PLANT CITY, Fla. - Prime Equipment recently opened a 5,000-square-foot rental department showroom here inside home building supply center, Scotty's Home Building Supply.

Prime plans to soon open five more similar departments, called Prime Equipment Rental Outposts, which will serve as full-line rental houses, carrying equipment ranging from aerial lifts to sewer rooters to handheld tools, in Scotty's locations in the Tampa and Orlando, Fla., areas. The stores will do some maintenance but no repairs.

"The local market will dictate what we put in these stores," says Tom Tysl, Prime regional manager. "We also have the luxury of the backing of Prime Equipment. If a piece of equipment isn't at the Rental Outpost, it can be ordered from another nearby Prime location."

Depending on the success of the joint venture on both sides, Prime will consider expanding into more of Scotty's 96 full-line locations and 60 hardware stores in the South, including Georgia and Alabama.

"We are opening these stores in smaller rural markets, bedroom communities where we might not necessarily open a Prime full-service store," Tysl says.

No. 4 on the RER 100, Prime has 183 locations, including the new store in Plant City, in 23 states and Mexico, Canada and Puerto Rico.