I recently stumbled across an interesting archive of business plans and press releases and documents related to failed dot-coms, including several in furniture. Remember Homepoint.com and its Turkish programmers? Retail Metro?The archive, at http://businessplanarchive.org, is woefully incomplete in terms of furniture companies, providing in most cases only a rough timeline, including founding and shutdown dates, and location of headq… (more)

Magowitz honors mom by fighting pancreatic cancer
Seena Magowitz believed that one person could make a difference in the fight against cancer. She raised money to fight the disease, something her son, Roger, witnessed at an early age.Her presence loomed large at the latest pancreatic cancer fundraiser hosted in Phoenix by Roger Magowitz. The event is named after her — the Seena Magowitz Golf Classic. And the foundation that bears her name sponsored a symposium that kicked off the two-day event.The boy who watche… (more)

Who says size matters?
I know that many believe that at the end of the day, only the largest furniture retailers will still be standing. While I acknowledge that some often best and brightest retailers in our business happen to also be the largest, I also believe that there will always be room for well-managed, perceptive and innovative retailers–regardless of size.Recently, I visited a number of small and mid-sized retailers here in North Carolina. For the record, they a… (more)

A few suggestions for your High Point to-do list
You have your own agenda when you come to High Point for market, of course, but it can’t all be about buying, selling and marketing. So I’d like to propose a few additions to your to-do list while you’re in town later this month for the spring show.* Reward a good deed. Give Tom Mitchell and Merchandise Mart Properties Inc. a big cheer for razing the unsightly old icehouse on the … (more)

Tough competition: iPods are running roughshod over furniture
I’ve got a fun new toy. It’s called an iPod. It plays music for me wherever I go. For those of you who don’t know, iPod stands for Interesting Pile of Data. OK, I just made that up. I think that iPod is just a cool name made up by those great marketers at Apple.I’ve got to admit that I’ve become addicted to my iPod. I take it with me on trips – it gives me a great excuse not to talk to that annoying person in the seat next to me … (more)

Racor Ceiling Mounted Bike Lift #PBH-1R Customer Review: THINGS TO THINK ABOUT
The hoist works fine, once it’s installed, but it’s a pain to do without a good drill and drill bit. These are ideas to consider:

1. The wood screws are not good. I mounted to a high (11-ft), dense beam, and the screw heads easily strip. I had to use a larger drill bit than the 1/8-inch they recommend because I couldn’t torque the screwdriver and not strip the heads.

2. In California, we have to worry about earthquakes. I found the perfect solution. At Home Depot, they sell, for $5, these devices that include a carabiner on one end that you can attach through a hole in the hook and a 3-ft bungee cord, which is then attached to another carabiner, which I fastened to the bike. I used them on both sides. Thus, if an earthquake occurs, I know the mountain bike won’t bounce off the hooks and on to our washer and dryer.

3. It’s really important to make sure the hoists are mounted directly above the seat and handlebars to get the smoothest action.

I find that even I had no problems lifting the bike with the hoist, and I’m small and light weight.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 24th, 2007 at 7:21 pm and is filed under Furniture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.