By Tim Arnett
WABASH,Indiana – With the shrinking population of Wabash over the last four decades and the rise of big box stores and internet retailers, it’s hard for any local business to be around for 40 years. And it’s even harder for an owner to own a business for that long. But Wabash Portable Equipment’s Chuck Smith has done just that. And he hasn’t just survived, he has thrived over the years by offering a great selection of quality equipment and unparallelled customer service.
In an interview with MiBash News a little more than a week ago, Smith said that he has been with Wabash Portable Equipment since 1972. Amazingly, only four years after being hired as an employee at the business, he bought the store. The business was started in 1949 down the cut from right across from B&K Root Beer. In fact, Brandt’s Harley Davidson started right across the street from the original location of Wabash Portable Equipment in the same year.
When Smith bought the business in 1976, he was studying to be a CPA. He never obtained his accounting license, but he found a career. He recounted to MiBash News the myriad of changes since the early 1970s, including the increase of horsepower and decrease in weight of various lawn equipment and the rise of weed whackers. Snowblowers, he said, have also become commonplace where they were an anomaly back in the 1970s.
Speaking of snowblowers, the extremely wild winter this year, Smith said, cut into the store’s bottom line in a major way. In reference to the seasons, Smith said “You have to take the bad ones with the good ones.” Regardless, Smith says that Wabash has been good to the business over the years.
Smith told MiBash News that the store’s clientele includes many generations of people in the city of Wabash and the surrounding area. The store’s new lawnmover blade grinder means that a blade can be sharpened in just three of four minutes while a customer waits. Wabash Portable Equipment is also purchasing a new machine for chainsaw sharpening that will take only 10 minutes per chain.
Wabash Portable Equipment, which is located at 1830 South Wabash Street, is housed in an approximately 6,000 sq. foot building, currently has a total of six employees.
