Bucksport resident Bob Overlock has been answering his door at all hours for 50 years now.
That’s because customers drop by and know he’ll be there at Bob’s Small Engine Repair and Sales, the business he started next to his River Road home in 1976, when he was 29.
Now one of the few surviving locally owned repair shops in the region and likely one of the longest-running business owners in town, he’s still learning something new every day and enjoys problem-solving. Times aren’t always easy for a local engine shop in Maine, especially one that’s seasonally dependent in the face of less snow and higher costs, but Overlock has kept it going.
“The town has been real good to me, my customers have. I have a lot of clientele,” Overlock said in his office on Friday, surrounded by newspaper clippings and training certificates accumulated over the decades.
The family planned a public anniversary party that Sunday to celebrate, with embroidered hats, product raffles, about 20 pounds of W.A. Bean hot dogs and a cake he guessed to be two feet long.
Fifty-plus years before, Overlock was looking for his next move after two back surgeries following jobs at a Brewer steel mill and other companies. So he took a small engine course at what’s now Eastern Maine Community College’s vocational school and set up a 24-by-24 foot repair shop next to his home.
Before long, company representatives were stopping in, suggesting he take on franchises to sell their products. Overlock added a showroom and over the years has carried snowmobiles, side-by-sides and ATVs along with chainsaws, mowers and other small home engines from various brands.
Today, the business focuses on lawn and garden equipment including Husqvarna mowers and chainsaws, BCS walk-behind tractors and Echo power equipment such as string trimmers. For the last 23 years, he’s worked alongside his son, Travis Veilleux.
On paper, Overlock retired 16 years ago, but remains busy at the shop with no plans to slow down.
“What [else] are you going to do, go and sit in the house in the rocking chair and look out the window? No,” he said.
Motors have changed since his early days rebuilding carburetors, and the widespread adoption of electronic technology and computerized equipment brought new learning curves.
As many manufacturers have sought to either encourage customers to replace products, rather than repair them, or to control bigger shares of the equipment repair market, small independent repair shops like his have become harder to find. Overlock has made a point of trying to keep products affordable.
Consumer habits are different too, though customers tell him they don’t know what they would do without his business. On the whole, people now tend to throw away broken machines and buy new ones instead of getting them repaired, Overlock said, and kids today aren’t generally interested in the kinds of skills he has.
Customers often bring in broken products purchased from area box stores for repairs; large retailers generally send products needing repairs out to contracted shops, where they could sit for months, Overlock said.
He keeps prices level with those stores and educates buyers about how to care for what they purchase, along with supplying parts and service, he said.
Overlock stopped carrying snowmobiles because it no longer snows enough for sales to keep up – which has challenged businesses and tourism across the state – and discontinued ATVs and side-by-sides as the market changed and costs rose. Even riding lawnmowers have nearly doubled in price since the pandemic, though people keep buying them.
But in season, demand is high for work on the home equipment he now specializes in; Overlock had to turn down an interview in June because he didn’t have time amid the rush of spring business. On Friday, he expected another wave to come if it rains more soon and grass starts growing faster.
It feels good to have made it for 50 years, he said, and he is thankful to locals for keeping him in business.
“It ain’t just a 9 to 5, and then you go get a steak at the restaurant,” he said. “But I tried to make everybody happy. I do.”
