dealer profile

Century Power Equipment and Powersports , Stillwater , Minn .

No longer on the interstate highway , Century Power Equipment still gets good traffic off the neighboring state highway .

By Glenn Hansen

Roger Tuckner ’ s business card says “ owner ,” but it took me a couple meetings to get that same information from him . When I introduced myself and said I ’ d like to do a profile story on the business , he told me he was the store manager . A couple weeks later , I walked up to Century Power Equipment , in Stillwater , Minn ., for our interview ; Roger was outside shooting pictures of a vehicle . I followed him in and waited as he loaded the photos on his website ’ s inventory page . During our conversation , he stopped to answer the phone a couple times , and he filled sticky notes with follow-up reminders .

I know plenty of OPE dealership owners are like Roger , they work for a living . But in an age of corporate consolidations , it ’ s nice to visit with an independent owner doing the work alongside their staff . And it fits with Roger ’ s belief in personal and local service to customers .

Roger ’ s dad bought this business in the mid-1970s . The original location was a few

Coming off the pandemic ’ s inventory issues , Century ’ s show floor is now full of products .

miles south of the current store , on what is now an interstate . Back then , it was a four-lane road with barely enough traffic to support a store like this . “ When my dad bought the store , he had no experience in retail , no history with snowmobiles or powersports or lawn tractors ,” said Tuckner . “ And it was a struggle for a few years . And then they developed Interstate 94 , and both traffic and sales increased .”

The business has always had a mix of powersports and power equipment , carrying Yamaha , John Deere , and Arctic Cat vehicles . “ We ’ re in our third location ,” said Tuckner . “ We expanded in 2003 to 40,000 square feet , up from 10,000 .” Century also carries Exmark mowers and a growing display of Stihl products .

Century ’ s neighborhood in the eastern suburbs of Minneapolis-St . Paul has seen steady population growth for 40 years . To the south , suburban housing developments continue to sprout , and to the north , a mix of hobby farms and small-acreage homesites replace large family farms . The resulting demographic provides a good customer base for Century ’ s product mix , from compact tractors to mowers to motorcycles , UTVs and snowmobiles .

“ The lawn and garden business has been steady over the years ,” Tuckner said , “ where powersports has gone through a few up and down cycles over the decades . That was true during Covid , too , where powersports sales spiked , while OPE did well but was more more steady . “ UTV sales were especially strong for us during the pandemic ,” he said . “ Snowmobiles too ; people were looking for something new to do outside .”

“ We did have a Covid spike with Stihl handheld products ,” said Tuckner . “ And sales of small John Deere tractors increased as people were

20 OPE Business April 2023 www . OPEBusiness . com