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Jan 19, 2024

Chesapeake forklift dealer gets a face ‘lift’ with new facility

A North Carolina forklift dealer now has a new 32,000-square-foot facility at

A North Carolina forklift dealer now has a new 32,000-square-foot facility at its sole Hampton Roads location.

Gregory Poole Lift Systems, which sells and rents Hyster-Yale forklifts and other equipment, recently completed construction on the new building in western Chesapeake near Bowers Hill. It houses new inventory, rentals and a repairs department, as well as office space for sales, parts and service support team members.

"We’re very pleased with the result — with the building we ended up with," said Hal Ingram, Gregory Poole group vice president.

Gregory Poole, which is based in Raleigh, North Carolina, has been selling forklifts in Hampton Roads since 2002, when company leaders realized they could fill a need in building supply companies, warehouses and even area ports, Ingram said. He describes forklifts as one of the "largest unknown or hidden industries in the United States." The material-moving machine operator job class, which includes forklift operators, employed more than 760,000 people in 2019, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

A third-generation family-owned business, Gregory Poole was founded in 1951 when then Caterpillar Tractor Co. established a second dealership in the Raleigh area. Since then, the company has grown to over 1,300 employees at five locations in Virginia, two in South Carolina and 26 in North Carolina.

The coronavirus pandemic has presented several challenges for the company, Ingram said. Safety changes for clients vary wildly between each business. So, Gregory Poole established a pandemic task force, implemented remote work for most of its employees and purchased protective equipment for workers.

Ingram said the new building, which was finished in October, has enough space for short-term growth in employees and vehicles. It will also be easy to add on another section to the 4-acre property, he added.

Trevor Metcalfe, 757-222-5345, [email protected]

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