'As good as it’s ever been': Gamaches to close Taylor Rental in Gardner after 50 years

The owners of a longtime Chair City business are calling it a career.

After over 45 years of running Taylor Rental in Union Square, Pete and Madeline Gamache decided to retire and begin the process of closing the store. The couple took over the business, which is part of a chain of Taylor Rental centers started by Pete’s father, Roger Gamache, in June 1978.

“(My father and his partners) were ready to close the (Gardner) store down because it just wasn’t making any money when I came around, just having graduated from high school,” Pete explained. “But I didn’t want to go to college, so my father asked me if I wanted to give it a go. I said ‘absolutely’ and we took it over.”

Taylor Rental first opened in the early 1970s in a section of the building that is now home to Williams Restaurant before moving to its Union Square location – which was previously an Esso gas station - a few years later.

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Pete said the decision to end the business and retire has been one he and his wife considered for a few years.

“We knew this was coming but we also knew that we couldn’t afford it until we were both close to 65,” he said. “We’re still not sure if we have enough saved up but we’ll make the best of it.”

Pete said he intended to continue doing some kind of work during his retirement years.

“(Madeline) says I need to keep busy because I’m gonna drive her crazy,” he said, laughing. “Which won’t be a problem because I’ll work part-time somewhere, maybe as a handyman.”

For her part, Madeline said she was looking forward to spending retirement with her family.

“We have four grandkids doing sports and we want to see them a lot more,” she said

How Pete and Madeline Gamache built Taylor Rentals into a successful business

Madeline called the decision to close their doors “bittersweet.”

“It’s going to be sad because we started this business when we were kids, only 18 or 19 years old,” she said. “I have mixed feelings, but it’s time.”

The early years running the rental center were not easy ones for the couple, who married after they had both graduated from St. Bernard’s High School in Fitchburg in 1976 and were in the process of starting a family.

“It was terrible,” Pete admitted. “We had our kids here in cribs inside the store. In the summertime, we’d fill up those orange Coleman canoes and they’d soak in it because it was hot.”

It took the better part of a decade, Pete explained, but eventually, he and his wife, along with Tardiff, transformed the business into a thriving rental center, providing customers with equipment and services needed for various home improvement projects and special events. Over the past few decades, Taylor Rental has been the place residents have gone for excavators, power tools, industrial carpet cleaners, tents and tables, inflatable bounce houses, dunk tanks, karaoke machines, and outdoor dance floors.

“Party rentals were about a third of our income, equipment like excavators and Bobcat front-end loaders was another third, and then all of the smaller stuff like tillers and floor sanders made up the rest,” Pete explained. “Over the years, people started doing more (home projects) themselves because the equipment was now available."

Taylor Rental regularly supplied the tents for the annual Relay for Live event at Mount Wachusett Community College each June, according to Pete.

What will happen to the rental business in the area

Greg Tardiff, who has been an employee at Taylor Rental for 37 years, said although he wished the business could’ve stayed open a little longer, he is prepared to move on to the next chapter of his life.

“It’s a great job, but I’m getting ready to call it a day too,” Tardiff said, adding he enjoyed the variety of working at the rental center. “One day you’re washing dishes, the next you’re tearing apart a tractor.”

Pete said he was grateful for the support of the community over the years.

“Without them, we wouldn’t have made it,” he said, adding several customers reached out after the announcement to express concerns about the availability of rental equipment once the business closes. “But they also wish us the best because they think we’ve earned it.”

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To alleviate some concerns, Pete said he was in discussions with a former employee who was interested in continuing the party rental side of the business.

“Somebody should start a rental business in this town because right now it’s as good as it’s ever been,” he added.

Taylor Rental’s inventory will be sold over the next few months, after which the Gamaches will close their doors and sell the building.

This article originally appeared on Gardner News: Taylor Rental in Gardner closing as Pete and Madeline Gamache retire