It seems to be a week for these announcements. After Nikon announced that it had acquired RED, camera gear rental giant LensRentals has now acquired fellow gear rental giant BorrowLenses.
LensRentals says that the acquisition adds to the company’s existing stock of more than 400,000 copies of over 6,000 products. The company also hopes to bolster its “Keeper” used gear sales with the new influx of items.
Who is LensRentals?
LensRentals was founded in 2006, with its headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee. The company also has facilities in Massachusetts and elsewhere in Tennessee. Since those early beginnings, the company has grown massively. They now own the largest inventory of equipment available for lease in the USA.
Rental is available across all 50 states. Local service is even available in Memphis, TN and Concord, MA. The company rents equipment to hundreds of thousands of customers every year. Ever year, they also publish gear rental stats, telling us all what’s most popular.
Who is BorrowLenses?
BorrowLenses was established in 2007, based in a San Francisco apartment. They’ve since grown to serve millions of customers. The company is now closing their California offices in order to join LensRentals.
BorrowLenses was acquired by Shutterfly in 2013. The terms of the deal were undisclosed. The company has continued to rent camera bodies, lenses, lighting and accessories. It comes shipped directly to you, where and when you need it.
What’s next?
This isn’t the first time LensRentals has blended with another company. In 2017, LensRentals merged with LensProToGo. The two companies have since continued to live separate lives on different websites. But they are both the same company.
Whether BorrowLenses will continue to run alongside LensRentals in the same way remains to be seen. It may be incorporated into BorrowLenses and disappear into oblivion. LensRentals and LensProTogo was a merger. BorrowLenses is an acquisition. So, it could go either way.
At the moment, though, some clues suggest that the BorrowLenses name may ultimately disappear. There’s an announcement on the BorrowLenses website noting a number of points.
- BorrowLenses will continue shipping gear for the next few days, but LensRentals will then satisfy gear rentals.
- The company is closing its California office – presumably to to either Concord, MA, or Memphis, TN.
- New UPS shipping labels will come for gear out on loan to return it to LensRentals.
- If you already have gear and wish to extend your rental, until March 10th, you can call BorrowLenses. After that, you’ll have to call LensRentals.
- Overdue balances need to be caught up – this is a biggy. I expect legal proceedings for unpaid debts will begin quickly as LensRentals starts to take stock of exactly what they’ve acquired.
This does suggest that BorrowLenses is simply going to be absobed into LensRentals. But this may also be a temporary measure while the company takes stock before re-introducing the BorrowLenses website.
DIYP has reached out to LensRentals for confirmation on the future of the BorrowLenses name. We will update this post when we hear back from them.
Update: LensRentals has responded to DIYP with a statement regarding the BorrowLenses brand. The short version is that it looks like it’s going away. About the acquisition, CEO Tyler Beckman said:
We’re excited by the acquisition of the BorrowLenses brand and select assets, and will bring the BorrowLenses assets under the Lensrentals brand. Similar to us, BorrowLenses provided cutting-edge photo and video gear for rental, convenient pick-up and shipping options, and great service to their loyal base of creatives and professionals. This acquisition will expand Lensrentals’ customer base while augmenting our enormous inventory of professional grade photo, video and cine gear and accessories. We’ve setup a transition page to help former BorrowLenses customers https://www.lensrentals.com/borrowlenses.
Tyler Beckman, CEO LensRentals
