dealer profile

Belgrade Sales & Service Thrives in Montana

By Heather Wilson

Owning a dealership wasn ’ t necessarily Bob Wyer ’ s plan for later in life , but a cross-country move and small engine mechanical knowledge soon turned into his opportunity . Originally from Missouri , Wyer and his wife Pat moved to Belgrade , Montana , in 1975 .

Wyer , with a farming background , went to work at a fertilizer plant while his wife began keeping books at a feed plant . His background as a farmer and his ability to tinker with small engines was a big asset at the plant . At the time , they used nurse trailers equipped with Briggs and Stratton engines , and they pulled these out to the fields . Wyer ’ s mechanical abilities served the business well here .

After a while , he began to wonder how he could put his skills to work in an even bigger way . That ’ s when Wyer and his wife started Belgrade Sales & Service and operated it in the hours after their traditional jobs . Soon they were busy enough to take the business full-time .

In 1978 , Roberta Guffey , Bob Wyer ’ s daughter , and her husband moved up from Kansas to begin working at the dealership .

“ My dad always jokes that he worked here for about a month and realized it was way too much family ,” said Jason Guffey , Roberta ’ s son , Wyer ’ s grandson and current owner-operator of the dealership . “ So , my dad went to work for the fertilizer plant that my grandpa originally worked at .”

Roberta continued to work alongside her dad and stepmom in the dealership for the next several decades and still works part-time at the dealership today .

In the early 2000s , Wyer was slowing down . His wife , who had worked alongside him for decades , passed away in 2005 . The business was becoming too much for Roberta to handle on her own . Jason watched as his grandfather and mom listed the business for sale in 2006 . However , there weren ’ t any immediate takers , and Jason started to consider leaving his job to help his mom operate the dealership .

He worked in the dealership as a teenager , but Jason took a job in management at Albertson ’ s grocery where he learned retail and merchandise display best practices . He had also met his now wife at Albertson ’ s and later went to work for her father ’ s construction business .

After some thinking , in 2007 , Jason and his mom decided to grab an opportunity . Bob Wyer passed the business over to them .

Jason said the business originally catered to residential customers and farmers . When the 2008 recession hit and other dealerships were closing their doors , Jason saw an opportunity to grow Belgrade Sales & Service into the commercial business .

“ We took a chance , and we went for it ,” Jason said . “ And ever since then , we ’ ve quadrupled the business .”

When tough economic times struck for many dealers in 2009 , Belgrade Sales & Service was lucky , Jason says , to have an established history and working capital , as his mom and grandfather always put money back into the business .

Working Together Family ownership , though less common in the corporate world , is not unusual in power equipment and pow-

26 OPE Business May 2023 www . OPEBusiness . com