We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rhoda Brimberry. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rhoda below.

Rhoda, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

When my sister-in-law and former business partner was getting married, she had a very unique idea of how she wanted to customize the look and feel of the event to reflect her and her husband’s love. She had a very cool, unique idea to create a speakeasy, jazz theme to include mismatched china settings, vintage silver plated flatware, oil lamps and vintage crochet tablecloths. In 2010, these items were not available in rental, so she enlisted the help of her family to scour all the garage sales, estate sales, and online sellers to find all the pieces she needed for her 175 guest count wedding.

As we started to collect the items, it became clear quickly that this was a very expensive, arduous process. Not only did it take a lot of time to source the items, it took time to wash and prepare them. Then we had to figure out where to store these items. We started to question what were we going to do with this stuff after the event.

What I knew by looking at other online sellers, a lot of people would buy all the items they couldn’t rent, then sell them all off after the event. I figured there had to be a better way.

I did a little scouting to find that there wasn’t anyone out there RENTING these unique items. I approached my SIL to see if she had the same realization as I did: there might be a market for these types of offerings.

We got excited to pursue this idea together. While she was on her honeymoon, I posted a Craigslist ad about having our unique items for rent. We received response. We then came up with the name, created a splash page, and some sophisticated branding. Within three months, we had our first client which was helping provide unique rentals for a 300 guest gala.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

My name is Rhoda and I love pretty things. I love design and creating spaces that encourage gathering and community. Put all these loves together and you have Loot Rentals: a boutique event rental business with locations in Austin and Fort Worth, Texas.

Loot is focused on delivering good vibes. We put a lot of energy in curating unique collections of furniture that enhance the event environment. Our top rentals include bars, lounge seating, dining chair and tables. We pride ourselves as being thought leaders in the world of events providing quality rentals to set the foundation.

Over and over again I hear clients rave about the quality of the rentals we provide and how we have the best selection available. We’re always scouting to bring in more rentals to meet the needs of our clients. We are equally focused on sustainability and making sure we keep our items in tip top condition to stay in rotation. When we need to retire items, we post them for sale or donate them to keep them out of the landfill.

Our goal at Loot is not only to provide the best quality and unique pieces for our rental clients, but to educate and encourage the event industry to be thoughtful in how to be eco-conscious and sustainable in event production.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

The pandemic presented a unique challenge for us. Since we’re in the business of providing services for people who gather for events and parties, we were government mandated to not do business during COVID. We had staff we needed to support, rent we needed to pay, and a full warehouse of items that were not going anywhere.

In 2020, the housing market in Austin was also soaring. So we pivoted to home staging to help sell homes and keep our lights on. It sustained us and prevented us from closing the doors until the world opened up again for events. I think I counted five other rental operations in our market that had to shutter which was very unfortunate.

Any advice for managing a team?

We are very big on culture at Loot. We have identified our core values and incorporate them in everything we do. We have them written on signage, we talk about the values in meetings, we review them in employee check-ins, and so on. We are intentional in hiring people that display the values and encourage people to recognize others that are displaying the values as well. I won’t claim morale is always high, but we do have a strong culture and framework based on these core values.

I encourage every business leadership team to outline what core values define your business. What do you look for in employee engagement and relations? How do you define your approach to the workplace and what are your expectations of others? What qualities do your best employees exhibit? Start with those questions to define your values and culture and take it from there.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lootrentals.com
• Instagram: @lootrentals
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lootvintagerentals
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/28656886/admin/dashboard/

Image Credits

Faith Ann Media
Feather and Twine Photography
Chelsea Green Photography
Katie Nixon Photography