Relove Dress Rentals is 2025 winner of Cornwall Win This Space contest

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Melissa Murphy thought up the idea for her business, Relove Dress Rentals, while travelling to a friend’s wedding in 2022.

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After attending seven weddings that year while on maternity leave, costs related to the look of being a bridesmaid and guest began to add up.

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In an effort to help others curb one-time use of low-quality, fast-fashion items, Murphy decided to build an inventory of high-quality womenswear for multiple formal occasions and offer rentals to customers at an affordable rate. Building an inclusive size inventory from dresses she wore, items from friends, and thrifted looks, Murphy launched Relove Dress Rentals with about 60 individual items in 2023.

Since starting her business, she has styled about 40-50 individuals every wedding season.

“People would go to my website, they could see all the dresses I had in stock, and then they would book an appointment and could come try them on. I had a room set up in my house with all the dresses,” she said.

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Fast forward to 2025, Murphy’s inventory has grown to about 500 options, and has been bursting at the seams from her home business space. She is excited to open a brick-and-mortar storefront in Cornwall’s downtown at 150 Pitt St. in early 2026 as the successful applicant of the Downtown Business Improvement Area (DBIA) Win This Space contest.

Chairperson of the DBIA Martha Rochon explained that this year’s Win This Space contest, which returned after a pandemic-related hiatus, didn’t follow its traditional format due to other contestants choosing a different path before the pitch contest. With Murphy still interested in the opportunity, she pitched her business plan to the DBIA’s board of directors, and was selected as the 2025 winner.

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” (Relove Dress Rentals) is exactly what we were looking for in terms of Win This Space,” said Rochon. “She was operating out of her home and wanted to expand. (This contest) gives those smaller entrepreneurial businesses the opportunity for growth. So now, she’s got this great little spot downtown (planned to open), which is amazing. And we don’t have that type of (business) option downtown currently.”

Not only will the new physical commercial space allow clients to view and try on dresses and accessories outside of Murphy’s home, the storefront will also accommodate a space for her to do makeup looks on clients and offer makeup lessons. Murphy has been operating her business Melissa Makeup for the last 10 years, assisting clients with bridal and formal makeup looks in addition to offering classes.

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“There’s a lot of great (makeup) tutorials out there but they can be overwhelming, especially if you don’t have all the products that they’re showing you in that video,” said Murphy. “So when I do my makeup lessons, I encourage the people to bring their own makeup kit so that way I can (tell them) how to get this look (they want) with what you have. I will also bring a list of all the products that are in my kit so if someone’s really, really liking one of my products, I’ll tell them where to get it.”

Ahead of the holiday season, Murphy launched a fall 2025 look book featuring her products.

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