General Rental Sales & Service has been serving the Southern Chester County area for over 35 years. It was originally started in 1981 as a small tool rental center located in the old Penn Supreme building. Many locals stop in with fond memories of special times they had over ice cream with friends and family. That same small town community feel still exists within our walls. Customers will often stop and talk about projects they are working on, how their businesses are doing or what is happening within our area – how the local high school football team is doing or events in the news or hunting and fishing stories or things happening in their families. This is not your large box store business but one that has deep roots in our community.
Tool rental had started many years prior, but the early eighties saw a real boom in the business. Customers began to realize the benefit of renting a tool rather than owning one that they only needed a couple of times a year. Over time, General Rental evolved along with its three different owners. What started out as just tool rental began to include party rentals, truck rentals and larger pieces of equipment for the commercial customer. When the current owner, Eric Schuibbeo, purchased General Rental in March, 2004, he immediately made some major changes. First, he changed the name to the current “General Rental Sales & Service” to better reflect all that General Rental encompasses – rental of tools, equipment, trucks and party items; sales of merchandise, equipment and parts; service and repair of small engine equipment for the homeowner or commercial customer. He then made policy and customer service changes to better serve the needs of our clientele. Some much needed equipment was retired and some new pieces were purchased, with the Rental and Sales offerings continuing to increase each year. Even our Showroom received a reboot, modernizing the interior and separating the Party Department from the Equipment Rental area.
The General Rental family has continued to grow with the acquisition of two additional party rental centers, while still holding strong to the equipment side of the business. Eric purchased Event Central in Mechanicsburg, PA in April, 2015 and Dover Tents & Events in Dover, DE in September, 2016. With these two additions, the combined businesses can serve all the party and event rental needs from the homeowner backyard party to a couple’s dream wedding to a major corporate event. Now, the company’s reach for the party and event customer extends through much of the Mid-Atlantic Region.
Our goal has and continues to be to meet the needs of our customer – homeowner or small businessman; bridal couple or major corporation; small home repair or major construction project; intimate dinner celebration or college graduation ceremony. No project or event is too small or too large. We care about each and every one.