What’s the difference between a Home Reserve Loveseat with two throw pillows and a pizza?  First, lets consider the similarities:

1. You can order them over the Internet, phone, or walk-in.
2. The good ones are made to order from scratch.
3. You can pick them up where they’re made or, get them delivered to your door.

Ok, now for the differences:

1. Home Reserve Loveseats come in over 100 different toppings, (we call them fabric covers around here.)
2. They are not for eating. (I’m not saying you can’t eat them, I’m just saying it’s not a good idea. If you do like the taste of polyurethane foam, checkout our renewability page.)
3. You can get your Loveseat and throw pillows made to order in less than 20 minutes.

Yep, it happened. On New Year’s Eve we had a customer traveling home from Michigan to Indianapolis stop in to ask questions about fabrics and features.  After checking things out she asked, “If I order now, can I take one home with me?”  Enter, Loveseat and Pillow chefs Todd, and Kim!

New Year’s Eve day, these two were hanging out to finish up some year end stuff when our guest popped in, and man, they were on top of it!  While I showed our guest around the factory, our awesome twosome was whipping up a piping hot serving of Destiny Coral Laney Loveseat with Tremont Chocolate throw pillows on the side.  Before I could say “…deliverd by UPS across the country,” our crew of sewers and one shipper had everything boxed up and ready to go. What an awesome way to wind-up 2008!

Jill, we hope you enjoy your new Loveseat and throw pillows.  Thanks for honoring us with your visit, and the prvilege to serve you!

That’s our take on the phrase from the “Field of Dreams” movie with Kevin Costner.

Our company is built around an internet model where everything is done online. But…if you live anywhere around Fort Wayne, Indiana or the surrounding states, you might want to consider coming to the factory to place your order, watch us make it and then take it home in your car!

It doesn’t take very long. You can go through all the fabric samples in our showroom (exactly the same fabrics as you see online), decide on an item, and then step out into the factory and actually watch us cut and sew your new sofa. The whole process can take under 2 hours. (The frame parts will have been prepackaged). It is especially efficient you have already been to our site and have an idea of what you will be ordering.

Besides…it’s always a delight for us to actually meet some of you face to face. It’s easy to get feedback when you are standing right in front of us. Be warned though, we may drag you into our R&D discussions and get your feedback on new product ideas.

This is the sound set at Home Reserve where we work on on our radio and TV ads. (That’s me (Blaine), Casey and Jen in the photo).  I think I like radio because it inspires more creativity.  The listeners can imagine all sorts of different things! Here’s the text of one of the radio ads we’ve just finished:

.

.

“Wouldn’t it be exciting to get a new sofa…
to finally have furniture that you like in the room?

But the cost is frustrating and who feels
comfortable committing to one particular
fabric for years?

Enter HomeReserve.com (sound of keyboard in background).

Stylish and enormously affordable, these sofas have an
exclusive fabric update system. That means you get to
change the fabric whenever you want!

Budget shopping and feeling like a designer are the
perfect combination at HomeReserve.com”

In a 30 second radio ad, you only get about 75 words. It will sometimes take a week to work an idea down to 75 words.  Reminds me of what GK Chesterton once said, “If I would have had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.”

Exciting times. We’re working on the radio and TV ads for next year. (The photo shows Jenny and Casey on a “green screen set” working on the TV ads.)

We don’t want to focus on product features but on the life situations that are motivating our customers to buy a sofa. What’s going on in their lives? Are they moving to a new house or apartment? Are they putting furniture in a room that’s been too empty? Is it about making a comfortable spot in the house for the family to gather?

Looking for furniture can be daunting. It’s difficult to know where to shop, the prices are high and learning how to talk with the salespeople isn’t always enjoyable.  Then if you want to change anything, the level of complexity moves up to a whole new level.

We’ve gotten past all that here at HR and we’re hoping to communicate the message. Some of you may soon be hearing/seeing our ads, depending on where you live in the country. I’ll be curious as to whether you like them or whether you think we’ve just added to the noise clutter out there. (I hope we can avoid doing that!)

We really appreciate all of your ideas and comments this year…and are thankful for our whole Home Reserve family out there! I enjoy taking your design suggestions to Casey & Jen and the team and creating new product ideas. I just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and hope your shopping experiences are peaceful.

I usually analyze things way past the point of productivity.  Someone once told me, “The reason people buy products is not all that complicated! They buy the promise that the product offers.”

Well, that may be true, but every once in a while I feel compelled to make sure that Home Reserve is connecting in the deepest way possible with our customers.

Yesterday I wrote an essay about how buying a sofa is connected to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs chart. It’s kind of over the top…but if it helps keep us focused on the life of the customer, then that’s a good thing.

Here’s the link to the “Maslow article” on our site.

People want a comfortably furnished home for family and friends. That’s a worthy goal and you don’t have to give up that dream in times like these. You can still enjoy shopping for furniture and keeping your decorating ideas alive with the low prices and designer choices that are the focus at HR.

It seems that especially in these last few months, the original purpose of Home Reserve–to provide the highest possible value in the country–is very much the center of our attention. We’re all in this together and we’ll do what we can to make these times less stressful, and less a time of compromise, for you and your families.

Ok here it is as promised. Can you smell the candles? You can see this and more new pictures  in our photo gallery.

Casey has incorporated these new fall fabrics into our latest showroom photo. (We’ll get that photo up on Monday, but the fabrics are already available on site. ) They are just so great I wanted to make sure you noticed them.

Baja Sunset     Hondo Olive     Delmar Spice

We even had Pumpkins and leaves and good smelling candles in the upcoming showroom photo. It smelled like Thanksgiving in the office today!

Casey just finished designing a new brochure that we include in our fabric sample packages. I really like it. She even redesigned the envelope we send them in!

When you send out as many fabric samples as we do, having the process as organized as possible sure makes it easier.  Thanks Casey! Here’s a photo of the cover of our new brochure and of our fabric sample station out in the factory.