Lehman's Country Life

Photo taken recently near Kidron, OH. What do you suppose this local Amish man did to need the Long Arm of the Law? Send your ideas for a funny (or serious) caption to newsletter@lehmans.com. Our esteemed team of judges (also known as the catalog and web staff) will chose a winner for a $100 gift certificate to Lehman’s. And, we’ll post some of our favorite responses.

Please respond by Friday, Aug. 14, 2009, and include your name and email address.

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By Bruce Detweiler Breckbill, Lehman’s VP Direct Sales

One of the things all businesses need to identify is who exactly their customers are. So it is with Lehman’s. Knowing who our customers are is incredibly important because it determines which products we carry, how we present those products, and which avenues we take to get those products to the people who need or want them.

This has perhaps been more difficult for Lehman’s than it is for other retailers. First, we are in a very small niche market. Not everyone wants non-electric appliances, gadgets and hand tools. Not everyone wants to do things the old-fashioned way. Not everyone desires to have part of his or her lifestyle mimic the lifestyle of the late 1800s. For those who do want these things, Lehman’s can help, but finding those people or helping them find us is sometimes challenging. Keeping them all happy is equally challenging.
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Have you ever posted a tweet on Twitter? Written on a wall in Facebook? If you have, you can skip this article and go directly to our Facebook profile.

But if not, please read on. Because we want to reach you, our customer, when and how you want to be reached, we have always used technology. Yes, it’s true. We use high tech to sell low tech. Years ago it was adding phone lines. Then a toll-free fax. Today, of course, it involves computers. In our efforts to get products to you, a missionary couple in Uganada; or a hunter in a cabin in Michigan; or a second home owner vacationing in the Bahamas; or simply Mom looking for a rag doll just like she used to have, we have to be there.

So again we are embracing technology. Today this means Facebook, Twitter, blogging, YouTube and much more. I invite you to follow Galen, my brother and the president of Lehman’s, on his Twitter account and to keep up with us at our Facebook page. One of the best things about this new technology is that we can inititate a conversation. That’s right. Two-way communication between people. We’d love to hear from you!

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For those of you who don’t know, I’m the son of Galen Lehman (president of Lehman’s) and grandson of Jay Lehman (founder), which means that as I grew up, Lehman’s has always been a large part of my life. As a young child, it seemed natural to me to stop in at the hardware to see my dad and my grandpa, or ‘Poppy’ as I still call him, and to walk with my dad through what was then the stove room, or to watch the model trains from the balcony of the toy room with my grandpa. Some of the employees still remember this, and turn on the trains whenever they see me in there.

The funny thing is, though, I have never had a really good idea of how exactly the store runs and operates. So this summer, upon completing my first year at Hesston College in Central Kansas, I returned home to begin an internship with the hardware. Soon, I found myself up to my ears in information about Lehman’s that I never knew.

While most of what I have been learning is really technical, what struck me the most was the dedication to serving the customer. Whether it was watching the shipping department in the warehouse carefully load a stove hearth onto the back of a customer’s truck, or listening as customer service representatives courteously and calmly worked with customers to resolve even the most difficult issues, I had no idea of the effort that each employee put forth to meet the needs of every individual that came through the store. Just as watching the trains run is forever ingrained in my memory, the courtesy of the people I worked with will stick with me for a long time.

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On Tuesday, April 21st, Lehman’s founder Jay Lehman turns the big 8-0!

Jay Lehman

To celebrate, we’ve got lots of unexpected goodies in store (including a free product giveaway this Tuesday …

Little-known facts about Jay:

• He has many names! According to daughter Glenda, family legend says the name on Jay’s birth certificate was supposed to read, “Ezra Lehman, Jr.” but was reversed to be “Jr. Ezra Lehman.” Because of this he was always known as Junior, or J.E. Lehman. These days he simply goes by “Jay.”
• He has traveled to 72 different countries, including a long-term missions assignment in Africa in the early 1960s.

Jay – a few years ago

• He has planted tens of thousands of trees in his lifetime (so far).
• He is an avid (and very good) tennis player.
• He has an affinity for old cars – and owns one: a 1923 Ford Model T.

Jay and his 1923 Model T

If you’re in the northeast Ohio area this Tuesday (April 21st), stop by Lehman’s in Kidron to enjoy some special festivities in honor of Jay’s birthday. There will be free cake and balloons, 10% off all private-labeled, Lehman’s exclusive products, and each hour a drawing for an $80 gift certificate! Stop in and celebrate with us.

Watch the Lehman’s store walk-through video here.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JAY!

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We are gearing up to begin another round of arts and crafts demos at the store in Kidron in the Buggy Barn from now until the end of the year.  The founder’s of Clever Nesting along with other Ohio Arts and Crafts Guild members will take turns doing demos in which they share with you their skills, knowledge and crafts.   Colleen and Devonna have a refreshing way to get people enthused about recycling.  Read on to get a glimpse as to what they do….

“Colleen and Devona are passionate about conservation and creativity. They enthusiastically want to share this lifestyle with others, hence, the Clever Nesting website was developed in early 2009. At Clever Nesting you’ll find posts about crafting techniques, full craft tutorials, and links to other great crafting resources. There are design ideas for the home and techniques for the garden, many of which reuse and repurpose items often thrown away.  Plus, read artist interviews who also share the Clever Nesting vision…a world where people do more with less.

Off the web Clever Nesting is active in the Greater Akron, Ohio community spreading the creative and repurposing spirit by hosting local events and teaching craft classes and demonstrations.”

To see dates for demos please click on the Event Calendar on this web site.  Clever Nestings demo this Saturday  they will be doing ‘Recycling Crafts using a Gardening Theme’.  You can expect to see seed catalogue paper crafts, plastic grocery bag basket weaving, and recycled coffee bean bags seed starter pots.

For more Artists Profiles go to: http://www.oacg.blogspot.com

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Ohio Arts and Crafts members had such a great time last fall and winter interacting and demonstrating in the Buggy Barn at Lehman’s they will be back again starting next week until the end of the year.

You can go to Lehman’s Events calendar and see who is scheduled so far and the themes of the various demos.  We are inviting a wide variety of artists and crafters to share their skills and knowledge with you for demos sure to please all ages!  Expect to see woodworking, mural painting and farm animal art, hands on crafts using recycled materials, wool rug hooking, spinning and weaving, fiber arts and pottery to name a few.

Check back often or sign up to be notified when an event is entered on the calendar.  You can plan your trip to Kidron knowing what demo is scheduled that day.  Stop in the Buggy Barn and be inspired!

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Mom was born a few years before the Great Depression. Grandma, a widow, raised nine kids on a farm by herself. She didn’t have food stamps or a welfare check or earned income credit. She did have fresh food, good water and a zest for life. Real milk, fresh eggs, nuts and berries from the forest, wild foods and home grown vegetables were their fare. There was not much else, but who needed it?

I remember fried chicken for Sunday dinner at Grandma’s. It was about the only time meat was on the table but Grandma never ate it. She said she didn’t like chicken and I could never understand why. It was much later I learned the reason she wouldn’t eat it.
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Hobby Farms Photo Shoot

Lehman’s has often been ‘in the news’ over the years but last Friday was a special day for me. It was a day that I got to be in the spotlight.  Jodi Miller, a free lance photographer from the Columbus area drove up and spent the day with me on a photo shoot for Hobby Farms Home magazine. I am an equine and animal artist living in the Kidron/Dalton area. I painted the farm animal and Hitching Post murals at Lehman’s over the last couple years during store hours as part of Lehman’s arts and crafts demos in the Buggy barn. 
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