Sully’s Tool & Party Rental, Akron, Ohio, had humble beginnings, starting in 1947 when Amanda Withee’s great-great-grandmother began renting her great-great-grandfather’s tools out of the garage. Over the years, the business evolved into Sully’s Tool Rental. In 1992, her parents opened Sully’s Party Rental, and since 1999, the business has been providing both aspects of rental out of the Akron location Withee’s parents built in the 1990s.
For the past eight years, Withee, CERP, chief facilitator, and her brother-in-law, Brian Molnar, director of operations, have been overseeing the day-to-day duties with the off-site oversight of Withee’s father, Richard Saunders, president.
Withee always knew the family business was her destination. “I grew up in the business, doing the dishes as a kid and working up to the counter. This always has been a passion of mine. During college, I would come home on the weekends and each summer to work here, but Dad said I had to get another job to make sure this was truly my passion and what I would want to spend the rest of my life doing. After college, I was an analyst for an insurance company. I was there exactly two years and 355 days before I came back,” says Withee, who was featured in Rental Management as one of the “12 to watch under 40” in 2019.
Molnar, on the other hand, had been a high-voltage electrician. “I spent a lot of time away from home and needed a change. I joined the business in April 2012,” he says, adding that prior to joining full time, his only rental experience came “when I was recruited when there was a catastrophe with a tent after a tornado came through the area and blew some tents down. It was quite a learning curve. Everything was totally different than what I was used to doing — and so many different variables involved,” he says.
But Molnar was a perfect fit, Withee notes. “Brian has a wealth of knowledge of fixing things. He was a natural fit on our tools side. He was soon recruited to assist with the party side, too, driving trucks and setting up tents,” she says.
As co-partners in the business, they have split their duties according to where their strengths lie. Molnar handles the operations, the crews, the maintenance, the trucks and dispatch. “I also still help with the tents,”
he says.
Withee is in charge of all the sales, bookkeeping and the counter, and she coordinates the laundry and dish room staff and quality control.
Under their tutelage, they have made a concerted effort to invest in new inventory.
“When we came on, quality was one of our initiatives to compete with the top dogs out there. The way for us to compete is by making sure our quality stays high,” Withee says.
A byproduct of that effort is the company’s depth of products it offers. In addition to the standard party and event products for weddings and corporate events, “we have a fully functioning dish and linen operation and furniture and backdrops. We can do everything except the food. We even partner with someone who offers restroom trailers. We can bring almost everything and coordinate it all,” she says.
“On the business standpoint, it is the quantity of items. For instance, we don’t have one or two skid steers; we have a large lineup in many different sizes,” Molnar says, adding that the tool side offers “everything from articulating booms to suction cups.”
Theirs is a partnership that works and was strengthened and solidified during the past year as they tried to continue pivoting to deal with the impacts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Like most other party and event rental operators, they spent March and April canceling or rescheduling events to 2021.
“But we have great relationships here in the Akron area. While people were canceling, we were also turning and reaching out to those people we have relationships with. We had the opportunity to provide tents to hospitals, grade schools, high schools and colleges. We pivoted,” Withee says.
In addition to tents for waiting rooms, drive-thru testing, classrooms and break rooms, they erected tents for a lot of backyard weddings. Both are very grateful for their long-term tent rentals.
“We still have tents up at hospitals for walkways and other places that do not require heat,” Withee says.
They did have to lay off some of their staff. “We did not see a return to our linen and dish side. A lot of people were going to disposable dishes. Even caterers were pushing disposable. We received a Paycheck Protection Program loan and have been able to bring about 85 percent back,” Withee says.
On the tool side, “we had a pretty good year,” Molnar adds. “The spring was a good weather ally. Tools moved pretty well. We saw a lot more homeowners and some contractors because they saw more work.”
It’s been a year that has taught them many lessons.
“We learned that you can’t count on anything,” Withee says. “Brian and I have been doing this together for eight years. This year has really built our communication skills. The team of him and I running this and figuring out how to go forward — trying to determine whether were we essential, were we not, and then opening up and trying to bring employees back. Luckily, we never shut down. The construction side and our hospital tenting made us essential. I think Brian and I are getting to be on the same wavelength. It took time getting here. It took a lot of conversations. COVID has forced us to have hard conversations and make decisions quickly. Navigating it all together has made us a stronger team.”
Even with all of the challenges this last year has forced them to face and overcome, neither has lost enthusiasm for the industry.
“What I really like about the industry is that every day is a new day. You never know what will be requested, which makes it fun. For me, it is knowing that a tool or piece of equipment we had was the perfect thing to get the job done, everything down to the smallest detail. We are providing what the customer wants when they want it. I also like to work off what I need to improve on. We always are working to make our operation better and making it easy for our customers,” Molnar says.
“I love the people. It is what drew me back here away from the analyst position,” Withee says. “Some of our top customers have been with us for 10-plus years. It is all relationship — whether it is with brides or our tool guys. It is all people in our community we run into outside of work, too. I just love the people we work with.”
Both hope the pandemic will be in their rearview mirror soon. “Next year will be our 75th year in business. We really hope we will be allowed to have a big social gathering,” Withee says.
But no matter what life throws at them, they will continue to be there for their clientele, providing the service and new products and equipment their customers want and have come to expect from Sully’s Tool & Party Rental.
“My dad always told me that people do business with people they know, like and trust. My grandparents and parents always have been actively involved in the community. Our community knows us. People were trying to give my grandmother money to pay her back for something my grandfather did for them, including giving them money to get them back on their feet. That is what we want to continue to instill — that we know our community, we are part of our community and we are here for our community. We want to build on that legacy of having them know us, like us and trust us with their business,” Withee says.