Paul Leavy/The Valdosta Daily Times

VALDOSTA — One of the nation’s fastest growing tool store chains has found a new home in Valdosta, thanks to the area’s growing economy and great location that continues to lure in popular franchises.

Harbor Freight Tools, headquartered in Camarillo, Ca., celebrated the grand opening of its new location at 3111 N. Oak St. last week, drawing hundreds of local customers in to shop for everything from power drills and air compressors to variable speed saws to battery rechargers.

Standing in the doorway of the store’s entrance, which is just left of the Mackey Lumber outlet in the same parking lot, was Harbor Freight District Manager Aaron Schnelle, who was helping store employees at the new 12,500-square-foot outlet hand out free screwdriver sets and product discount fliers to grand opening customers.

Schnelle, who works in the company’s Atlanta district offices, said the company took over the building in December 2007 and had a “soft” opening in early January.

Harbor Freight’s Valdosta store is number 294 in a chain that continues to expand across the nation, with outlets from California to New England to Florida, Schnelle said.

With stores up and running in Macon, Jacksonville and Tallahassee, the company has been considering a move into Valdosta for some time, he said.

“Valdosta is a very good market for us,” Schnelle said. “It’s a great location to have, with I-75 close by. We believe we’ll do very well here the way this area is growing. We’ve had a lot of business already. We’re very glad to be here.”

Part of Harbor Freight’s lure is their discounted prices on name brands like Pittsburgh and Central Hydraulic tools and Chicago Electric products. They also carry an eclectic variety of digital and electrical testing equipment, like the Cen-Tech seven-function digital multi-tester that goes for $2.99, or an electronic digital safe for $39.99 (through March 2).

“We tend to go a little crazy with our prices to give our customers great deals, and they know it,” Schnelle said.

The four-page grand opening flier lists a broad variety of products; wrenches, hand tools, hunting knives, mover’s blankets, hole saw sets, saw horses, 10-inch pneumatic tires, tarps, duct tape, 2000-pound capacity winch, industrial roofing nailer, non-contact laser thermometer, three ton heavy jack stands, vehicle dollies, to even an electronic fly swatter, and tons more.

A huge parking lot sale is scheduled for March 7-9 and a discount flier is available at the store to check out the product discounts for that event. Also, if customers sign up for preferred customer status (no charge), they’ll receive mail outs on sales, specials and discounts.

Preferred customer cards can be filled out at the store or online at www.harborfreight.com, where they can also search the store’s product inventory, Schnelle said. The new Valdosta store currently employs 14 full-time and four part-time workers. Store hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday; 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday; and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Commercial accounts are welcome, and the store offers lifetime guarantees on all hand tools.