Skyworks Expands to Florida with Acquisition of Southern Gulf Equipment

Skyworks, an aerial equipment rental company based in Buffalo, N.Y., last week acquired Southern Gulf Equipment, a general rental company in Fort Myers, Fla.

Michael Roth

Oct. 18, 2018

Skyworks staff at the company39s Buffalo NY headquarters — Skyworks staff at the company's Buffalo, N.Y., headquarters.

Skyworks, an aerial equipment rental company based in Buffalo, N.Y., last week acquired Southern Gulf Equipment, a general rental company in Fort Myers, Fla. It is the company’s first location in Florida. Southern Gulf is the Takeuchi dealer for the area and carries all types of general rental equipment.

Owner and CEO Jerry Reinhart told RER that Southern Gulf has 32 employees and that all will be staying with Skyworks.

Although known primarily as an aerial rental specialist, Reinhart said Skyworks has converted most of its stores to somewhat general rental during the past five years. “This our first full blown general rental store,” Reinhart said. “We are hoping to learn from this and someday all our stores will be the same.”

Skyworks, based in Buffalo, N.Y., is No. 38 on the RER 100. Skyworks also has branches in Albany, Elmira, Rochester and Syracuse, N.Y.; Washington, N.J.; Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pa.; Baltimore, Md.; Cincinnati, Columbus and Toledo, Ohio; Nashville and Knoxville, Tenn.; and Manassas, Va.

About the Author

Michael Roth

Editor

Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.