Having been born into a rental business family, it’s no surprise that when Kelly Brincheski (Dwyer) started looking around as a young adult in Winnipeg, Manitoba, she noticed a market gap.

This was a gap she could fill and, by doing so, she massively changed, for the better, how events were held in her region from that point forward.

“I grew up in a second-generation equipment rental business, C&T Rentals, so rentals were always part of my world,” Brincheski explains. “Equipment rentals are one thing, but I saw a clear gap in the regional event rental market.”

At the time, the local event rental landscape was fairly static. Companies offered what they had and clients were expected to design their events around existing inventory, rather than the other way around. Brincheski seized the opportunity to go the other way and founded Collective Event Rentals (first known as C&T Event Rentals) in 2016.

Brincheski continues to lead all operations and strategic direction for Collective and Novella at Collective (more on that later). While the companies still operate under the broader C&T umbrella, she maintains full oversight of their growth and execution. At the same time, she works closely with her father, Ed Dwyer, who still runs C&T Rentals.

“We have a strong family foundation with a modern, forward-thinking approach,” Brincheski says.

A new landscape

But even with her experience growing up in the rental sector, Brincheski’s new venture was a whole new ballgame.

“One of my biggest early challenges was the learning curve,” she shares. “I understood rentals from the equipment side but I had no background in events. I genuinely didn’t even know how many people sat at an eight-foot table.”

In the beginning, like any dedicated entrepreneur, she said yes to every event that came her way and managed every detail by herself, day in and day out, learning by doing.

Brincheski also recognizes her good fortune to have had a strong network through the American Rental Association (ARA). She leaned on this experienced network for guidance to be sure, but at this point in time, she’s confident in saying that ultimately, success in event rentals is all about hands-on execution.

“I immersed myself in every part of the business as we expanded, from purchasing and inventory management to cleaning, maintenance, warehouse flow, logistics, safety and customer experience,” she remembers. “You don’t just buy a chair and rent it out. You need to understand how it must be stored, transported, maintained and actually used in a real event environment. By building that deep, practical knowledge before delegating part of my operation to others, I created a strong foundation for success.”

Her strategy of understanding every part of the business has, of course, paid off. Since those early days a decade ago, Collective Event Rentals has grown from a one-person operation into a large team with dedicated roles across sales, operations, warehouse and logistics.

“Having team members with specific areas of responsibility has been critical to scaling properly,” says Brincheski. “Today, we operate out of a 28,000-square-foot warehouse, with plans to add another 15,000 square feet as we continue to grow. Our market has expanded significantly as well. What began as a focused event rental company now supports everything from intimate gatherings to large-scale, professionally-produced events.”

As her team and number-of-events-per-year grew, Brincheski also obviously expanded her inventory. She delved into multiple product categories with a strong focus on curated, design-forward collections rather than one-off items.

“We’ve also diversified beyond rentals,” she says. “In 2023, we opened Novella at Collective, a wedding and event venue located on the second floor of our office space that accommodates up to 150 guests.”

The facility itself marked a major milestone in Brincheski’s business journey. Planning began in 2018 with a vision to create a forever home for the company. She traveled across North America to tour rental operations and spent time in Cleveland with her builders at Event Source, the store of past ARA president John Bibbo, to learn how large-scale event rental businesses were designed and run – from layout and workflow to the electrical and water capacity required to support growth at scale. Brincheski oversaw every detail of the build, from overall layout and design to the placement of every light and outlet. Partway through construction, she made the strategic decision to transform the second floor into a dedicated wedding and event venue, a shift that required a completely new business plan and a full redesign, including the addition of an elevator and a second-floor patio. The project brought three separate warehouses together into one centralized location, Brincheski explains, but it also unfolded during a period of unprecedented uncertainty as it overlapped with the COVID-19 pandemic. The company moved into the new space in July 2021 as restrictions began to lift. Today, the building stands as one of Brincheski’s proudest accomplishments, designed to support both the business she built and the growth still ahead.

Canadian Rental Service

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