We always get this question. How Long Has Gunter Been Headquartered In Waldo? We’ve been based in Waldo for over fifty years! Reggie Gunter and his wife, Betty, operated their humble business from their home in a classic and central Kansas City neighborhood called Armour Hills.
In those early days, Betty took the calls while Reggie worked out in the field. Betty often thinks back to the times when they didn’t even have enough money to purchase a desk, and she spent all day answering the phones from her workspace on the living room floor. Reggie started a filing system where he would keep track of when each client’s one-year treatment was due and sent out a postcard to remind them to call for service. We have now used this system for nearly 60 years!
The original workshop was the 2nd stall of Reggie Gunter’s detached garage. He had a contractor bump out the side wall of the garage in order to custom fit the area to mix and store his materials. Eventually, the business grew too large for the garage, so we moved about 6 blocks South to 216 W 75 St. – a storefront in Waldo that we rented from Dr. Turley, a local optometrist.
Moving to our first leased space was a huge step! It was about 1,200 square feet. We devoted the front half to offices and the back half to storing our chemicals and supplies. This seemed like such a big step at the time because we were now working in an official office instead of a house.
In 1980, we had outgrown our office on 75 St. and had to start searching for new real estate to purchase. We landed on two different properties: one building is our two-story office building at 220 West 72nd Street in Waldo and the other building was the former shop of Land-Sharp Chevrolet/Pappas Chevrolet – now our fleet garages.
Although we’ve changed locations and made basic clerical tweaks, one thing that’s stayed constant is our passion for helping the residents of Missouri with their pest problems. We’re very proud of our history and look forward to what lies ahead!
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