Local Stihl Dealer Is No Longer A Stihl Dealer

I look for this to get bigger in the future.
Think there will be Stihl saws soon?
John Deere and STIHL Announce Agreement to Expand Retail Relationships | STIHL USA

 

I see what you did there

 

Sorry, i couldn't change the date on it...

 

Biggest sthil in this area is no more has Huskys and Echos now. Husky dealer in town retired about 10 years ago, sold out lock stock and barrel to another fellow.

He is not some one you want to send your wife to pick up some oil and any thing. He is nearly out of bussiness now and probably would be if it were not for the scags he sells.

I have no idea where to go for a sthil now.

Al

 

Stihl has been going downhill for some time... Most of there crap is made in China..a dealer in the pacific NW told me they were fading out all the pro saws except the big ones..they want the throw away stuff.i love my older stihl stuff...I'm sure the new ones are ok but I don't want to support that China crap...last new saw I bought was a dolmar...I have enough good older stihl saws I guess who cares..I know the Echo saws of old were incredible ....most reliable saw I ever seen..

 

The Stihl dealer here is also a cub cadet dealer, and also deals in the high end pull behind deck mowers. He used to have Husqvarna saws and mowers also. He told me the Husqvarna had gotten hard to deal with. The ace hardware stores in this area sell echo saws and trimmers. Local gossip says that we might be getting a dealership thatst gonna sell kioti tractors and Makita chainsaws, time will tell.

 

Interesting about Stihl getting into bigger stores. We have a local business that is still selling them, but the Rural King farm store has an entire section of Stihl products. The RK employee who is the chain sharpener, now sports a Stihl logo shirt rather than a RK.

 

My local ACE just put one in. The owner told me he had wanted to carry Stihl for some time but the marketing requirements must have a certain amount of square footage and wall space for product. He knocked out a wall and remodeled a decent amount of sqft to achieve the requirements. Surprisingly they’re only 1/2mi from an existing Deere dealer but in order to get the deal done the Ace had to become a full service shop.

They have a really nice setup with stools and touchscreens for product comparison. Plus the always helpful personnel.

 

I think Stihl is following john deeres lead....years ago jd made the best stuff in the world...products were tested to death and had to make the grade to get the Deere logo...I worked for Deere dealer in the 80s when the Kawasaki came out in the lawn mowers..everyone was throwing rocks at them and we all said they wouldn't compete with Koehler. Guess what they are still the best engine ever made...how about JD chain saw...echo...my old JD saw still runs great...I literally have never done any mor than clean the air filter...so what this led to was jd loyalty ...Deere put dealers all over the nation never more than 20 miles apart...depending on population of corse..another plan was parts ..well stocked parts for old equipment..customer confidence that parts would be available 50 years from now..
Then along about late 80 early 90 s they came up with a different plan and started closing stores...we lost 3 of our jd dealers then...now our dealers are lavish places that look better than banks..now JD has gon really cheap..lots of plastic and not near the quality they once were...parts?? They don't want to stock parts for stuff over 10 years old...they are wanting to play the throwaway game and sell you new...hard to do with a 300k combine...
Back to stihl I see a similar pattern...build brand loyalty...sell cheap outsourced crap later on...and for the masses that's fine I guess...most people will be fine wit one of the throwawy saw...the small dealers don't really fit the plan...our stihl dealers are and ace hardware farm store and the one JD dealer we have left...

 

I am starting to see more and more hardware stores carrying Stihl product here in Ontario. These are usually small town Home Hardware stores. The kind where you are always talking to the same guy at the counter.

We have 3 Stihl dealers within 15 minutes from me. An equipment rental store that sells and rents Stihl, a small engine shop that carries several different lines but specializes in Stihl and Toro, and a John Deere dealer.

 

Here Stihl Dealers are about as easy to find as a hens tooth balancing upon the horn of a Unicorn that is standing in the shadow of a rainbow, all because they have really pushed their dealers to sell more crap that may not sell in a given region. Backpack leaf blower anyone?

They tried playing the local dealer game, but just plain lost out. Husky...though you all know my opinion on that company...is beating them at the sell anything anywhere game, and now they are joining in.

Myself, I am done with John Deere. When the US Supreme Court has to backhand a company like John Deere as hard as they did for fleecing the farmers that made them what they were, I can do business elsewhere.

 

The Ace hardware near me only sells stihl pro saws but it's not an Elite Dealer. The John Deere dealer is an Elite dealer.
I thought to be an Elite dealer you had to carry the full line ( or close to it) of Stihl products and provide full service. Maybe not any more.
Deere dropped all the small dealers/shops around here and there's pretty much just one Big Dealer left.
I have one Stihl only Elite dealer that provides service nearby and the son is taking over the place. He's not selling other brands but he's repairing them.

 

What part of southern PA Shurdel ?

 

I was in the local Farm and Fleet store a few days ago and saw they carry Stihl saws and other products. I did not see any pro saws, just homeowner types.

 

Only two places selling Stihl products in my area. Closest is a local hardware store that sells but does not service them. The other is about 30 miles away and is a large power equipment dealer that sells/services Stihl & Husqvarna products.

 

The True Value and Deere dealer in town both carry Stihl products. I have at least 4 more within a half hour drive, and that's just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. Never used the Deere dealer for one but the True Value is decent to deal with.

 

I'm lucky to have a small mom & pop Stihl & Husky dealer 10 miles from my house. They carry the gambit as far as saws go and their service department is excellent. I think the only reason they're still in business is because they service the Forest Service and local logging company saws.

Everything else is big box store stuff. I don't even bother bringing my saws to them because the person that you talk to has never started a saw let alone worked on one. Even the better True Value down the hill is ok but nowhere near an expert. I came to the conclusion a while back that I'd better learn how to work on my own stuff. I've worked on 2 stroke dirt bikes a bunch so a chainsaw isn't really that big of a deal. Anything I can't handle I'll take in but I won't be happy about it.

I'm not going to pay $80 an hour for a guy to scratch his head while he looks up youtube videos on how to service a saw.