Growing Family Business Has the Right Tool for Any Job
By Maggie Caldwell
Savvy do-it-yourselfers as well at those in the trades know that it’s often less expensive and simpler to rent a piece of equipment or a tool. And they head to A Tool Shed Equipment Rentals to find the right tool for the job – the family-owned tool and equipment rental company carries a comprehensive inventory of large and small items from excavators to engine hoists, generators, sod cutters, sewer snakes and more. “Most of our customers are homeowners and contractors, but we also have a lot of crossover into agriculture,” owner Robert Pedersen says. “At harvest time, for example, we rent out most of our forklifts, 20’ trucks, and light towers.”
2015 is a big year for A Tool Shed; it marks the 70th anniversary year of the locally owned family enterprise. Pedersen’s maternal grandparents Robert and Geneva MacArdell opened it in 1945 as White Elephant Sales in Sunnyvale. It was originally an Army surplus store because World War II had just ended and there was plenty of military surplus items from mess kits to wheel barrows for sale. “But people didn’t have very much money, so they kept coming in asking just to borrow things,” says Pedersen. “Eventually my grandfather went to the junkyard and built concrete mixers using axels he took from old cars. That’s how all this really started. But it’s my dad, Larry Pedersen, who took over the business and grew it to what it is now.” And the knowledgeable, well-trained, friendly is staff is a big part of their growth and success. “It’s a family business, and our employees are part of the family,” says Pedersen. “We have many long-term employees, including those who’ve been with us for 37, 38 years.”
Currently, A Tool Shed has seven locations in Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, and San Benito counties. The newest branch recently opened in Salinas and is the first in Monterey County. “We want to keep growing in Monterey County, to follow growth in the area,” Pedersen says.
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A Tool Shed is open Monday – Saturday from 7 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. and on Sundays from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. and they can deliver seven days a week. A Tool Shed is located in Santa Cruz at 3700 Soquel Ave, corner of 17th Ave. across from Staples, Tel #: 831-477-7133. There are also locations in Watsonville, Hollister, Morgan Hill, Campbell, Santa Clara, and Salinas. For a complete list of equipment available for rental, visit their website at www.atoolshed.com
