Thank you!

I'm writing this on my day off, but I thought it deserved a quick mention.

The Middleburg Heights store had a tremendous Memorial Day turnout. It was extremely encouraging to see so many people come and ask us to help furnish their homes on a holiday weekend. What absolutely thrilled me was that so many customers who I'd spoken to before came back this weekend to make that purchase we had discussed a week ago, or a month ago, or even two months ago. It made what was already a very good weekend a superb weekend for me - not just in terms of dollars, but in terms of validating my work here at the store. I can't begin to tell you how good it makes me feel, to see a familiar face come back and say: "Yes. It's time. Let's do it."

Thank you for coming in. I know I say it to practically every customer when I say goodbye, but I mean it from the bottom of my heart - thank you very, very much for visiting this weekend. It made Memorial Day a terrific holiday for me.

I'd like to ask two things of you, if I could. First, if you ordered a custom purchase from me this weekend, drop me a line when it comes in - or better yet, e-mail me a picture. I'll be honest, I'm dying of curiosity to see how they turn out.

Second, if you still need something to finish that room after you got your furniture, drop me a line. A little end table to go by a chair, an extra floor lamp - I've probably got something in the store to help finish the look. If you let me know that you're interested, I have a trick or two left that can make the purchase easier - but I need to hear from you.

Again, my deepest thanks. Enjoy the four-day week, and come by and see me again when you've got time. I'd appreciate it.

Memorial Day!

The ads are going full-bore right now; I've got the best deals of the season available to me this weekend. If you call or e-mail me, I can hook you up with 15% off on a couch or vignette... but I need to you contact me and make an appointment for Monday.

Here's how it works: If you make an appointment with me for Monday morning, and you buy $2,200 worth of furniture, I'll be able to take 15% off of the price. I never go below 10% except under rare circumstances... like this one. A reclining couch pretty much comes within range for the 15% discount (or it's so close that we can pretty much give you an end table for free). Even if you only want a loveseat, or a recliner, I've got some steep discounts available.

I can only sign up three people for the discount. My managers have asked me to call my client list to offer the sale to people who needed an extra nudge to buy; I'll be doing that this afternoon, but I wanted to make the offer to you first. E-mail me or call me. If you can't make it on Monday, let me know and I'll see what I can do. I honestly don't have a discount the deep available to me most of the time, so if you've been waiting, now's the time to make a big purchase.

Look forward to hearing from you!

Shh! Top Secret!

I sneaked a look at our catalog of new merchandise today. There's a lot of cool looking chair styles coming, and some really amazing new pieces. I snapped a photo of this pretty thing out of the catalog while no one was looking. I've had a couple of requests for a sofa with a chaise for clients; this looks like a really great solution to the problem. I can start selling this right now, so ask me if you're interested. (And yes, we can do it with the chaise on the other end, too.)

There's also one piece that I still have to see to believe... we're offering one of our biggest chairs, the Crandall, as a sofa. I can't even begin to imagine how big this sofa is going to be. If they did it in leather, I think it might take two whole cows to cover the thing. The heck with decorating the rec room, this big comfy monster is going to be your rec room. I can't wait to see it on the show room floor - assuming we can fit it in here.

Also, I got some great news on fabrics - our options for customizing have opened up tremendously. I can get any of the motion sofas in just about any fabric you could want for just $100 over the price on the floor; one of my chairs is so customizable it's crazy. The Harbor Town can be ordered in over 200 fabrics and in 12 different leathers for the same price as I've got it on the floor. That is, in a word, nuts.

We can really produce something beautiful for you; e-mail me to set up an appointment. My designer's going to get a lot more working helping you pick out the perfect fabric, by it will definitely be worth it.