H&K Equipment, a full-service material handling and industrial floor cleaning equipment distributor, announced today the opening of its newly renovated facility in Beverly, West Virginia. The location, an 8,000 square-foot industrial building, is a significant upgrade from the company’s formerly leased garage in nearby Elkins.
Located on Kea Lane off Seneca Trail in central Randolph County, the existing facility was gutted and expanded before H&K Equipment moved in. Ashley Wamsley, the administrator for H&K Equipment’s West Virginia arm, said the move is the beginning of an aggressive wave of expansion in the area.
“We started with a much smaller shop, but within a year we knew we needed more space,” Wamsley said. “The speed with which we have been able to grow in West Virginia has just been amazing.”
The building, which H&K Equipment purchased in May of 2022, has been fully renovated and includes new shop and warehouse spaces, additional office space, new floors and concrete, a new roof, and an overhaul of the parking area and storage yard. Wamsley noted that additional shop space will be installed in the months ahead.
“Sometimes the media tends to overlook West Virginia as a place for economic growth,” Wamsley said. “But H&K Equipment understands that there is a lot of value we can deliver to a lot of customers here. People are realizing that West Virginia is a good place to come and do business.”
H&K Equipment provides material handling equipment in sizes ranging from pallet jacks to forklifts with lift capacities in excess of 100,000 pounds. In addition to sales and rentals, H&K Equipment provides onsite repair and service for a spectrum of mobile machinery, including agricultural and mining equipment.
George Koch, president of the Pittsburgh-based company, noted that service opportunities are what first attracted H&K Equipment to the state, “A huge portion of our business is built on service,” Koch said. “And what makes us different is we can work on equipment that other companies can’t even touch. There is a large population of specialized machines operating in West Virginia. It’s a perfect fit for what we do.”
Koch added that H&K Equipment has more long-term plans for the region. “Once everyone is settled in the Beverly building, our next goal is to look for other opportunities in the state. We recently opened a sales office in Huntington. We are considering opening another facility to expand our coverage in West Virginia’s southwest.”
Wamsley said that she is also looking toward the future. “On the one hand, we’re the new kid in town, but I know this community and the customers we work with. Most of our employees are from here, too. This has been an opportunity to bring us together and build something special for this part of the state.”
H&K Equipment is the flagship company of the H&K Equipment Group, a network of interrelated companies held under common ownership. The company operates from locations in five states including West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, and New Hampshire. The companies in the group maintain sales and service coverage for the entire mid-Atlantic and Northeast. H&K Equipment’s first West Virginia facility was opened in April 2020.
