Power Equipment Direct Celebrates 5th Anniversary

Bolingbrook, IL, October 05, 2007 --(PR.com)-- Five years ago, Jon Hoch took a serious gamble and won a whopping $400 at the local riverboat casino.

Under most circumstances, this is hardly considered news. Hoch could have easily dumped his winnings at the bar or the blackjack table.

Instead, the Plainfield, IL-resident pocketed the proceeds and did something remarkable. The next morning, he bought a couple of web addresses and founded an e-commerce company.

In 2002, the idea was considered crazy, especially at the end of the “dot com bust.” Most e-commerce companies were filing for bankruptcy instead of IPO’s.

“The original idea was to sell a pressure washer a week in order to make a car payment,” said Hoch.

Five years later, Hoch’s gamble is more than paying off. Power Equipment Direct is one of the fastest growing private companies in the United States – ranking 566 on the 2007 Inc. 5000 list.

The online power equipment retailer sold more than $15 million dollars worth of generators, pressure washers and air compressors in 2006.

The company recently moved into a new distribution center in Bolingbrook, IL. In addition, it will be launching a new niche superstore – SnowBlowersDirect.com – later this month.

Hoch’s business is growing as fast as his family. His daughter, Sarah, was just a newborn when the company started. Today, she’s in kindergarten, and her baby brother, Noah, just started preschool.

“Five years in the Internet industry is an eternity,” said Hoch. “I can’t wait to see how the business and the family blossoms in the next five years.”

Power Equipment Direct operates four niche online superstores. The Bolingbrook, IL-based company operates AirCompressorsDirect.com, ElectricGeneratorsDirect.com, and PressureWashersDirect.com.

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