Check Out Erin Sparks’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Erin Sparks.

Erin, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started off selling vintage furniture and home decor at the Nashville Flea Market. It was there I found my first two sofas that inspired the idea of rentals. One was a big, chartreuse velvet wooden framed sofa and the other was a bright pink tufted sofa- both I thought would be so perfect for photo shoots or events! *they are still in our inventory, check out Annie and Rosie! I started saving pieces for my new rentals idea and once I had about 30 items collected, I launched a website. It took almost a year to get an order. I did a lot of free gigs, cold messaged a lot of people and finally got my break when the Pilgrimage Music Festival called and wanted to rent my entire inventory. I will never forget friends and family coming with trucks and we literally cleared out my house (yes, we were using my rental inventory as our personal furniture).

With the momentum of Pilgrimage and several other amazing people who shared my info, took a chance on a new biz, or just told me not to quit, it was officially ON! I got a few storage units, then a shared warehouse space, eventually my own small warehouse which led us to our current home, 6500 sq ft jam-packed of vintage goodness. Somewhere in there a friend asked me to stage his vacant house. That led to another and another and soon a significant home staging side of our business. When Covid hit, home staging saved our event rental company. I’m so grateful. We used 2020 to focus on staging and grow that side of our business. Now in 2021, we have two thriving businesses (Spark Vintage Rentals and Spark Vintage Staging) and I am obsessed with both of them!

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Lol – I wouldn’t say smooth. It took around eight months from launching rentals to get our first paid order. It was a very slow start and I almost quit many times. I did not think it was going to work for a long time. But once we got past that first year, things were pretty smooth. Of course, we had some interesting experiences with our rentals being exposed to “less than ideal” circumstances. The next big hit was March of 2020 when everything came to a screeching halt due to the Covid 19 pandemic. That was a very scary season.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We are most known for our bohemian, eclectic aesthetic of vintage. Finding rad pieces that are perfect for our music and entertainment industry clients is something we are relied upon a lot for in Nashville. Out of the box, brides come to us to express themselves through furniture at their weddings. We love providing unique, one of a kind pieces to bring personality and style to any event or shoot.

Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
Oh wow – so many people have supported, referred, recommended us along the way. As I mentioned earlier, Pilgrimage Music Festival gave us our first big break. I worked with a business manager named Cara Jackson who really helped take the business to the next level. There’s also a group of specialty event rental businesses that got together for a rally in January of ’20 and those relationships have been invaluable.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.sparkvintagerentals.com
• Instagram: @rentsparkvintage