Throw Back Thursday - The 1980's

Check in every Thursday to find out more about how our company started and what lead to it to become one of the largest family owned trailer dealerships in the Midwest!

In 1977 Jim married his partner Jackie. In 1980 they named their business Keizer Refrigeration, Inc. Jim worked on customers’ equipment while Jackie managed the accounts and administration. In the early 1980’s Jim started working for Wells Blue Bunny, now the largest family owned ice cream company in the U.S., based in Le Mars, IA. Jim’s children, Shane and Stacy, remember staying at the ice cream shop all day long while their Dad worked on Wells Blue Bunny’s Equipment.

In 1982 the Keizers became a Carrier Transicold dealer and bought a shop in Sioux City on Hwy 75. Business grew quickly and soon the company moved up the street by Martin’s Truck Stop, North Hwy 75, into a building with 1 bay, office, parts room and mobile service. By the end of the 80’s they employed 10 staff. In 1986 they bought the Sioux Falls Carrier dealership located on Benson Avenue, Sioux Falls, SD, with 2 other partners. They had 10 employees at first but grew quickly and eventually moved to a larger building on Cliff Avenue.

• Jim and Jackie at Truckers Day, Sioux City, July 1984
• Jim and Jackie became Carrier dealers in 1982