Over this past weekend, we drove by LouX and it brought back some great memories and the experience that came with partnering in this business.
We took a leap of faith, partnering 50/50 with a hardworking husband and wife team in a struggling tool and equipment rental business. At the time, they needed an infusion of capital and they were in a position of either needing a partner or an acquisition. They had both on the table and they ended up picking us.
We believed in their knowledge, dedication, hard work and excellent customer service. We threw our experience, technology, capital, and expansive rental inventory into the mix. This venture was not only a chance to revive the business, but it also promised us access to a new rental market, which ended up working out really well.
As soon as we became partners, we found out that a Home Depot Rental Store was about to open, just down the road from us, which was a big concern. The irony ended up being that Home Depot's arrival inadvertently boosted our business by making home improvement items more accessible. This was only possible because of our community roots, excellent customer service and the bonds we'd nurtured with our customers and to the loyalty they showed us in return. It was a crash course in the power and importance of excellent customer service and long-lasting customer relationships.
We leveraged a lot of the knowledge that we had gained in building other community-based companies like Cody Party Rentals, Ruckify and Bunking, which is all about community.
Driving past LouX, now the son's legacy, felt bittersweet. We had ending up selling our shares as part of a roll up of a much larger sale. Fortunately the original founders were able to buy our shares back and ended up owning 100% of the business which they had founded.
It feels great that we helped resuscitate a small business, watched it flourish, and saw it thrive which remains is a memorable chapter in our lives.
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