Dealer Profi le Green and Sons Take a Risk
Green and Sons added new equipment lines and moved locations to reach the rural lifestyle market.
Green and Sons
Location: Mt. Sterling, Ohio Founded: 1971 as Green and Son. Founder Bill “Red” Green had been selling equipment on his own since the late 1950s. Employees: 12 Major lines: Agrotrend, Exmark, E-Z Trail, Hardi, Howse, Hurst Trailers, Husqvarna, King Kutter, Kubota, Land Pride, Pequea, Precision Manufacturing, Sitrex, SnowEx, Tennessee River Implements and Woods Equipment
tractors built in the 1970s that were popular in the 1980s and 1990s just weren’t there in 2000.”
Bill Green and his family added new equipment lines in 2007 after more than 50 years of selling used equipment. The strategy helps them serve rural lifestylers.
Lynn Marcinkowski Woolf Managing Editor
he Green family built its busi- ness on selling used equipment to farmers and dealers in the Midwest. Now, more than 50 years later, the family has found new suc- cess selling new equipment to rural lifestylers from a new location. “We used to have more of a whole- sale operation. Now, we’ve had a retail explosion selling equipment to hobby farmers and homeowners. We never thought we’d be where we are today,” says Peyton Green of Green and Sons, great grandson of the original owner, Bill “Red” Green.
T
Red and his son, Dick, opened Green and Son in 1971 — just a sin- gle “son” at that time — after Dick returned from serving in Vietnam. They built a facility at the fam- ily’s home east of London, Ohio. They
focused on selling used tractors and implements.
In the early 1990s, Dick’s sons, Bill and Philip, went to work full-time for the dealership. In 2000, the dealership was renamed Green and Sons, with Bill and Philip joining the ownership team. The fourth generation, Bill’s son, Peyton, is now full-time and Philip’s son, Jacob, helps during the summer.
Reaching New Markets Peyton says his family started see- ing changes in the used equipment business about 10 years ago. “It was getting more difficult to find quality used equipment. Farmers were holding on to their equipment longer and not trading like they used to because the equipment is more expensive than it used to be.”
Bill Green adds, “We couldn’t come up with the right products for the weekender guys and the hay guys. The
18 RURAL LIFESTYLE DEALER SUMMER 2013
Peyton Green is the fourth generation of Green and Sons, an equipment dealer- ship based in Mt. Sterling, Ohio.
In 2003, the Greens began investi- gating adding a new tractor line to take advantage of the growing rural life- style market. The dealership is based near the metro areas of Dayton and Columbus, Ohio.
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