Wichita, Kan.-based R-Quip recently acquired 35-year-old All-Quip Rental from Bob and Sandy Boys in Pittsburg, Kan. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

“We’d been looking for a second location for two or three years, but the economy was so good that [we thought] we’d buy a bunch of equipment and open another store, and we’d ruin it in Wichita so it never happened,” R-Quip owner Bob Richardson told RER Reports.

Richardson, who operates R-Quip with his three sons, has known the Boys for most of their 35 years in the rental business. The friends tried to strike up a deal a couple years ago, but things didn’t fall into place. This time, the Boys wanted to retire, and the two parties reached a deal, keeping all of All-Quip’s employees on board.

In addition, R-Quip, which is adding a lot of equipment to the Pittsburg, Kan., location, transferred two employees there, and is planning to hire a couple more, Richardson said. Scott Poor is general manager of the newly acquired branch.

“Two or three locations in different trade areas is a good thing to have in the equipment rental business,” Richardson said. “It gives you flexibility, and better utilization of equipment. If your rates get beat up real bad in the other you can kind of soften up that area and go somewhere that’s better. [All-Quip] was a good business. It's close enough, but far enough away [from Wichita], so we did it.”

Richardson founded R-Quip in Wichita, Kan., in 2002. He previously owned Wichita, Kan.-based AAA Rent-All, which grew to a seven-location, two-state rental business with 97 employees before he sold to RSC Equipment Rental in 1997.