Kitz & Pfeil Power Equipment Centers

Kitz & Pfeil was started in 1913 by Joseph H. Kitz & Charles E. Pfeil when they purchased a sporting goods store in Oshkosh, WI and began the process of converting it into a Hardware store. After they finished closing out the Indian Motorcycles and other sports paraphernalia, they started to add an eclectic selection of merchandise which included items like Victor Talking Machines and Oshkoshs largest selection of Kodak cameras, in addition to a full line of tools, appliances, furnaces and other hardware items. In 1949 Arthur and Marie Stapel and their son Carl Stapel purchased Kitz & Pfeil. Arthur Stapel ran a wholesale farm coop and Carl was in college at the time, so Marie ran the Hardware store until Carl was out of college and done with his military service. Art borrowed the money for the purchase of the store from his brother-in-law who owned a hardware store in Sturgeon Bay and often related the story of the high level of apprehension he had at driving home with the purchase price of the business, in cash, sitting next to him in the car.