LAPLACE — Soon, you won’t even know Ladner’s Lawn Mower Repair was there.

Owner James Ladner said he stopped accepting new business Sept. 30 and plans to have the whole location torn down and cleaned by the end of the year.

Located at 799 W. 5th St. in LaPlace, the small engine repair location has been a mainstay for River Region residents needing repair help with their lawn mowers, weed eaters or other utility items.

Lined with rows of lawn mowers along a fenced-in property, the shop has cultivated a frenzied look for the past 27 years.

Ladner, who married the former Mona Loisel of Destrehan last month, said the couple has designs on the retired life.

“We bought us a camp in Bay St. Louis, Miss., and we’re going to be moving there and retiring right on the water,” Ladner, 66, said. “We’re going to enjoy the rest of our years right at this camp.”

Ladner first opened his distinctive shop on weekends only during the tail end of his 22-year career with Brown and Root Construction.

“I had a friend of mine who I worked with at Brown and Root who used to race go carts, and he got me into the small engine stuff,” Ladner said. “He taught me everything I knew, just about. After I started my own business, I learned more on my own.”

A neighbor who retired from grain elevator work convinced Ladner to open during the week about four years after he opened, and customer demand has kept the business going ever since.

The repair shop occupies a lot, 90 feet by 340 feet, sitting on land owned by the family of Ladner’s first wife, Suzanne Keating.

It was Keating’s father who let Ladner build his shop nearly 30 years ago, Ladner said.

“I started out small, and it grew into a kind of business I didn’t expect,” Ladner said. “The shop belongs to me. The land belongs to my ex-in laws. They want me to tear the building down, bust up the concrete and have everything cleared off by Dec. 31.”