Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 2/24/2022
EAST LONGMEADOW – After 52 years of providing lawn equipment, chainsaws, party décor and tents, Taylor Rental, 200 Shaker Rd., will close its doors on March 1.
Pierre Chapdelaine and his wife, Cory Chapdelaine, do not want to close their rental business, but the staffing shortage has made staying open impossible. Hiring help has always been an issue for the rental company, Cory said, adding, “We lost qualified help, five this year.”
Pierre explained that the business is labor intensive. Every piece of equipment rented needs to be demonstrated and taught to the customers. In the party division, tents are delivered, set up and broken down by employees. A small tent can be set up by two people, but larger tents – up to 15 feet by 120 feet – take three to five people to hoist.
Cutting hours or days of operation wasn’t an option because of their agreement as a franchise. Instead, the company has turned away customers, even as people get back to having parties as the severity of the pandemic wanes, and demand grows.
The business’s employees – two full-time and two part-time – will be let go. That is one of the hardest parts for the Chapdelaines. “It’s heartbreaking,” said Pierre. The couple has become friends with many employees, despite them moving on to other jobs. They’ve even been invited to the weddings of some former employees.
Taylor Rental has provided jobs to many local high school and college students over the years. “We feel like the community is losing something,” Cory said. Pierre added that they have always donated tents, propane and other supplies and equipment to town events and those at the East Longmeadow High School. Now those organizers will have to go elsewhere.
Taylor Rental at 200 Shaker Rd., opened in 1970, when Joseph Chapdelaine and Sons spun the franchise off into a subdivision business, alongside Kitchens By Chapdelaine and the original construction company. In 1999, Pierre and Cory bought out the other family members to become a separate business.
“I was 15 when I started working here,” Pierre said. “I’ve got 40 years here.”
When the Taylor Rental location first opened, it did not rent party décor and equipment. “When we first opened it was work equipment, bicycles, baby furniture and camping gear – the couple still has a 1970s Coleman camping grill. Now, the business is about half equipment and half party décor, and tents, which picked up in popularity during the 1980s. It also has a full commercial laundry.
Cory has been the business’s customer service, accountant and bookkeeper for the past 23 years. Pierre has worked at the front counter, done service and repairs, equipment demonstration and delivery, set-up and tear-down on tents. He has worked six days a week for his entire career at Taylor Rental.
“We’ve been talking about an exit plan for about five years,” Cory said. Pierre nodded, “[COVID-19] kind of put a nail in the coffin.”
During the shutdown in spring 2020, Taylor Rental was declared an essential business because they carry propane, tents and other gear that the state deemed necessary. Even though they were open, the party division “took a hit,” Pierre said, because people were not allowed to gather in large groups. While Pierre said the tents that businesses rented to allow for outside seating and dining helped, it was not enough to offset the loss.
The business is working with Capital Recovery Group of Enfield to auction off the inventory in April, Pierre said. The next closest Taylor Rental franchise is in Enfield. There are also locations in Westfield, Hadley and South Hadley.
The Chapdelaines will not be going very far for the next phase of their professional life. Pierre has been repairing and training on the equipment he rented for years. “I have just about every certification out there,” he said, adding that he can fix anything “from a backpack blower to a Bobcat.” He specializes in air-powered paint sprayers and said there are few people in the area who work on them.
Considering this, Pierre and Cory said it made sense to keep working in that field. So, the Taylor Rental storefront will become The Repair Center. The rest of the building, which the couple owns, will be leased out to other businesses. Pierre will still be offering repair services, even while the shop is closed during the transition.
Pierre and Cory will be the only employees of the Repair Center, at least in the beginning. “If the business grows and we have to add staff,” Pierre said with a shrug.
“We want to thank the community for their business,” Cory said. Pierre said the couple was “battling with [the closure], emotionally.” He grew up in East Longmeadow and has been a life-long resident. He sees himself and Taylor Rental as a part of the town’s fabric. He acknowledged that the couple will still be a part of East Longmeadow, “just in a different way.”