Key Manufacturing & Rentals Inc. was established in October of 1989 in Salem, OR and was originally focused on tent manufacturing and large tent rental projects. At that time, most tent rental work involved sub-contract work with other tent companies. We worked on projects in Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver, Canada as well as New York, Florida, Illinois, Texas and up and down the West Coast.
Thru the 90’s, we expanded our services to include lighting, flooring, fencing and other tent related services. With the encouragement of many of our clients, we expanded into full service rental- acquiring two party rental stores in the Portland area. In 2002, we opened our Portland office that was home to our tables, chairs, linens, service-ware, catering & concession equipment as well as a walk-in showroom. During this period, our focus became more full service and more regional in the Oregon, Washington and Idaho areas.
Our inventory of event rental equipment (tables, chairs etc.) grew substantially – requiring us to move the Portland office to a larger facility in Tualatin just outside of Portland with 40,000 square feet of warehouse space housing over 2,000 tables, 10,000 chairs along with the china, linens, food service equipment, staging, fencing, flooring, trade-show equipment and carpet.
Our manufacturing facility in Salem, where it all began, includes a design and metal shop, fabrics department, wash pad and houses the majority of the tent and structure equipment. We still maintain the largest tent rental inventory in the Northwest – with over 200,000 square feet of structures, 100,000 square feet of tents and over 400 canopies. The manufacturing division also handles custom projects, brand and unique designs.
Our future plans include expansion into electrical distribution, staging and increased involvement in trade-show services – allowing Key to provide an even fuller range of services with one contract – under one roof.