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During the winter of 1945, I was discharged from the Army Air Corps. I then attended the Spartan School of Aeronautics during the winter and for the next several summers I mowed lawns and did landscaping. In 1948, I was appointed a Toro Dealer. I had to drive my pick-up truck to Philadelphia to get four or five mowers which was all I could afford at one time. As my business grew, my wife, Genny, would go to Philadelphia every Friday for a load of Toro Lawn Mowers and soon I had to purchase a large truck to haul at least forty mowers. I built the business on the concept of giving the customer the best service possible which is still the philosophy we use to run the business today. From 1948 to 1956, I operated the business out of my father’s garage. In 1955, I purchased four acres at Nazareth Pike and Macada Road and during the winter I physically built a 44’ x 48’ showroom which I opened in 1956, as Donald Leiser Lawn and Garden Equipment. In 1959, I read an article about the rental business.
On the four acres I purchased was a house (now Stefano’s) and during the winter of 1959, I remodeled the house to make a small rental store. In the spring of 1960, I opened Bethlehem Rental Service. In 1969, I purchased a property in Palmer Township and I built a 60’ x 100’ building which I opened in 1970. At this time I combined the rental and lawn and garden business and changed the name to Leiser’s Rental and Sales. In 1970, I purchased the property on Nazareth Pike where our present Bethlehem Store is located. During that winter, I built a 80’ x 120’ building which opened March 21, 1971.
Trying to expand the business, I purchased property in Macungie, built an 80’ x 140’ building and opened the new store in the spring of 1975. My goal throughout the following years was to constantly expand the rental inventory. In 1979, we continued with our expansion by purchasing three acres behind our present Bethlehem store and opening Leiser's RV Sales & Service. In 1984, I purchased a farm in Forks Township and during the winter I laid out a plan for our son, Robert, to remodel the farm house into a temporary retail store to be used until I finished building the existing retail and sales building two years later. In 1986, I turned the RV Business over to my son, Michael. In 1994, I turned the Forks Store over to my son, Robert. The Bethlehem Store is being run by our daughters, Linda and Sandy, and a very competent staff of employees.
Leiser’s owes a debt to the people of the Lehigh Valley because without their patronage we would not exist today.
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