By LORI SELLSTROM
Daily News Staff Writer/Photographer

BIG SPRINGS — Her last name is King, but she’s really a queen. ...The “Mower Queen,” that is. At least that’s what some of her customers have been known to call her. Marjorie King has been selling push lawn mowers for four years now, proving that a small, home-based Internet business can work and that sometimes the old ways are still what some people prefer. King recently moved to Mount Shasta Vista east of Big Springs from the Bay Area city of Fairfield, taking their Reel Mowers, Etc. business with them. “I love it here,” Marjorie King said, her enthusiasm evident in her voice. “We’ve got seven acres and there’s no one around. I feel calmer each and every day I’m here.” The Kings moved to the Big Springs area mainly to get away from the city’s air pollution, which Marjorie is deathly allergic to. In fact, it was her allergic reaction to petrol fuel pollution that first inspired her to sell push lawn mowers in the first place. Marjorie said she began suffering from severe migraine headaches and body rashes on a daily basis while working in traffic safety with the Fairfield Police Department in 1993. Her condition became so debilitating that she was forced to quit her job and spent most of her days in bed with the lights off and the window blinds shut. As her condition improved somewhat because of a successful air filter system in her home, Marjorie began looking for an alternative career that could help her financially so that she could move out of the city and would also allow her to fight air pollution at the same time. The emergence of the Internet became the first piece of this puzzle to fall into place. But it wasn’t until Marjorie attended a gas mower trade-in event conducted by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District that she came up with the idea of selling push lawn mowers over the Internet. “They had this trade-in with all kinds of electric mowers being offered for gas mowers, but they weren’t even considering push mowers,” said Marjorie, who still wears dark glasses wherever she goes to help prevent the onset of migraines. “I’ve used push mowers all my life and I’ve always loved them.” According to Marjorie, gas-powered lawn mowers are some of the worst petrol polluters around. “They’re major polluters,” she said, adamantly. “They pollute as much as 40 cars in one hour. …I’ve always had to go indoors when my neighbor mows the lawn.” Marjorie started researching push mowers to find out what kind of products were available on the market and decided that by using the Internet, she had a viable business possibility. “I found out there were some real good possibilities that could give me a successful business to get me out of Fairfield and fight pollution at the same time,” she said. It took her a year to form Reel Mowers, Etc. All the while, nearly everyone she knew told her she was crazy, Marjorie said. However, that only solidified her resolve. “Everyone was telling me I was nuts,” she said. “But the more they told me I was nuts, the more I thought, ‘yeah, I’m really onto something.’” She designed her own Web site and became an Internet dealer with 25 different mowers from three different companies. Each mower she sells was tested and approved by Marjorie. “I got a list of all the mowers in the United States,” she said. “Then I purchased one of each push mower model I was interested in selling so I could try them out and figure out how to use them. I still keep a demonstration set here of all the models and use them regularly so that I can help our customers when they have questions.” Almost from its onset, Marjorie’s new business took off. After three years, orders had tripled and she received word from one of her suppliers that she was getting too big for them to handle her shipping. Her company was even featured as a successful Internet business on ABC News last year, which was aired nationwide. “I was on the phone with customers all day long, every day handling orders,” Marjorie said. “The big turning point came last summer when Agri-Fab called and said they didn’t have the staff to deal with the load I was putting on them and that we needed to get a warehouse. How was I going to get a warehouse when I couldn’t even get off the phone?” Marjorie knew her company was making enough money to allow them to move out of the area, however she was too busy running the company and didn’t have much time for anything else. Then the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 happened and the phones stopped ringing. “We thought, ‘OK, it must be time to move,’” Marjorie said. “I found everything I needed and more up here and so I made the move. ...Unfortunately, a lot of our company went down the tubes in the weeks that followed Sept. 11. But I survived and am selling a lot better now.” According to Marjorie, push mowers have come a long way in recent years, with better engineering, faster spinning motion, sealed bearings and more. In addition to not needing fuel, she said push mowers are easier to use because they don't have to be pull-started and they are generally smaller and take up less space for storage. Marjorie doesn't even sell a catch basket to go along with the mowers because push mowers cut the grass in a scissor-like fashion, with the grass clippings spraying out evenly on the mowed grass instead of in clumps like gas mowers produce. You can hardly even see them, she said. “Leaving the clippings on the grass is actually better for the grass because they work as a mulch and help to produce a much healthier lawn,” she added. Most of the mowers Marjorie sells can also be sharpened at home with a self-sharpening kit that she also sells. This involves simply brushing a gritty substance on the blade edges and then cranking the blades backwards a few spins. If push mowers are taken care of properly and not left exposed to the elements, Marjorie said they only need to be sharpened once every few years, depending on the thickness of the lawns being cut. Although most of the mowers King sells can be found in one degree or another in some retail stores — sometimes at cheaper prices — King said people often prefer dealing with Reel Mowers, Etc. because they have a larger selection and good customer service. “I have an edge over  competitors because I use the mowers and spend time working with my customers to find out which one is right for them,” she said. “A lot of our customers are thrilled to find Reel Mowers, Etc.” 

For more information on Reel Mowers, Etc. go to www.reelmowersetc.com