Tires got us rolling... Our roots are in farming. GEMPLER'S (a division of Lab Safety Supply, Inc.) was started in 1984 with the idea of helping farmers to repair tires in their own shops. Being able to save on repair bills and reduce down time in the field was popular from the start. Not long after, we became concerned over the safe handling of pesticides. Our customers were asking where they could find protective equipment for mixing and loading chemicals. With this we expanded into safety supplies like respirators, protective clothing and gloves. In time, this led us to expand into serving horticulture and grounds maintenance customers. Within a few years we were serving a quickly growing number of businesses with people working outdoors.
A new twist on protection... In 1995 the same people looking to us for protection from pesticides began requesting that we stock workwear and footwear. People wanted protection from the cold, wet and mud while working outdoors. After a number of discussions with customers we found that people were looking for commercial duty gear that many stores couldn't afford to stock. At that time we expanded into commercial grade waterproof boots, Carhartt® clothing and hard-to-find gloves in a wide range of sizes and styles you couldn't get in local stores. Since then our selection of work wear and footwear has grown to over 100 catalog pages and now includes full service embroidery.
Expansion into new fields... Over the years GEMPLER'S has developed a skill for selecting the right products and services for people working outside. In recent years we have expanded into pest management, and shop and supplies, and crop, turf, and nursery production. In these new areas our approach has been the same; sort through all the available products and hand pick the right ones to save our customers time. We now offer over 17,000 different items which are all available in our full line Master catalog and this website.