TOM SCIBILIA is shown at County Stihl, a power tool supply store he has owned for 30 years. The shop will close as of Sat., Nov. 22.
OVER THE PAST couple of years, Tom Scibilia, owner of County Stihl on 72nd Avenue, has become an avid golfer and rarely misses an outing with that he calls “the matinee golf group.”
For the past 30 years, people who needed a lawn mower, a chain saw or other tools to keep their acreage spruced up knew just where to go. County Stihl, at 18004 NE 72nd Ave., has been the place.
County Stihl will close Sat., Nov. 22, as owner Tom Scibilia begins another life chapter – retirement.
Not everyone has taken the news well. Scibilia and his wife, Kathryn, were waiting for a movie to begin at Battle Ground Cinema recently when they recognized a friend sitting near them. Scibilia mentioned his impending retirement and the woman stood up in front of everyone.
“Tom, you’re part of the family,” she exclaimed. “You can’t leave.”
Scibilia said she was almost in tears.
It illustrates the strong customer loyalty the 61-year-old entrepreneur has built over the decades despite the availability of similar products in Portland, where there’s no sales tax.
Doing so required “establishing a value that would override the sales tax,” Scibilia said. “If you can keep people here, you have loyalty.”
The first years were the most difficult. He was a one-man staff for nine years, handling sales, repairs, advertising and bookkeeping.
“There were so many relationships formed as a one-man store,” Scibilia said. “They carried over.”
When the recession hit in 2008, he began working even longer hours, arriving between 6 and 6:30 a.m. and staying until 5:30 p.m. Scibilia worked Saturdays, too.
“I never got out of that,” he said.
Not until a couple of years ago, at least. That’s when he began joining some golfers who play on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, regardless of the weather. They even played nine holes at a Portland course on a day the temperature dropped to 24 and it snowed.
Scibilia has become an avid golfer and rarely misses an outing now with what he calls “the matinee golf group.”
Besides having more time for the links, Scibilia mentions another positive aspect to retirement. He’ll no longer have to sit at a computer meticulously entering warranty registrations and warranty repairs on the 1,500 machines County Stihl sells each year.
If he is drawn to the computer, it might be to write the book he jokingly says will be titled “Customer Skirmishes, Employee Battles.”
Some of his customers have asked if there will be a big 50-percent-off sale in the store’s final days. Scibilia disappoints them because Stihl and John Deere, whose products he sells, will take back any unsold inventory.
The game plan now, Scibilia said, is to do little if anything for about six years. He figures that’s the amount of time he’s sacrificed to work by skipping vacations and working Saturdays throughout his career.
Travel is on the agenda, though. The Scibilias have relatives scattered from Texas to the East Coast.
Scibilia grinned at the thought of a long road trip.
“There’s a golf course or two in between,” he said.
