1960 we had no full-time employees. By the end of the '60s, we had two stores recognized by our suppliers as their largest dealers in eastern Pennsylvania.
Chapter 6
The Controlled Chaos of 1966
By the mid-1970s, the business had matured around a general tool and party rental store with lawn and garden equipment sales and service. During the 1960s, the Store was bursting at the seams with an unfocused inventory and direction. One tiny corner of the equipment showroom was dedicated to swimming pool supplies; a swimming pool was assembled and filled in the lawn next to the business. A powered Ice Cycle hung from the ceiling above the main entrance. The lawnmower showroom had a wall of housewares and hardware. The other wall contained Snowmobile clothing. Another room was the paint department. This could have been described in any year from 1965 to 1970. I chose the year 1966 because the promotional Helicopter was added.
For me, the Chaos of the 1960s was familiar when I got off the school bus in front of the Store. My bus mates would see an 8' tall sign that resembled Mad Magazine, Alfred E Newman. Printed under the sign was "This Idiot rents anything." Looking back, I can't imagine how a first-time customer or new employee would react to seeing merchandise of every variety on every wall, shelving, and ceiling.
Every winter since the 2960 Linden St store opened in 1955, my Father would add a new addition. By 1966, our fire trap would concern the City of Bethlehem. However, they continued to issue new permits every fall. Every side of the building had doors. Every evening, 12 entries needed to be checked.
The building had six levels and two attics. Customers parked in the parking lot had choices of three unmarked entrances. You were a winner if you chose the door with the most decals. This door led to the rental counter, Parts, Service Counter, and office. The center door was the lawn equipment showroom, and the far-left door was the party rental storage and paint. The house across the driveway that was the original rental department displayed racing go-carts.
During the 1960s, January would always start with packing and storing the unsold Christmas merchandise. At the time, we were the largest Christmas decoration retailer in the "Christmas City" of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Once the Christmas decorations were removed, the bulk of the Bird Feeders would be returned to the showroom. The floor space reserved for Lawn Equipment would display Bird Feed snow throwers and snowmobiles.
Blizzard of 1966.
Most of our Snow thrower sales occur in the fall and early winter. The inventory remaining after the first of the year wouldn't sell unless we had heavy snow. After Groundhog Day, the remaining snow throwers would
be stored away, and the new lawnmowers and Tractors would move in.
The Blizzard of late January of 1966 was one I remember. When the storm ended, drifts above 6' blocked the road in front of the business. Linden Street (Nazareth Pike, as it was called in 1966) was the main route from the four-lane highway into downtown Bethlehem. It was closed for four days. The phone rang off the wall, and the Store was cut off. The first job was to clear the driveway and use the bulldozer to clear a path to a side road the city had plowed open.
Some customers challenged the streets; others ordered snow throwers over the phone. Our only driver worked late into the night the first few evenings after the storm delivering snow throwers. The new snow thrower was used to cut a path to the customers' houses. At the Store, the parking lot was jammed with customers. Everyone was assembling new snow throwers. This included all of us kids and our friends. By the second day, we were completely sold out.
Bird feed and feeders would keep a steady business flow during a typical winter. We stocked bird feeders from more than 50 manufacturers. We had bird feeders hanging from the ceiling, lining the walls, and on shelves that usually held other merchandise. While the local hardware store might have a half dozen bird feeders, we displayed over a hundred. Every week during the fall and winter, a truck would deliver hundreds of pounds of bird feed. My Grandfather always took charge of the bird feeders, and everyone knew not to step into his territory during the bird feeder season.
Our first sign of spring was a train car loaded with peat moss mulch. When the train car arrived at a siding about a mile away, our rental moving vans would be used for the all-hands-on-deck unloading of the train. We had a specific time to unload the hundreds of bails before extra charges were added to the shipment. Peat Moss is packaged in a 16" x 18" x 32" bag and weighs about 40 pounds. They would be stacked into a pile as high as we could get them. No pallets or equipment were used; it was all by hand. Soon after the Peat Moss, the tractor-trailers loaded with Lawn Products garden tools and lawnmowers arrived. The Bird inventory would be squeezed out as the mowers and tractors were assembled.
Good retail items that time forgot were concrete and clay lawn ornaments. Bird Baths, gazing balls, Driveway Jockeys, 6' Indians, and other politically incorrect concrete items. The shipments arrived, and dozens of bird baths lined up outside the display along the street.
Theft happened, but it was usually unnoticed until a 500-pound concrete bear was stolen. Dad figured it would be located when the Lehigh University fraternity houses cleaned out in the spring, but it was never found. Decorative Cast Iron Lawn Furniture was trendy at the time. You couldn't have a 1960's backyard without Pink plastic Flamingos. It was the 1960s, and we sold floating space-age-looking floating lawnmowers and lava lights.
Spring Fair and Open House.
Our focus in early spring was getting ready for our April Spring Fair. Tents would be erected to display the mowers, tractors, and other large equipment outside. The rental camping trailers would be cleaned and set up in the front yard. The late April date would allow the live plants to be displayed outdoors. Inside were garden chemicals, grass, and vegetable seeds. My Mother would put weeks into preparing and freezing Barbecue from whatever animal my Father shot the previous fall. The entire back page of the local paper was covered with our full-color Ad. Factory Reps would come for the weekend, and a WWII searchlight would be hired. Our staff was small, so cousins and the neighborhood kids would be given grey shirts and cowboy hats as all hell would break loose for two days. The count of free sodas and moose barbecue would go into the hundreds.
The Helicopter years.
In 1966 "Ortho," our garden chemical line, introduced a lawn fertilizer with a small hand-held spreader called the Whirlybird. With the purchase of a box of fertilizer and the little spreader ($20.00 for the Package), The customer would receive a 3-minute Helicopter ride. The Helicopter would rotate in and out of the front yard of our house for two days). One customer admitted that he lived in an apartment and only bought lawn fertilizer to get the ride.
The FAA issued us a Heliport permit. Those were the good old days before lawyers, noise ordinances, and annoying neighbors. The helicopter rides lasted two years, but customers would remind us of that promotion for decades after the Helicopter years ended.
The Spring Fair extravaganza was toned down after the move to Bethlehem Township in 1970. The wild game barbeque giveaway continued until my Father retired from big game hunting.
April and May were always the two busiest months. The rental business would return to life after the ground was workable. Vegetable gardens were still prevalent during the '60s and '70s. From renting rototillers to seeds, plants, and fertilizers, we were a one-stop garden center.
Blue laws were still in place in Bethlehem. Sunday sales were not allowed. However, we were open on Sundays during April and May. We opened at 1 pm and closed at 5. The Mayor was a good customer, along with many city council members. It didn't bother anyone since we were only open on Sundays for two months and opened after Church.
By early fall, it was time to change the seasonal displays. The Tulip bulbs would arrive from Holland, and Heaters would come from England. Snowmobiles, snow throwers, and snow shovels are replacing rake shovels and lawnmowers. Mower decks were removed from the lawn tractors and replaced with snow plows. Bird feeders and bird food would replace fertilizer and garden chemicals. We would dig the Christmas merchandise out of the attic around Thanksgiving.
Our annual Christmas outdoor lighting contest was always the last event to close the year. Friends and family would pile into station wagons the week before Christmas and visit the entrants' homes. The winner would win a brand new Toro snow thrower.
The new year and the business would prepare for the Chaos of another spring and summer in the Garden, Rental, and just about anything store.
