GUILDERLAND — The owners of Robinson’s Ace Hardware have opened a new equipment rental shop right next to their original store on Western Avenue near Witte Road.

“We had been thinking of doing a rental store for some time, but we didn’t have the space for it inside of the hardware store space,” said William Swartz, who owns the business with Judd Robinson.

Swartz said they had always felt there was a gap in service in the area because of a lack of rental shops.

When the Singers — who owned Singers Jewelers in a building next to the hardware store, at 1890 Western Ave. — retired, the pair decided to buy the building, renovate it, and start their rental business.

“We visited a few other rental shops to see how they were doing things and we consulted with people from Ace for guidance,” said Swartz. “We got recommendations for which equipment would be most popular in our geographical area.”

Swartz said the shop, Robinson’s Ace Hardware Rental Store, carries lawn and garden equipment, like leaf vacuums and rototillers, as well as things like plumbing snakes, carpet dryers, tile saws, and paint sprayers.

“It is a lot of things that people don’t necessarily want to own because they only use them one or two times a year,” said Swartz.

He said the shop basically stocks the top 100 most commonly used items, but hopes to get into bigger equipment rental in 2016.

Since its opening on Sept. 20, he said, the shop typically rents one to two pieces of equipment per day.