David and Erin Horst have purchased Lebanon-based Kleinfelter’s Auction Inc, with settlement having took place last month.
A fourth-generation business at the time it was sold, Kleinfelter’s Auction Rooms was officially founded in 1927, although auctions actually began a few years earlier. Kleinfelter’s is still located near its original location.
David Horst has been a full-time antique dealer for over 20 years now, operating an antiques business out of Schaefferstown, formerly based in the co-operative vendor space, The Square Antiques but now with its own location at the intersection of Routes 419 and 897.
The Horsts own a number of local businesses – a Myerstown storage facility, Tri County Memorials, Schell Memorials, and several real estate ventures.
In an email, David Horst emphasized that they would be carrying forward the honesty and integrity and that they would be “continuing to provide the highest level of satisfaction any auction company can provide in Lebanon, Lancaster, Dauphin, and Berks County.”
The Kleinfelters will remain in-house with the Horst’s through the end of the year. Expect a slight graphical rebranding, but they are definitely keeping the name and the firm will remain family-owned and operated (just not the Kleinfelter’s family anymore). Renovations to the building will take place at the end of December.
In case you were wondering, David and Erin Horst are not direct relations of the family which owns the Horst Auction outside Ephrata.
Kleinfelter’s specializes in estate auctions. In addition to the auction house, Kleinfelter’s also manages a fleet of box trucks – one 26 ft. truck, two 24 ft. trucks, and one 17 ft. truck, used to transport estates to the Lebanon location for liquidation.
As part of the transition, Kleinfelter’s also announced that Serena Meyers will serve in a new role for the company, Chief Operating Officer.
Want to see if things have changed? The next auction at the building downtown is Thursday at 1pm, the weekly US & German guns auction.