Lehman's Recognized Among The Best Trending Online Stores for 2021

The independent analysis included a review of sales, traffic and quality of the web site. Award information is detailed on their web site and print version of the national magazine.

“We have been using high tech to sell low tech since the late 1990’s,” said Glenda Lehman Ervin, Director of Marketing and daughter of company founder Jay Leman (1929-2020). “During the pandemic we saw a tremendous increase in our product line, particularly in the gardening and food preservation categories.”

Lehman’s specializes in old-fashioned, but brand-new products for your home and garden, as well as everything you need to live without electricity. Lehman's is known all around the country as the go-to place for all the supplies one needs for independent, self-sufficient living. But you needn't be preparing for a disaster or a pandemic to discover unique and practical items that emphasize a simpler lifestyle, Ervin said.

"We cater to the serious and the curious," she said.

The serious are the homesteaders, preppers and survivalists who have relied on Lehman's for wood stoves, lanterns and other nonelectric items since Ervin's father, Jay Lehman, opened the store in 1955. The curious are those who are developing an interest in life's simpler pleasures, like gardening, cooking, making homemade gifts and playing with toys that aren't connected to the internet.

"Everybody may not want to live entirely off the grid and make everything they have from scratch," Ervin said. "But people are becoming increasingly interested in calming activities that they can do with their hands, like cooking, baking and even soap making. Those are things that we remember doing with our parents and grandparents. It keeps traditions alive and preserves the past for future generations. We carry all the supplies you need for those types of activities."

For the "serious" customers, Lehman's offers everything necessary to live without electricity for heat, food, light and water, Ervin said.

Those products include canning jars and lids, meat grinders, push mowers, "people powered" hand tools and kitchen tools like potato mashers, eggbeaters, apple peelers and noodle makers.

Lehman's, she emphasized, promotes living prepared, not scared.

Those vital items are what Jay Lehman used to call "the cake" part of his store.

"That's the solid core of the business that we were founded on," Ervin said. "The icing on the cake are the other things that can be a part of living a simpler life. That includes our pretty dishes and tablecloths, coffee mugs with inspirational sayings or the apparel, purses and fashion accessories that many of our visiting tourists might gravitate toward."

Family owned and operated since 1955, Lehman's is here to help you live a simpler life. City or country, rural or urban, we can help you build a better future, one that values personal connections, integrity and tradition.

You'll find our retail in the heart of Ohio's Amish Country at our Kidron store, where our story began. For our friends who are far away, our print catalog and website give you access to hundreds of practical goods, from planting and preserving to off-grid living. Open every day except Sunday and always open at Lehmans.com.