FEBRUARY 2022
COVER STORY- Luke Roy Is Just Getting Started –
CARIBOU, Maine – Luke Roy is a bit of a unicorn. At least in power equipment dealer circles – maybe unicorn isn’t the right word. But he’s definitely not your typical power equipment dealer. Though he says he’s held a wrench since he learned to walk, Roy didn’t grow up in a power equipment dealership. Instead, he got hooked on small engines in middle school and high school shop classes.
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Luke’s Small Engine Shop
CARIBOU, Maine – Luke Roy is a bit of a unicorn. At least in power equipment dealer circles – maybe unicorn isn’t the right word. But he’s definitely not your typical power equipment dealer. Though he says he’s held a wrench since he learned to walk, Roy didn’t grow up in a power equipment dealership. Instead, he got hooked on small engines in middle school and high school shop classes. “We tore down and rebuilt an entire engine in a 90-minute shop class and it ran. Throughout middle school and high school I would pick up mowers on the side of the road and bring them home and start tinkering on them,” Roy says of his start.
After he and his wife Marie purchased their home in 2014, Roy used the 25×30 three-car garage (with two bays that are insulated) to start working on equipment. He says he started with family, and then family told their friends and friends told their neighbors and in a few years, it quickly became 25 machines in a matter of two weeks. At the same time while working full-time in law enforcement, Roy did repairs on the side. The police work took its toll, and Roy went down to part-time; he picked up some hours working as a parts guy for another shop close to where he lived. After the birth of their second son in February 2018, Roy put in his two weeks notice with the local police department and told his wife he was going into business.
“She was like, ‘WHAT?!’” he remembers laughing. “I told her I think I am going to open up a small engine repair business.” Thanks to strong word-of-mouth and the community’s need to have a dependable small engine mechanic, Luke’s Small Engine Shop has been busy since the day he started. Just three years later, Roy realized it was time to take the shop to the next level.
Article by Jessica Johnson, Managing Editor, Power Equipment Trade
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