Family-owned business remains after more than 50 years

Ted’s Rental

Address: 1619 Central Ave., Middletown

Hours: 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Saturday

Employees: Five full time

Phone number: 513-392-4545

What began as a part-time business run by a Middletown couple has turned into one of the most successful — and longest running — businesses downtown.

In May 1956, Thomas “Ted” Huntsbarger opened Ted’s Rental and operated the business out of his home on Curtis Street. His wife ran the business during the day, and when Huntsbarger returned from his job at Fisher Auto Body every night, he repaired the tools.

They started with two tillers and a few chain saws.

Ted’s brother Paul joined the business a few years later, and in 1968, the shop moved to its current location at 1619 Central Ave.

Today, the business has five full-time employees, including two of Ted’s nephews, and offers more than 2,000 tools for rent, said Jeff Huntsbarger, who, along with his brother, Keith, operate the business.

Ted Huntsbarger, 85, died in 2006, but up until his death, he rode a golf cart from his home on the business property to the shop. He stayed a few hours and loved swapping stories with employees and longtime customers, Jeff Huntsbarger said.

Over nearly six decades, while most businesses have improved their technology, Ted’s Rental prefers what Ted Huntsbarger called the “old fashioned way.” That means that when a customer calls, an employee will answer the phone, and if they’re put on hold, there will be no music.

He said customer service and knowledge of the tools have been the key to the success at Ted’s Rental. He said all of the tools have been used by at least one employee, and if a customer has a question, they have the answer, and it doesn’t come from an owner’s manual.

The shop carries a wide variety of rental items, including carpet and floor cleaning machines, back hoes, mowers, chainsaws, fork lifts, ladders, paint sprayers and plumbing snake machines, the No. 1 renter, Huntsbarger said.

It’s motto is “We Rental Most Anything.”

Huntsbarger said Ted’s Rental, an independent company, is a member of the Greater Cincinnati Tool Rental Association. He said there are about 50 rental companies between Middletown and Kentucky and that’s probably why the majority of their customers reside in Butler, Warren and Preble counties, he said.

He said business slowed in 2008, but over the last two years, it has increased dramatically.