Ames and Sherrin Krebs, proprietors of four local stores – Franklin Kubota, Columbia Kubota, Franklin Horse Supply and Franklin Rental – aren’t just retail store owners. They have always felt a calling to meet the needs of the community.
When you walk into their stores, there’s something different and appealing, something hard to put your finger on at first. The something different is that when Ames talks about his style of ownership, it is absolutely an authentic commitment and primary principle in practice. He claims a responsibility of making a commitment to meeting needs of the larger community, calls serving the customers that already come to the store ‘his calling,’ and says that his biggest passion” is being an employer because a “good job is one of the greatest forces for good in the world today.”
Here’s a look at what you can expect from their stores:
Franklin & Columbia Kubota carries a full line of Kubota tractors, utility vehicles, and construction equipment, in addition to Scag commercial mowers, Land Pride finishing decks, Stihl two cycle equipment, and much more. They also offer service and repair on all of the equipment brands that they sell, as well as for many other brands of equipment.
Franklin Rental, which the Krebs own in partnership with Pancho Quezada, offers equipment for rent ranging from backpack blowers to mini excavators and contractor’s tools. And Franklin Horse Supply is fully stocked with everything a horse owner and rider needs, such as saddles, tack, home decor and more.
This authenticity of purpose creates an atmosphere of feeling valued as a person, and not as the number of zeros in the amount you are spending there.
About his customers he follows this line of thinking: “We are fortunate to have a large and loyal following that we work hard to satisfy every day.,” Ames said. “It’ not easy meeting the needs of thousands of customers, but that is our calling and we are dedicated to it.”
About the stores’ place in the larger community he follows this path:
“With every change we have made in our business, we have tried to link ourselves closer and closer to the wonderful citizens that call Williamson County home. We want to provide the equipment, products and services that our community needs, in the form most useful to them. Whether they need to purchase equipment, or rent it, we want to be the resource that our fellow citizens call upon. We are offering the same level of service in Maury County, with our Columbia location.”
The secret becomes obvious after a while, and it is a simple, undisguised and uncomplicated quality, but rarely enough experienced nowadays. There is nothing for sale in the store that the Krebs wouldn’t purchase and use for themselves. In fact, many of Ames’ boys’ weekends— four kids, a younger daughter and 3 boys between the age of 12 and 16– are full up with chainsaws and trees and stump excavators and skid loaders and all kinds of other various projects, like rebuilding wooden bridges on their farm home.
The Krebs are business owners who mean exactly what they say, and not only stand by that but actively use the same products they sell to you.
That this sincerity has created success for the Krebs is undeniable when you look at the history of their businesses.
Ames was able to put together enough money to buy their first store, Franklin Kubota, in 2005. The success in Franklin led to the Columbia Kubota, opening in 2008. In 2012 they opened Franklin Horse Supply– both Sherrin and Ames had been enthusiastic riders and passed the interest down to their brood. By 2013, Franklin Rental opened.
At the same time, the businesses tell some of the story of the Kregs’ life.
After moving from Brentwood to Sherrin’s parents’ Franklin farm in 2000 to raise a family, Ames began selling Kubota products. Being back on a farm, after having spent summers as a kid helping his grandfather bale hay and other work, made selling tools that farmers might put to good use like a good market to get into. The wide range of tools and heavier equipment from Kubota he saw as worth his time and dedication. The products, which he knew from his time as a general contractor in the ”90s and then first hand as high-quality, durable equipment standing up to hard use on the farms and other places where many of his customers lived.
With the demand he saw for the products, opening a store seemed like a way to connect more people with equipment they’d be interested in than he ever could as one person make sales calls.
After putting in the hard work in sales, he was able to open the Franklin Kubota store. From there, the rest is history. And a rare story of success and quick expansion that proves nearly forgotten truths– hard work pays off, and that if you are good to people, they will be good to you. Not a bad way to do business.
Franklin Kubota, Franklin Rental and Franklin Horse Supply are conveniently located in the same building at 1561 Columbia Ave, Franklin, TN 37064 and you can find Columbia Kubota at 1120 Riverside Dr, Columbia, TN 38401.
