Seattle, Washington Local News

The end of an era in White Center; Center Tool Rental’s long goodbye

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Doug Stevens, owner of Center Tool Rental in White Center, holds a photo of his parents, Jack and Stella from whom he bought the business 24 years ago. Doug has worked there since he was 15, seven days a week for 50 years. He closed the shop 8 months ago and is still selling off tools as he prepares for his next chapter.

Photo by Patrick Robinson

After 50 years at the helm of Center Tool Rental in White Center, Doug Stevens is saying a bittersweet goodbye. The 65-year-old closed the family business back in December, and now he’s focusing on selling off the last of his inventory – a task that’s proving both challenging and nostalgic.

Doug’s roots in the rental business run deep. As a young boy, he would help his father Jack, who co-owned one of the only two rental shops in Seattle at the time. Even at just 2 or 3 years old, Doug was learning the ropes, like how to operate a forklift to change a lightbulb. “That’s the rental store business and it started with my father,” Doug reminisces.

When Doug was 15, his father seized an opportunity to purchase a struggling local shop called Delridge Rental. “My dad looked at me and said, ‘Now you’re going to start learning something,'” Doug recalls. And learn he did – over the next five decades, Doug became a master of his craft, able to repair and maintain every single tool in his vast inventory.

The business thrived under Doug’s leadership, serving both homeowners and contractors across the community. But after reaching 50 years in the industry, earning his service pin, and becoming a first-time grandfather, Doug knew it was time for a change. “I had time to think about some things because I couldn’t walk for a while” after a knee replacement, he explains. And with family living far away in Tennessee, he decided it was time to step back and enjoy his retirement.

Closing up shop hasn’t been easy, though. Doug is determined to find good homes for all his tools rather than auctioning them off. He’s been meeting with longtime customers and friends, showing them his inventory and letting them buy the pieces they need. “I’m going to try to find the people that want them,” he says. It’s a painstaking process, but an important one for Doug, who prides himself on the trusted relationships he’s built over the decades.

Those relationships are what Doug says he’ll miss the most. “It was about community and if you back the community, they back you,” he reflects. He recounts tales of going the extra mile for customers, like replacing a broken hedge trimmer at no cost when he discovered it was a worn out bearing “He thought that was the coolest, most respectful thing anybody ever did for him,” Doug remembers. “And he’s a longtime customer of mine now.”

The community has certainly backed Doug in turn. As news of his retirement spread, longtime patrons have been reaching out, hoping to acquire a piece of history from the shop. Doug is touched by the outpouring of support, though he’s not entirely sure what the future holds for the Center Tool Rental space once it’s empty.

“If somebody’s smart enough to be able to open something that needs a community behind them, there’s a good community here in White Center,” he muses. After all, it’s the community that’s sustained his business for half a century. As he prepares for his next chapter, spending time with his grandkids and traveling with his wife Nancy, Doug knows he’s leaving behind a legacy – and a lot of very good tools in good hands.

What happens if after it’s all gone he needs an unusual tool he once had?

“I’m going to have to look up the guy I sold it to”