With 50 years of service under a single family's belt, staff members at Milks Power Sales & Service, 1561 Cooper Foster Park Road in Amherst, Ohio, said they will celebrate a much-needed expansion.

The business now will utilize an additional building next door as a larger showroom with more inventory, said Brandon Milks, one of the managers.

“Over the past three years, we've seen our business numbers keep going up even in a small building,” Milks said. “But we outgrew it. We couldn't sell all the equipment I wanted to.”

The expansion has cost the Milks family around $100,000, he said.

The business supplies equipment from mowers and snowblowers to chainsaws and trimmers, as well as mulch, topsoil, stone and seed.

This year, Milks added Ariens and Gravely brands to its inventory, which also includes Stihl, Scag, Kohler, Snapper, Bluebird, Briggs & Stratton, Kawasaki Engines and Toro equipment.

“We've already seen (an increase in sales and inventory),” Milks said. “It's already drastically changed.”

“A lot of people didn't even realize we were here, believe it or not. They thought we were just a service center; they had no idea we sold equipment.”

The business also sells parts, does repairs and provides winter storage services.

The power sales and service business was first begun by Milks' grandparents, Herron and Cheryl Milks, with help from Herron's son Kit Milks in the 1960's on Mark Drive.

In 1976, the couple built a small shop that remained the business's primary location. 

To supplement income during the off-season, the couple built a larger adjoining building in 1984, where they opened “Herron's Christmas World,” a Christmas shop that was internationally renowned, Milks said.

Bill Milks, Herron Milks' son, and his wife, Rita, purchased the buildings in 2012 after the Christmas store closed in 2011.

Now, the previous Christmas store is being used as a showroom.

“The whole front (of the store) is unique,” Milks said. “Because it was once a Christmas store, they used to put Christmas trees on the top and nativity sets and all that. I always wanted to utilize that for lawn equipment.”

The business will hold a grand reopening Oct. 14 and will provide food as well as sales on lawn equipment.