Maki Building Centers to open rental center at Gardner location: when it opens

Greater Gardner do-it-yourselfers looking to tackle some outdoors spring cleaning and landscaping will not have to travel very far to rent the necessary equipment.

Officials at Maki Building Centers have announced they will open a rental station at their Gardner location at 513 Betty Spring Rd. The center, which will officially open on May 1, will offer mini-excavators and lawncare equipment, chippers, skid steer attachments, lifts, and more.

Jeff Cossette, manager of Maki’s rental centers in Gardner and Lunenburg, said the company had been looking to expand its rental services into the area for several years. Then came the news late last year that the owners of Taylor Rental, Pete and Madeline Gamache, would be retiring and closing their Gardner store after nearly 50 years.

“We reached out to them and Greg (Tardiff), the manager over there, decided he wanted to come on board with us,” Cossette said. “So, we figured we’d take that opportunity to extend out to Gardner so that the people in that area could continue to rent locally.”

The Gamaches are in the process of selling off their inventory, and plan to permanently close their store by the end of April.

Longtime Taylor Rental employee grateful to join the Maki team

Tardiff, who worked at Taylor Rental for 37 years, said he was grateful for the opportunity to utilize his experience in the rental business for Maki.

More: 'As good as it’s ever been': Gamaches to close Taylor Rental in Gardner after 50 years

“I wasn’t quite ready to retire, and when the guys from Maki were in our store a few months ago talking about expanding rentals into Gardner, they offered me the job and I took it,” he said. “When they first brought up the idea, I was kind of excited because to be quite frank, I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to do after so many years in the same business.”

Cossette said there was a clear need for a rental service in the Greater Gardner area.

“We’ve been seeing a void between here and, say, Athol, for the past few years,” he said. “I do a lot of traveling from Lunenburg out to Ashburnham, Gardner, Orange, and Princeton, and we definitely saw a void in that whole area for rental.”

Tardiff said he was happy that his longtime customers would still be able to rent locally.

“So many customers (at Taylor Rental) were wondering where they’d have to go, thinking they would have to go to Leominster or Athol, so everybody was excited to hear that Maki would be opening a rental center in Gardner,” he said. “I have a feeling I’m going to see a lot of familiar faces.”

Situation described as a "win-win-win"

Cossette, who lives in Gardner, described the confluence of events – the Gamaches retiring, Tardiff continuing in the rental business, and customers still having a local rental center – as a “win-win-win” for everyone involved.

More: New rental business will keep the party going in Greater Gardner: here's what they offer

Tardiff will not be the only former Taylor Rental employee keeping busy after the store’s closure. Mike Griczka and Matt Francis purchased the center’s party inventory and delivery truck and will continue to rent it out under their new online banner, Party Tents and Events.

Cossette said Maki and Party Tents and Events would not operate in direct competition, however.

“We’re going to do a little bit of a referral program,” he said. “If they have people call them interested in renting equipment, they’ll send them to us, and vice versa. If someone needs a tent or party rentals, we’re going to send them over to them.”

This article originally appeared on Gardner News: Maki Building Centers to open rental business in Gardner