Another new member from Northern NJ (plus a 2nd home in Mooresville, NC). I've been a car enthusiast and home improvement guy for 45+ years and started buying tools for projects back in the late 60's. Sears Craftsman tools were all I knew back then and all I could afford. Any car specialty tools I needed were ordered out of JC Whitney catalogs.
My tool addiction got worse as I discovered things outside of Sears and when I started dealing with pro mechanics and contractors and saw what they used. Got married in 1986 and began selling tools in addition to my BMW parts business. My business evolved into designing and outfitting high end garages and the number of tool lines grew to 40+. The best way to hide a tool addiction from your spouse is to make "tool sales" your business....purchases can always be dismissed as inventory.
The 2008-2010 recession killed off the garage business and the internet has really hurt the margins in the parts business. In 2013, I stopped doing custom garages, started dumping 30 years worth of BMW parts inventory, and continued to drop product lines that had too many customer service headaches or not enough margin. My business philosophy became.......be really good with a handful of tool lines than mediocre with 50.
My core business these days is the sale and distribution of Facom hand tools, a high end line out of France (now owned by Stanley). Will probably sell my business sometime in the next 5 years and hopefully get back to wrenching on a car or two and taking care of some of those home projects that I've neglected for lack of free time.
I respect the guys who use their tools in their business or around the house. High end tools like Snap-on, Facom and Festool are nice but in the end, a tool is only as good as the person using it.
Steve D'Gerolamo
Ultimate Garage, Inc