New Leppo Rents store opens in North Perry Village
Aug. 29—A building in North Perry Village that originally housed a car dealership has been transformed into a place that specializes in compact construction equipment.
Leppo Rents opened its new store at 4485 North Ridge Road on July 5.
The business rents, sells and services items such as Bobcat excavators and loaders; JLG boom and scissor lifts; and Hydro-Mobile mast-climbing work platforms. In addition, Leppo offers replacement parts and provides training for compact construction equipment.
"Rental is the primary focus of the business," said Derek Pierce, location manager of the North Perry store.
Leppo Rents also is an authorized Bobcat dealer.
Some of the apparatuses rented most frequently at the new location are excavators, skid steers, boom and scissor lifts, and dozers.
"Our equipment is really new, and we do a good job of taking care of it," Pierce said.
In addition, Leppo leases excavator attachments and accessories such as tools for working with concrete, air compressors, generators and light towers.
Examples of items that Leppo sells, but doesn't rent, include Bobcat zero-turn mowers and Stihl chainsaws.
The new North Perry location joined a roster of other stores that the company operates in Northeast Ohio, as well as Alabama and Florida.
Based in Kent, Leppo Rents' history can be traced to 1945. That's when Roy and Stella Leppo opened Leppo Equipment in Akron as as an Oliver Farm Equipment dealer.
"With a declining need for farming equipment in the 1970s, Leppo shifted focus to construction equipment, which propelled the growth of the company," according to a historical summary on the company's website.
After being founded 77 years ago, it is still headed by members of the Leppo family. The company established its first store in Lake County after buying North Perry Village government's annex building.
Before North Perry Village took ownership of the building in June 2020, the structure had been used as a car dealership, a maintenance garage for Lake County government vehicles and a manufacturing plant.
Pierce said the building provides ample space for Leppo Rents to keep, display and service its compact construction equipment.
He said the location of the business — on North Ridge Road, or Route 20 — also is situated ideally for customers driving from throughout Northeast Ohio.
In the nearly two months since it opened in North Perry, the store has drawn a lot of customers, ranging from homeowners to building contractors to landscapers, Pierce noted.
"It's been crazy," he said.
