Route 9 West: Optimistic But Cautious
Ahearn Equipment Inc., 460 Main St., Spencer
And that "cautiously" plucky spirit is pretty remarkable, considering that his business - the family-owned Ahearn Equipment in Spencer - is tied very closely to the housing market, which is definitely in a slowdown.
Ahearn Equipment was founded by Tim and Donna Ahearn 30 years ago. While Ahearn Equipment got its start catering to the region's agricultural sector, that business just "doesn't exist anymore," according to Josh. Today, the business - run out of its recently expanded Route 9 location - is mostly direct to consumer, or the average guy (and increasingly average gal) looking for a small tractor to mow the backyard.
For that reason, the store's digs are surprisingly bright and shiny for a heavy equipment dealer. Its selling space is more like a high-end car dealership than a dingy industrial warehouse.
The remaining part of the company's business, about 40 percent, is commercial - selling to towns, colleges, schools, private contractors and landscapers.
Not surprisingly, Ahearn Equipment's commercial side of the house has seen a decline because of the slowdown in the housing market.
Bucking The Trend
Most of Ahearn Equipment's customers in the housing sector are small single-family home builders who employ at the most four or five people. It's those builders, Josh said, that are being most affected by the housing slump.
"We grew last year, which was contradictory to the trend in our industry, which has been way down overall," he said.
But that growth - only 5 percent - is a significant decline from the 10 to 15 percent annual revenue increases the company had seen for the last five years.
"I think people are much more tentative and conservative with their money than in past years," he said, adding that the products that Ahearn Equipment sells aren't necessity items like a loaf of bread. As a result, people can put off buying a new tractor in favor of milking the old lawnmower for all its worth.
The economic slowdown has "affected our entire product line," according to Josh. But Ahearn Equipment is still projecting a revenue increase for 2008. To get there, the company is planning to do more aggressive marketing. Ahearn Equipment, he said, already does a good deal of radio advertising, but he said the company plans to do even more and expand its radius out to the state's capital.
"We're realizing there's a pretty large untapped market" out towards Boston, he said.
So, at the end of the day, Josh can't helped but be affected by the news reports of economic doom and gloom. But he keeps a positive outlook.
"We still look at it as an opportunity to grow and to gain market share," he said.
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