Steve Drinkwater keeps Savannah's oldest rental center barking.
Walk away from the waterfront along Bull Street in Savannah, Ga., and you think you've taken a step back in time.
The roadway slices through the largest historical district in the United States - a 2.2-square-mile area with oak-filled squares, elegant shops and the splendid Victorian homes characteristic of the Deep South. You pass the Soda Pop Shoppe, the Barber Pole (which its owners point out is a "real barber shop"), the Six Pence Pub and the majestic Independent Presbyterian Church built in 1755.
About five miles away on Highway 80 West is another piece of history of sorts, Savannah's oldest rental center: Westside Rental, established in 1971 by Billy Drinkwater.
It pales in comparison with the city's historical landmarks, but Westside Rental has weathered the storms of consolidation and competition by respecting its customers and employees and by adjusting to the times.
"It's much harder to do business today," says company president Steve Drinkwater, who bought Westside Rental from father Billy in 1990. "There are more laws, more taxes, more regulations, and you've got be more aware of the environment and your employees. You've got to operate it like a large business even though it's a small business."
Backdoor backhoes It wasn't always that way for the two-store company and its 15 employees.
Billy Drinkwater started the company in a room in a rented house in 1971 before moving to the Highway 80 West location in Garden City a year later. Back then, none of the major rental companies were in town, and only a handful of long-gone independent rental centers met Savannah's equipment needs.
Today, Hertz, Prime Equipment, United Rentals and other national giants are among the 15 rental centers in Savannah, only four of which are locally owned. But business is steady and the economy is excellent, Steve Drinkwater says, buoyed by Savannah's growing population of about 275,000. Now a rental center can thrive in an area of 25,000 people compared with about 50,000 people when Westside Rental opened in 1971, he says.
With the major players in town, Westside Rental has stuck with its business practices, paying attention to what the larger companies do but not competing directly against them.
"I can never compete with the large guys on price," says Drinkwater, 46, whose company rents everything from lawn and carpet care equipment to water pumps, generators, backhoes and, more recently, party supplies. "People come to us for the service and the familiar faces behind the counter that helped them the last time they rented from us.
"I've tried to operate our business on the biblical principles - you treat someone the way you'd want to be treated, with honesty, trust and respect."
Valued employees The company operates on a common-sense approach. Its people, as is the case with most small businesses, are arguably its most valuable asset.
A majority of Westside Rental's employees have been with the company for more than 10 years, giving each the chance to become an expert with the equipment, customers and the industry.
"The advantage to an independent store is we're more personable and we care about customer service," says 10-year employee Eddie Pevey, manager at the company's new Southside center, which opened last year.
A big part of that is the employees' knowledge of the equipment in both stores. Before working behind the counter, employees are required to spend time in the shop familiarizing themselves with the equipment. They must be able to explain in detail how to operate rental items safely and effectively and are required to watch 53 safety videos on machine operation before working with customers.
"You couldn't do it if you didn't start out in the back room," Pevey says.
Pevey is one of many valued employees. Each brings something different to the business, like general manager Jody Pritcher, who Drinkwater credits with incorporating his experience with larger businesses to attract those customers to Westside Rental.
Consolidation All but one of the 11 Savannah-area rental centers operated by national firms were startups by national companies, and Drinkwater intends not to be the second independent owner bought out.
He says those firms have little interest in his company, primarily because Westside Rental caters to different customers, but the phone still rings with inquiries about a possible acquisition, although the callers are typically brokers.
"People are thankful because we provide a service, and it still tickles me when the people leave the store saying, `Thanks for your help.'" Drinkwater says, adding he would be a fool not to consider an excellent offer. "I hope to be in rental a long time, but I can understand the desire to get out of the business. That's life."
And in life, as Forrest Gump noted while sitting on a bench in Chippewa Square on Bull Street, you never know what you're going to get.
Steve Drinkwater never saw himself as much of a partier, but his rental centers beg to differ.
Westside Rental has stocked chairs and tables for some time, but its new Southside center on Stevenson Avenue in Savannah, Ga., adopted party supplies this year. Enter the store now, and you will see popcorn makers, cotton-candy machines, elaborate candleholders, arches and a wedding cake tray imported from India to go along with the carpet cleaners and floor buffers. "People are more aware of the values of renting," says Drinkwater, adding that party supplies now account for about 8 percent of his company's rental business. He says that if potential customers call about an item his stores do not stock, he often will purchase it just so it can be rented.
One of the most popular party supplies is a huppah - a Jewish wedding arch that Drinkwater says has been a huge hit in Savannah's Jewish community.
