DoD honors Danos for staff support
November 6, 2013
Archie Joseph McGuire Jr.
November 7, 2013
Big things are happening at Premier Power Equipment.
For starters – the name. The business used to be Charles Motor Service. Because of a shift in inventory, the store now boasts its new namesake.
“We just felt it was time for a chance,” business co-owner Sue Portier said. “We changed our offerings a little bit, so we decided to shake it up a little bit.
And now also – the locations.
Premier Power Equipment also has a second store in Thibodaux, which will complement the Houma store that has sat on 227 Enterprise Drive.
All-in-all, things seem to be going pretty well for the locally owned business.
“We decided to expand because we had a lot of customers in that area,” Portier said. “The demand was there, so we just decided to make the move and get another location.”
Premier Power Equipment has been around for a while – just not with its current name.
Portier said the store started in 1959 when her father-in-law Charles Portier Sr., created the business.
She and her husband Blair Portier took over the business in 1991 and have been owning and operating it for the past two-plus decades.
Portier said that Blair Portier has been in the store since he was a teenager – the store is all he’s known throughout his life.
“My husband has been here forever,” Portier said. “He started when he was really little. I think they said he’s been working here since he was 13. My husband has been working here since before high school. He definitely knew everything there was to know about the business when it came time for us to run the store.”
Walk inside either the Houma or Thibodaux location and one will see a litany of fun-looking gadgets that will catch the eye of anyone that loves the great outdoors.
“We sell and service lawn equipment and go-karts,” Portier said. “We have a wide range of brands and a lot of different things that we offer.
“But we service everything that we sell, so that’s something that people say that they like about us.”
Another thing that people like about Premier Power Equipment is the friendly environment within the store and also the family-like feel present at both the Houma and Thibodaux locations.
Portier said the family atmosphere is present because this is a family-owned business.
She and her husband run the Houma store.
The couple’s son Blair Jr. maintains the Thibodaux location.
“The first thing we do when a customer comes in is we greet them,” Portier said. “We try and be friendly at all times. I think that people value that and respect that within any place that they go to shop.”
Because of the seasonal nature of the business, Portier said that the most popular items at Premier Power Equipment vary depending on the month of the year. She said that during the outdoors months, one item always seems to emerge as more popular than others.
“We probably do the best with the lawnmowers,” she said. “It always changes. It varies depending on the weather. But I think the lawnmowers are what we get a lot of our business with – the service and the maintenance both.”
Whatever the business is doing works.
The Thibodaux store opened on May 1, 2013 – an expansion bred because of a growing customer base from the Lafourche Parish area.
It’s a new name, a new location, but still the same quality products and services for Premier Power Equipment.
Portier said those things will never change.
“We’re doing really well and we’re excited about the Thibodaux store,” she said. “But we’re always going to keep that friendliness with our customers and we’re always going to make people feel welcome here. That’s what it’s about for any locally owned business. It’s the little things like that that help us keep going.”
A wide variety of go-karts line the store front of Premier Power Equipment. The local business, which has been open since 1959, recently expanded to Thibodaux. With a new name and a new array of offerings, the stores’ owners tout that promising days are ahead.
