Pat and Ed Cox
October, 2011

Our office had been in the same location in Redding from 1987 through 2009, 22 years. As you would expect, we had acquired numerous office items including electronic equipment, files, office furniture, etc. The thought of moving the office effectively and efficiently was a remote thought and not anticipated.

Upon our first meeting with you, you were professional, courteous and well prepared. We reviewed your proposal and accepted it gladly.

One of the things that was most appreciated by myself and the staff was your understanding of the move experience, that we still needed to run a business and needed to hit the ground running when the move was completed.

Your staff was professional and they were all extremely hard workers that wanted us to be happy with the end result.

Not only were you available to us during the move, but you also made you and your staff readily available to us after the move for miscellaneous odds and ends that needed to be tied up following completion of the move.

We sincerely could not have expected the move to go any better than it did and the thanks goes to Don Hemsted’s Moving and Storage.

I would fully recommend Don Hemsted’s Moving and Storage for any person or business requiring moving assistance.

Sincerely,

Kevin M. Roberts

“With business so dependent on the housing market, it’s been a difficult few years for full-service movers. “With the economy the way it is, people are not buying homes — they are not moving,” said Robert Wilson, who co-owns Hemsted’s Moving and Storage in Anderson. But Wilson isn’t letting the tough economy stall his plans for growth. Hemsted’s is in escrow to buy a 25,200-square-foot building at East Lake Boulevard in Redding where it will move its headquarters.

Wilson’s plans were approved by the city of Redding Board of Administrative Review earlier this month. He hopes to be in his new building by the fall. “I want to centralize my location. There is more opportunity there and it is easier for people to find, due to the location being right next to WaterWorks Park,” said Wilson, who started driving for Hemsted’s in the mid-1970s before buying the business.

The move will coincide with Wilson’s plan to turn his business into a one-stop shopping place for would-be customers, a strategy he thinks will make Hemsted’s more competitive and ultimately help his business. Wilson will tell customers how much it will cost to do the move themselves, the cost to hire his people to help with a portion of the move, or hire Hemsted’s for a full-service move. Eventually, Wilson wants to locate a Penske franchise at his East Lake Boulevard location, so do-it-yourselfers can rent moving trucks from Hemsted’s. In 2004 and 2005, when the housing market was booming, Hemsted’s Moving and Storage had 30 drivers on the road at any one time. “We were the No. 1 rated hauling agency for North American Van Lines. We are down to eight drivers,” Wilson said.

“To be honest, I think it’s going to take another couple of years,” Wilson said of an overall turnaround for Shasta County. “We have some signs of pickup in the southland (Southern California).” In the meantime, Wilson will invest more than $150,000 in the property on East Lake Boulevard by repaving the parking lot, painting the building’s trim, and re-landscaping the property. Wilson declined to say how much he is paying for the building, a portion of which is occupied by T-Shirts Unlimited.”