Google beds or mattresses and who do you see? Dreams, Bedroomworld, Mattressonline, Mattressman, Bensons for Beds etc etc. Alas, no Archers Sleepcentre.

So David B and I visited the 2012 Internetworld Exhibition at Earls Court last week to find out how it’s done. Three days we were there, and we talked and we talked and we talked to every SEO Company in Christendom to find the secret.

It seemed every stand had worked with a bed retailer at one time or another. “Tough market” they sagely pronounced with transcendent smiles translating to “this is gonna cost you mate”.

Pay per click (PPC) is the holy grail to bed stardom you (more…)

Existential angst is an unremitting condition. The angst us bed buyers crave. And the 2012 NEC furniture show satiated our craving in dollops. The best NEC furniture show ever! And I think we found the best bed.

Let me explain. There was no Staples or Dunlopillo. No Tempur or Sleepeezee. With the demise of the bed brands our thoughts were not polluted by the well meaning but  autocratic choreographers of what a poor bed shop ought to show and sell at what price and in what quantity and at what lead time.

We were like Sergei, that well known Ukranian ballet dancer bunking off for a week from the Royal Ballet. Do our own thing in tights? Wonderful.

But it got better. As we all know, existential angst requires (more…)

For choice, style, versatility and value for money, IKEA PAX extra wide wardrobes are hard to beat .

But I think we have their match: Rauch (German, pronounced like a dog bark with phlegm). 90cm to 350cm, sliding mirrored doors to neat bi-fold hinged doors. Beech to Wenge, tie racks to internal drawers. Rauch has it all.

Over the last 10 days we have built 10 shop displays, 150 wardrobes, and may Ingvar Kamprad strike me (more…)

I popped into Candleriggs and Kilmarnock Bed Sheds last week. All beds and mattresses are reduced to clear and the staff say they are being taken over by Bensons.

Bit of a bummer us having to compete against all this clearance stock hitting the Scottish bed market. But Bensons taking over the Bed Shed? Why?

This just doesn’t seem logical. At Archers we never hear of Bensons: English company selling posh kit designed for the English market and frankly doesn’t interfere with us. We wouldn’t miss them if they never existed.

However I have always had a soft spot for (more…)