Spotted this around the corner from Oso Negro in Nelson - The Thingery. A lending library for things. I've thought of the same for Calgary, for any suburb where you have the endless repetition of leafblowers, snowblowers, rakes, shovels, commonly used garden tools - who's common usage might amount to 4 or 5 outings per year - makes more sense than everyone in the neighborhood filling up their garages with the same, mostly unused tools.
But in Nelson someone had the bright idea and it gets done.
Link: www.thethingery.com