Jessica Sharpton wasn't always a furniture company founder; in fact, before her days of running Albany Park with her husband, Darryl, she was a business adviser. This, of course, has come in handy for her and her husband's thriving furniture business, which was established in 2019. The pair had a hunch there was a future in eCommerce furniture shopping, and when Darryl approached Jessica with the idea of selling sofas online in 2017, she took advantage of it. "I remember thinking, 'this online thing is a real opportunity,'" Sharpton told POPSUGAR. This is how Albany Park was born — out of white space in the furniture industry. Albany Park's simple approach to furniture shopping is nothing short of genius. They sell three sofas and an armchair that ship quickly with UPS. "We take all of the guesswork out of it." It's the beauty of buying furniture from Albany Park — no chaos or headaches.
The Sharptons love their sofas and armchairs and believe in the models they sell — so much so that they have plenty of Albany Park furniture in their home. With three kids and a dog, their furniture sees it all. "Our dog loves our Vegan Leather Park Armchair ($795, originally $895)," says Sharpton. "I've been so happy to see how durable it's been with him digging into the chair. I haven't had any issues with scratch marks or anything on there." Sharpton even has a miracle story for her velvet Park Sofa ($1,295, originally $1,599): it survived her kids taking a marker to it. "With a damp paper towel, I wiped the whole thing off." Sharpton praises Albany Park's velvet and how easy it is to clean.
Between co-owning a business with her husband and being a mom, Sharpton's downtime is valuable. She gave us the scoop on which must-have products she uses in her spare time. From a comfortable two-piece lounge set from Amazon to her favorite pair of sneakers, these are the items Sharpton uses most.
