SOUTH PORTLAND — One Stop Event Rentals announced that the company is now a division of Eastern Events, the parent of Wallace Events, a family-owned business.

Jacob Taylor, vice president and general manager of Wallace Events, located in Rockland and Ellsworth, said that the company is excited to have the opportunity to continue the work that Lynne Watson Carter and Kim Watson Cousins started with One Stop Event Rentals, located at 262 Main St. in South Portland.

One Stop Event Rentals has been purchased by Eastern Events, the parent of Wallace Events, a family-owned business based in Rockland and Ellsworth. Courtesy image

“The Watsons have set the bar pretty high,” Taylor said. “They’ve done a great job cultivating a culture here that is very staff-centered and do things that have made a very enjoyable work environment for them. The pressure’s on us essentially. We just want to make sure that we continue that and keep the ball rolling on that.”

One Stop Event Rental announced on July 27 on Facebook that the company feels confident in trusting another family-owned business.

“Since 1982, the Watson family has been proud to own and grow One Stop Event Rentals,” the company wrote. “Helmed by Kim Watson Carter and Lynne Watson Cousins, One Stop Event Rentals has grown and flourished in southern Maine over the last 39 years, but the time has come to pass the torch.

“We are proud to announce that Eastern Events Inc. the parent company of Wallace Events, has purchased One Stop Event Rentals and Handyman Equipment Rentals. Eastern Events Inc. is a Maine Corporation owned by Brian Spencer and Jacob Taylor. One Stop Event Rentals and Handyman Equipment Rental will be divisions of Eastern Events.”

The conversation to make the purchase started over a year ago, Taylor said.

“I had called Lynne close to two years ago and mentioned very casually that if they were interested in selling, if there wasn’t a third generation of Watsons who wanted to potentially step up and run both stores, that we’d be interested in having a conversation with them and seeing if we can work something out,” Taylor said. “Shortly after that, COVID hit and kind of delayed any further talks. This spring, they had reached out and rekindled that conversation and lo and behold, through a little bit of negotiation, we just worked out a deal that benefitted both parties. So technically, the transition happened on July 22.”

Customers of One Stop Event Rentals should not see any changes, Taylor said. Staff will also remain on board.

“One Stop is going to operate as it always has,” he said. “Fortunately for us, it’s a very successful company, so it’s one of those things where if it’s not broken, then don’t fix it. We’re going to keep the name the same. Everybody that’s working here is staying on. We’re not making any operational changes or anything like that.

“Over time we’ll try to streamline both locations, and it might be simple things like making the websites look a little bit more unified. If there are two different types of gold flatware, maybe streamlining that so it’s one type of gold between the both of them. Just little changes like that. We want to keep what the Watsons have started here. They’ve built a great business, so we want to continue on with what they already do well.”

Wallace Events started as a small party rental store in 1998 and is now owned by Brian Spencer and Taylor, according to the business’s website.

“The product lineup is a little bit different, but as far as the markets we serve and the overall products and services we have, it’s almost identical to what One Stop Event Rental is,” Taylor said. “We haven’t previously owned an equipment rental company — very familiar with the industry, but this will be the first equipment rental company that we’ve had.”

Wallace Events and One Stop Event Rentals will have the benefit of providing support and resources through the northern and southern coasts of Maine, Taylor said.

“Certainly, the geographic access, to having One Stop have the support and resources and the northern part of the coast and Wallace Events having support and resources in the southern part of the coast,” he said. “Also streamlining the inventories — One Stop has some more options in the table settings side of the inventory and Wallace Events has a more broader offerings in the tenting side, so there’s definitely ways that both companies can benefit from expanded inventory and expanded territories.”

One of One Stop Event Rental’s greatest strengths is the people, with many staff members staying for over 10 years, Taylor said.

“I have a lot of respect for their ability to foster an environment where people have come to work here and have stayed for a long time,” he said. “It’s not uncommon to look down through the roster of people and see 10 years, 12 years, 15 years, 20 years. That says a lot about what goes on behind the scenes.”

For the event industry as a whole, the COVID-19 pandemic has shifted the demand, and the challenge of accommodating everyone’s needs is present in 2021, Taylor said.

“There’s certainly a lot of pent-up demand, a lot of people who had 2020 events that needed to be canceled or postponed into 2021,” he said. “It’s not uncommon right now to have a Wednesday wedding, a Thursday wedding in addition to the regular weekend stuff that we’ve all come to expect.

“It’s just broadened out the number of days that get used as event days throughout the course of a week, and operationally, that presents some challenges, just some things to get creative and work around, but overall it’s been a really good rebound off of what was a really slow year in 2020.”