RazarSharp's Organic Shredder, available at Just Ask Rentals
I’ve heard it said before, and I’ll say it again—Frager’s Hardware has everything you’ll ever need. However, should you find yourself in need of a carpet cleaner, ladder, popcorn machine, electric lawn mower or gas powered chain saw, but you don’t have room to store such things in your tiny row home, than you can rent those things and more at Just Ask Rentals, a division of Frager’s Hardware.
Sherry Anderson is working behind the counter when I make my way to the store from the paint department. It’s my second-to-last stop on my “I want to work at Frager’s” tour, and Anderson eagerly greets me from her post. She is just as nice as one would expect her to be, given that she is a Frager’s employee. (I mean, have you ever thought, “That guy at Frager’s was a total jerk and not helpful at all”?) When I ask her what brought her to Frager’s she is happy to share.
“I moved back to DC after living in California so I could be closer to my family,” says Anderson, who has worked at Frager’s for five years now. “I was making bath tubs in California, and while I liked what I was doing, I was ready to come home.” It wasn’t long after she made her way back East that she found herself behind the Frager’s rental counter.
“Just Ask Rental started with one [plumbing] snake,” says Jay Somers, a Frager’s employee for twenty years. “I was working in the glass department in the basement when we rented our first snake,” says Somers, “and the rental business grew from there.” The store, which is located between the main hardware store and the paint department, now employees up to seven who do everything from deliver and set up rented items to clean and test that which is rented and returned to the store.
On Capitol Hill, it is easy to understand the need for a rental store. Whether in a condo or a single family home, there simply isn’t enough space for life’s necessities and the things we need every now and again, which is why so many people—from the hill to outside of the beltway—come to Just Ask Rental for the things they need, if only temporarily. It’s also why the store has a secondary warehouse to house all of the things the store rents.
Before I head to my final destination, I ask Anderson about some of the more popular things the store rents to customers and she is quick with a few notable items. “It’s spring, so people are renting lawn equipment and party supplies,” says Anderson. “We cater to everyone from the do-it-yourselfer to small businesses and even schools.”
“Then there are the items that don’t get rented,” says Anderson, “like a pretzel warmer that has been rented two times in the five years I’ve worked here.” Also on the short list of least popular items: a cappuccino machine. Apparently people like their pretzels cold and their coffee black.
