82-year-old Lenny Staller has been making custom canes for decades
By Tim Elliott
JANESVILLE, Wis. (WMTV) – A small business owner in Janesville is still perfecting his craft even after more than six decades in the trades. Lenny Staller is the owner, operator, and sole employee at Lenny’s Canes on Highway 14. The 82-year-old began woodworking in high school.
“I started working with my dad in 1960 in the cabinet shop that he had on the farm,” said Staller.
Staller spent most of his life working in cabinetry. About 20 years ago, he decided to open his own business making canes, walking sticks, and wooden toys.
Lenny gets to work on his latest creation (Tim Elliott)
“80% of my business is people who have had surgery or a balance problem,” said Staller.
He says most of his clients are in the 70′s and 80′s who need a little help getting around.
“That’s the most enjoyable part is helping people,” he said. “People come back and say ‘Lenny I’m so proud of you because of what you’ve done, (you’ve) made my life so much easier.”
Staller has a showroom where he has roughly 500 custom made canes ready to purchase. Attached to the showroom is the woodworking shop where Lenny can spend as much, or as little, time as he wants.
“Just enough to keep me busy,” he said. “I don’t want to work 20 hours a week or 30 hours a week or whatever,”
Staller welcomes walk-in customers but also takes online orders and ships all over the world.
“I ship my products to California, Hawaii, Virgin Islands, one to Germany,” he said.
A look inside Lenny’s woodworking shop (Tim Elliott)
A custom-made cane can take up to a week to make and ship. He’s always willing to listen to the customer to make sure all their needs are met.
“All the canes that I make are not just from my own ideas, but from other people. And it makes me proud to make people satisfied with my work,” Staller said.
Staller believes a cane can be an extension of a person’s personality. He always tries to capture that personality in his work. He thinks word-of-mouth is also the best advertising.
“When they get a good cane, it’s a statement of what they like, and people love to hear people say ‘where did you get that cane?’ well they got it from Lenny’s Canes!”
He may be 82-years-old but Staller has no plans of slowing down. In fact, he hopes to stick around for years to come.
“It makes me proud to make a cane for somebody and they totally like it and I know that they enjoy it because I made it,” said Staller.
Lenny’s Canes is located at 4815 W. Highway 14 in Janesville.
A look outside Lenny’s Canes on Highway 14 in Janesville (Tim Elliott)