Hanks's Fine Furniture, a multistate furniture dealer with roots in Little Rock, has gotten into the event-rental business and has already done more than 50 events -- weddings, fundraisers, corporate affairs and the like -- since the first of the year.
Hank's Event Rentals, with its own 800-square-foot showroom inside Hank's Fine Furniture on South Bowman Road, includes a mix of low- and high-back sofas for lounging, tables and chairs for sit-down dinners and banquets, lighting, movable bars for serving beverages and wall art and mirrors for making any event space look more like a party palace (The colored pillows are extra).
You've heard the phrase "Go big or go home"? They offer a 110-inch white, tufted couch long enough for a bride and her many bridesmaids.
"It's definitely a statement piece," said Charla Boatright, a buyer for the store who heads up the party rentals.
What you won't find are any tents or folding tables or chairs. The goods they're marketing at Hank's are much like what you'd find throughout the rest of the store though they are covered in more durable, treatable fabrics intended to last longer and are easier to clean.
Boatright and Mary Browne Allen, daughter of Hank's founder Hank Browne, are carrying out the idea conceptualized by Cathy Browne, Allen's stepmother. Cathy Browne is involved in a number of local charities and saw the need for party rentals at reasonable prices.
Boatright and Allen said they did a great deal of research, attended conventions and visited event-rental businesses in other states. Boatright designed about half of what they carry as rentals. She has a degree in interior design and has worked in furniture about a decade.
"Now we're kind of ready to spread our wings, but it's taken a while to get there," Allen said.
Their initial investment of $300,000 -- which included several cargo containers of furniture from Asia -- is expected to yield many more times the cost of inventory.
Sofa rentals start at $200 per day; lounge chairs start at about $55. They also carry illuminated furniture that can change colors or remain a single hue.
"We try to go for that higher-end look, but our pricing is lower for what you can get," Boatright said.
They're able to rent items at below-market prices because they already have the infrastructure in place to service customers. Hank's employs a delivery team and fleet of trucks; it's easy to add rentals into the mix. Hank's also has a distribution center in North Little Rock where furniture and other accessories can be stored.
Joe Snell, owner of Central Arkansas Entertainment, said other event furniture rental companies were lacking in selection and pricing. Snell provides complementary services: music, sound, lighting, fabric draping, photo booths and the like.
"There was no place here in Little Rock that had the logistical backing -- the trucks, the warehousing -- to really do event furniture on a high scale, a high level," he said. "The people who did do it didn't have the logistics to do it correctly and at a competitive price to the client."
For example, said Snell, a Hank's competitor rents a sofa for $375 where Hank's can do it for $200.
Delivery fees vary depending on how far drivers have to go to deliver and pick up furniture, how many pieces are in the order and when the items have to be picked up. Some venues need to cleared out immediately after the event. The basic local delivery fee is $99, but for a wedding in Forrest City, the delivery and pickup was $400, Allen said.
They opened a even-rental showroom at the Hank's store in Rogers in recent weeks and are already getting business from Wal-Mart's home office. Others, like Tyson Foods Inc., have come knocking, too.
In hopes of gaining more business, Boatright and Allen are organizing an open house in September for wedding planners, nonprofit event planners and others who would need to dress up a party on occasion.
When the furniture gets too worn to rent, it'll be placed in one of Hank's two clearance stores, Allen said.
The chain operates 15 stores, including the clearance stores, in Arkansas and Texarkana, Texas; Mobile, Ala.; and Pensacola, Destin and Panama City, Fla.
SundayMonday Business on 08/16/2015