Shades of Miracle on 34th Street?

On the news this morning, they were talking to some of the local hardware stores. Apparently here in Japan, the latest trend  in such stores is to provide free services. Specifically, they are loaning items to the customers for free. What kind of items? Items such as long extension ladders, expensive testers, and other equipment that do-it-yourselfers are probably only going to use once or infrequently. According to the news report, providing such free services has helped to increase sales by 35%!