Chad Stanley has been running a lawn service since he was a teenager. Thirty-plus years later, he’s doing something nobody else in Southeast Texas is doing right now.

In late 2025, Chad opened Stanley’s Outdoor Equipment in Groves, Texas, stepping in to fill the void left when the area’s oldest and largest outdoor equipment dealer closed after more than a century in business. The shop offers small engine repair, parts, and sales for lawn equipment. And it’s already moving.

“The lawnmower shop that I’ve always been going to for the past 20 years decided they were going to retire and close down,” Stanley said. “There’s nobody else in the area that does a lawnmower shop. I’ve been working on stuff for 30 years. I said, ‘I’m going to open me one.”

Stanley didn’t stumble into this. He holds a business management and accounting degree from McNeese State University. He spent years as an internal auditor at a bank. Then he went back outside, built Chad’s Lawn Service into a steady operation, and worked part-time at that same repair shop he would eventually replace.

When the opportunity came, he moved fast. He purchased the retiring shop’s phone number to capture its existing customer base. He reached out directly to cities, schools, and local lawn service companies to lock in accounts. In its first month, Stanley’s Outdoor Equipment was already generating revenue.

But growing a repair shop is different from running a lawn route. Inventory is constant. A customer walks in needing a specific part and if it’s not on the shelf, there’s a real chance they walk out the door and don’t come back.

“You have thousands of parts, but then the guy comes in and needs this one, and you don’t have it,” Stanley said. “So you have to order it. And then the next guy comes in looking for the same one, and you’re like, ‘Well, that’s a popular part.’ If you don’t have the inventory, you don’t just lose one sale. You potentially lose long-term customers.”

Stocking a shop takes capital that a lawn service typically doesn’t require. Stanley was referred to work with the Lending Team at Communities Unlimited (CU) by Mark Speirs at the Lamar University Small Business Development Center (SBDC) in nearby Beaumont. CU Loan Officer Alex Cordero worked alongside Stanley, and the loan, which closed in April 2026, was made possible through CU’s partnership with the T.L.L. Temple Foundation in East Texas.

Stanley was direct about what the experience meant after running into walls elsewhere.

Stanley plans to use the capital to build out his parts inventory and bring in equipment units to sell. His longer-term plan is straightforward. Let Stanley’s Outdoor Equipment grow until it can carry the weight on its own. When that happens, he intends to bring on a mechanic and a front desk employee, and gradually step back from lawn mowing to focus on the shop.

“I’m excited because I think this helps move me to the next level, maybe not a huge leap, but another step forward,” Stanley said.