Vast best describes the inventory of Rental World. Children’s carousels and inflatable wet slides, sparkling white tents filled with tables and chairs for a party of your closest 2,000 friends, industrial generators and crystal chandeliers represent just a fraction of the items Rental World owns and supplies to contractors, homeowners and people throwing parties, fund-raisers and festivals. In 1980 Richard Wolf bought a small Harlingen rental franchise and the next year opened his independent company Rental World. Initially the company grossed about $100,000, Wolf recalled. Now Rental World grosses that amount in a week. It was honored as the 2010-2011 Vendor of the Year by the Texas Festivals & Events Association. “In the last few years, we’ve gone more and more to supplying parties and events,” said Bryan Wolf, a mechanical engineer who brought his expertise to the company his father started. He introduced CAD programming to simplify layout planning for Rental World customers who include local wedding planners and festivals as well as huge events like the Fourth of July Tall Ships party at Ingleside and the Texas Parks & Wildlife Expo in Austin. Event rentals now bring in half of annual revenue, and the balance from contractors and home owners. Rental World, with locations in Brownsville, Harlingen, McAllen and Weslaco, requires multiple warehouses to store, maintain and manage the thousands of rental items. “We’d rather own and control them. The service and products are too important to leave to anyone else,” Bryan Wolf said. That is particularly true for the children’s rides, which now require an annual inspection and license from the Texas Department of Insurance. The trackless train, mini Ferris Wheel and Pirates Revenge are among the nearly 200 children’s rides and games described in the company’s catalog. “We probably have more children’s rides available than any other company in the state of Texas,” he added, noting a surge in demand and their continuing efforts to give customers what they want. “We are the only licensed and insured temporary rental company for children’s rides in the Valley.” Richard Wolf said Bryan’s engineering skills have enabled Rental World to take on many jobs that other companies wouldn’t attempt. The logistics of setting up and anchoring huge tents—pole tents, tension tents, frame tents and marquee tents with basic units running 10 foot by 10 foot to 60 foot by 60–are formidable. In August Rental World was assisting an organization plan for a three-day March event. “One of things we do is have someone go to all the board meetings of a festival, ” Richard Wolf said. “It’s a free service we provide to festivals. We help them lay it out and then we can do CAD renderings they show to sponsors.” Using satellite imagery helps Rental World can get everything to scale and demonstrate traffic flow. Rental World may be the only American business of its kind that has a graphic artist on staff. She produces artwork for events including laying out signage for festivals. Rental World has an in-house sign production department which is kept busy with festival sign production as well as vehicle wraps. “It comes down to our staff and managers, “Bryan Wolf said. The company has 60 full-time employees and another 20 to 30 it calls on as needed. The staff makes sure all parties are operational before leaving. Rental
World employees work seven days a week, making deliveries and setting up or tearing down tents and rides once a party or festival has concluded. Gigantic washing machines at the Harlingen warehouse clean every vinyl tent after each use. Rows and rows of clean tents are stored here which improves logistical and quality control. The Wolfs’ years of experience mean that many people turn to Rental World for service and advice. They hear questions such as, with 75 people, how big a tent do we need? “We work hand in hand with wedding planners. We can go from the simple up to a million dollar wedding if you want, “Richard Wolf said. “We are still waiting for that one.” Depending on the party budget, Rental World can supply basic lighting or in new programmable LEDs that bring color to the venue.. “It’s so important to see what their needs are and their budget. It’s no longer Omar the tent maker, and one size fits all,” Bryan Wolf concluded. Rental World, which has long provided the rentals for Corpus Christi’s Buccaneer Days and other events there, is planning to open a store in Corpus Christi in the near future.