After playing a key role in countless weddings, festivals and other celebrations, Hamilton’s Complete Rent-Alls marked a milestone of its own on May 6.
The family-owned, east Mountain-based business held an open house event to celebrate 60 years, including many successes and obstacles that have been overcome.
Back in April 1962, Murray and Marie MacKay opened a small tool rental business on Richwill Road, in the Upper James and Mohawk Road area. In those days, rented items included exercise machines, lawn ornaments like flamingos and elephants, and even the couple’s own dining room set, on at least one occasion.
Third-generation general manager David MacKay now leads the day-to-day operations, with the expertise of his dad, Ed, and a team of about 20 employees on Harlowe Road.
Today’s business specializes in tent rentals, including clear span tents for large outdoor events, as well as high peak tents for smaller gatherings. Complete Rent-Alls also offers wedding essentials like chairs and dinnerware, plus carnival-style items like popcorn machines, crown and anchor wheels, dunk tanks, hot dog machines and cotton candy machines.
After some tough times in 2020, the business has rebounded in a big way during the last two seasons.
“I think at this point, we have bounced back,” David noted. “Last year was one of the busiest years we have ever had in our entire history. This year is looking great as well.”
When a massive fire tore through the Harlowe Road business in 2013, David admitted there was some talk of the business closing for good.
But instead of throwing in the towel, the family saw an opportunity to rebuild bigger and better, consolidating at one site with a state-of-the-art tent washing facility.
The City of Hamilton has been a great partner, David noted, along with McMaster University and Mohawk College.
“Some of our staff have been with us for over 40 years,” David added. “We try to just run it like an extended family.”
In addition to weddings, Complete Rent-Alls has handled trade shows, like RetroCon, and many home shows.
Its clean span tents are suitable for weddings with up to 450 guests. The modular tents are assembled in 15-foot intervals, ranging up to 40 feet by 240 feet.
High peak tents measuring 15 by 15 feet are available for smaller backyard events, as well as pop-up tents.
David noted Complete Rent-Alls looks after the delivery, setup and teardown for the tents, for a stress-free customer experience.
Complete Rent-Alls is located at 4-46 Harlowe Rd., Hamilton. https://www.completerentalls.ca/about-us.