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Dan Reiber, owner of C. Reiber and Son lawn equipment supply and repair shop, has decided to close his doors.
Dan Reiber, owner of C. Reiber and Son, stands by his trusted brand of chainsaws that his shop has sold and repaired for many years.
Dan Reiber, owner of C. Reiber and Son lawn equipment supply and repair shop, has decided to close his doors.
Dan Reiber, owner of C. Reiber and Son, stands by his trusted brand of chainsaws that his shop has sold and repaired for many years.
A customer walking into C. Reiber and Son mower and chainsaw repair and sales shop late last month wore a look of dismay.
He wanted to buy a mower, but the showroom was empty.
C. Reiber and Son, the 72-year-old Hickory Township business that sprouted from family farm repairs for friends, has run its course after two generations, having met its demise from COVID-19.
“It’s kind of sad,” said the customer, who did not want to identify himself. “I’ve been coming here for 50 years.”
The recent unavailability of parts and supplies has forced owner Dan Reiber to make a decision he dreaded.
His longstanding shop on Lakewood-Neshannock Falls Road, for all intents and purposes, has closed. His only remaining work there are repairs for people whose equipment he is holding, hoping the parts will arrive soon so he can finish their work, and the possible sale of a few chainsaws.
But the availability of equipment and parts had become too scarce since COVID-19 changed the supply and demand picture for many businesses.
“It’s just been a constant hassle,” Reiber said. “I’m not taking any more service work in because I don’t want to order parts I can’t get.”
A trusted sales representative in the business advised him the industry probably won’t improve for another two or three more years, because the major companies are having problems getting the materials and products from the manufacturers, he said.
Reiber regretfully has been selling off the Husqvarna chainsaws and other equipment that remain in his store. The showroom was devoid of the Lawn-Boy mowers that regularly took up floor space, and the echoes of voices bounced off the walls.
He anticipated staying open only for another month or so to finish the service on the equipment he already has taken in from customers.
Reiber fell into the business that his father, Charles “Chuck” E. Reiber, who died in 2019, started in 1949 with people approaching him at the family’s dairy farm and asking him to sharpen their mower blades or repair their mowers and other equipment.
“It snowballed from there,” said Dan, who learned the trade alongside his dad. Their base grew to include customers from surrounding counties and states.
Dan worked with him in the business for eight years until he ventured out on his own and started his own shop next to the farm. He had the existing building built 35 years ago, and it opened in September of 1986 as a small local business selling and repairing chainsaws and mowers and other lawn equipment.
The Reiber reputation upheld the business through the recession of 1981-82 and the opening of the big box stores. But COVID-19 became an insurmountable obstacle.
Because he and his father were experts at repairs and had the trust of their customers, “we had a niche,” he said.
“I remember my dad being a trusted trader of Lawn-Boy mowers with a handshake,” Reiber recalled. “We had a lot of customer loyalty. Our customers became our friends and we’ve seen generations of them. Our product has been around the world.”
He remembered how a Remington chainsaw that his father sold went to someone in Transylvania, Romania, and the owner there sent him a picture of himself using it. Another one of their sales went to Guatemala.
“People have driven quite a ways to come here,” Reiber said.
Now at 65 years old, he is thinking that he will be semi-retired but he plans to continue his same work part-time at Butler Power Equipment in Butler, which is owned by his friend, Jay Geiger.
Reiber also stays busy as a deputy waterway conservation officer for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, a job he has held since 2009. His work involves stocking trout and policing fishing in local streams and lakes and patrolling Moraine State Park for boating and safety.
He enjoys leisure time as a member of the Eintracht Singing Society men’s chorus.
Reiber and his wife, Diane, live at the family farm, where they have 12 black Angus cattle. The tillable acreage is leased to other farmers. They have three daughters and nine grandchildren, with a 10th due next month.
Initially, Dan did radio work, and the late Sharon Kennedy Clifton, who worked at a local radio station, encouraged him to run advertisements for the lawnmower business after she and her husband had bought at tractor from the Reibers.
“It’s bittersweet,” he said, reflecting on the friendships he’s forged throughout the years. “I’ll miss a lot of the people who have come in.”
Debbie's been a journalist at the New Castle News since 1978, and covers county government, police and fire, New Castle schools, environment and various other realms. She also writes features, takes photos and video and copy edits.
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