Family-run Waipahu Lawn Equipment and Bowling Supply racks up success

It’s not often you see lawn mowers sold under the same roof as bowling balls. But for Terrence ­Fernandez, it’s right up his alley.

He is a jack of all trades with a knack for juggling an improbable combination of services, thanks to his wide range of expertise — and family ties.

Fernandez actually ran his own towing business with his ­father when he took over Waipahu Lawn Equipment in 2008, he said. Before that, he managed an auto/tire repair shop, and was an assistant hotel manager, during which time he developed the customer service protocols that are vital to the company’s success; and he’s been bowling since he was 4.

His company is now officially known as Waipahu Lawn Equipment Sales and Service Inc.; WLE Bowling Supply & Pro Shop is a division of it. His business name covers an even broader area, as he’s added tire service for trucks and motorcycles, and hand-sewn custom-­designed uniforms.

So how the heck did he get into lawn equipment? Fernandez and his father hung out at Waipahu Lawn while waiting for calls to come in for their business, T’s Towing service, sort of using the store as a dispatch center. His father was a longtime friend of George Takaesu, the lawn store’s original owner, who founded the store with his wife, Juanita, in 1994. While waiting around the store, Fernandez would help answer phone calls and assist Takaesu with repairs.

When Takaesu decided to retire, Fernandez bought the business, not knowing anything about lawn products except what Takaesu taught him during a six-month transition. He rounded out his education with factory trainings and service schools, and took online classes.

Fernandez gave his sister, Lani Gasper, his towing business to take over so he could concentrate on the lawn store. Gasper also owned a bowling pro shop, and moved it into his space around 2011, while also running the towing business.

“Technically there were three businesses being run at the Leo­leo Street location,” he said.

The multiple-enterprise model continues to this day.

After a while, Gasper “found it too hard to run two businesses, so I bought her bowling shop,” Fernandez said. He hired his sister’s partner, Keith Odette, a Professional Bowlers Association and state bowling champion, to remain as a full-time ball driller. Odette is also a representative of Storm Products Inc., a leading bowling manufacturer, and the heart and soul of the shop, Fernandez said.

Since the day the original owners opened Waipahu Lawn, the company has prided itself on being family-operated and providing personalized service and quality merchandise, he said. The store carries brands not normally found at big-box stores, commercial-grade products used by landscape professionals, government agencies and private contractors. Even merchandise geared toward homeowners is considered light-duty commercial grade.

His staff provides tutorials on the equipment purchased, and “the customer will not leave the store unless he can run the machine” and knows how to maintain it.

“The average ticket price will be $300/$400, which is a lot of money. … We don’t have anything that’s cheap; the things we carry are built to last, and we’re able to repair them,” he said. The company carries the necessary parts and is able to service the products’ warranties, so customers get their money’s worth.

“Good work is never cheap, and cheap work is never good,” says the company’s website.

“It applies to everything,” he said.

Fernandez’s eldest son, Cody, 23, is in charge of the lawn company’s repair service department, and his fiancee, Tracline Sueyoshi Botelho, oversees purchasing and inventory. ­Fernandez’s younger son, Chase, is in charge of the equipment showroom and sales. They are among 12 full-time employees, including Fernandez. Even his ­father-in-law, Richard Miyasato, a retired ironworker, has helped repair equipment since the beginning.

These days, Fernandez works mostly from home, sewing custom-designed jerseys for bowling teams and other groups. He started designing, printing and sewing the uniforms in 2019, learning from a local shop owner and by watching YouTube. In 2020, he started selling items from 24/7 Apparel, which his cousin on Maui owns, and uses the logo to brand his custom uniforms.

Adding yet another branch to his company doesn’t seem to faze this entrepreneur. “Now that I’m no longer a single parent, and the boys are grown now, I try to keep myself busy.”

While he no longer coaches junior bowlers from Leilehua High School, he is the team captain for two bowling league teams at Leeward Bowl.

The inspiration behind this family’s enterprise has been his late wife, Richelle “Shelly” Fernandez, who was president of the company until her death in 2015. After she died, he left it up to his two boys, ages 12 and 17 at the time, to decide if they wanted to keep the operation going.

There were determined to keep it open in her memory.

“Growing up, it was always my brother’s and my goal to take over the company to carry on the legacy,” said Chase Fernandez, almost 19. “I always used to hang around here as a kid. They’re all really good people around here, they like to laugh and joke, have fun.”

His mother was always a huge sports fan and frequently held fundraisers to support youth athletes in the sports in which her sons were involved.

“Everybody who knew her, they loved her. She was very supportive, open to everybody. It just made me want to be like her. And she was always a very hard worker,” Chase said.

The reason they all work hard — “A lot of it is to honor her.”

“We wanted to make her proud. It was rough at first to get everybody back into the groove of working,” said Cody Fernandez, referring to the time after his mother’s death.

As the head mechanic, Cody is often in charge of the whole operation when his dad is not around. “They don’t give me a hard time because I’m younger, because we all see each other as family.”

Terrence Fernandez said a scholarship fund in his wife’s name, co-sponsored by his in-laws, the Miyasatos, is awarded to support students in college or taking trade and vocational courses. It gives preference to Hawaii residents or those of Native Hawaiian ancestry.

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Waipahu Lawn Equipment and Bowling Supply

94-150 Leoleo St.

Info: 808-677-1071 or waipahulawnequipment.com; email waipahulawn@hawaiiantel.net