Flat Pack Ohio

Ethan Allen Rules!

admin — Tue, 08 May 2012 13:41:08 +0000

Love this oldie from one of my favorite stores: Ethan Allen!

Ethan Allen has a bold new campaign and look. It’s a long way from the din of Columbus Day sales.

It’s an entirely new look for furniture advertising. One TV spot shows off the company’s traditional furniture by following a dog around the downstairs of a house. Another features a couple sleeping in a palatial bedroom with the music of French balladeer Edith Piaf in the background. A third depicts rambunctious teens romping through a family room to a chorus of “We’re gonna wreck this place.”

One of my favorite bits from their Artisan collection.

Ethan Allen Inc. of Danbury, Conn., once the most staid of home furnishing retailers, broke ground with its first national television campaign last week in an attemp to cut through the din of “sale, sale, sale” furniture ads that have long hurt the industry’s image.

Ethan Allen, the nation’s No. 2 furniture retailer behind Levitz Furniture Corp. of Boca Raton, Fla., has relied mostly on direct mail and dealer ads in the past. Now, fresh from a leveraged buyout, Ethan Allen finds itself heading into the 1990s without much of an image for baby-boom home owners looking to step up from furniture discount chains.

Indeed, Ethan Allen finds itself caught in a curious market squeeze. Unlike market leader Levitz and the troubled Seaman’s chain, Ethan Allen does not compete on price. Meanwhile, upstart stores such as Conran’s and Ikea are drawing in 25-to-40-year-olds with contemporary and European designs. That leaves Ethan Allen seen largely as an upscale version of an old downtown furniture gallery.

Ethan Allen is the only furniture chain that designs its own branded lines, sees them through the manufacturing process and then sells them under an exclusive distribution system. Marketing everything from beds to drapes to ashtrays, the company has been built on the idea of selling a whole environment to consumers, not just furniture. Making that approach more accessible to a new generation of consumers is now the company’s top priority, says Ethan Allen chief executive M. Farooq Kathwari.

“We can sell everything a consumer needs to create a home environment that reflects their lifestyle,” says Kathwari. “But we don’t think enough of them know that.” Kathwari’s sense of his company’s problems was substantiated when newly assigned agency Levine, Huntley, Schmidt & Beaver of New York surveyed over 1,000 consumers when it pitched the $12 million account earlier this year.

“Over and over we heard that Ethan Allen was an old-line store that sold dark, stodgy colonial furniture,” says Terry Bonaccolta, the senior vice president and group director at LHS&B.

In fact, over the past 10 years, Kathwari and company founder Nathan Ancell have diversified the company’s offerings. Only 25% of sales today come from Early American designs, compared with 100% in 1979. The remainder of sales are split among lines such as French Country, Farmhouse Pine and a contemporary line called Canova, as well as rugs, drapes and lamps. Among a wide assortment of accessories is a line of pricey art reproductions made by a sophisticated process that copies works of masters such as Monet and Van Gogh right down to the brush strokes and paint blobs on the originals. “The goal now is to communicate that Ethan Allen is not just a furniture store, and also that it is fashionable,” says Bonaccolta.

This year the company will do about $620 million in sales with about 300 dealers, compared to $500 million in 1982, lagging behind only Levitz Furniture in sales. Despite the rising popularity of mail-order furniture, and trendy specialty retailers like Ikea and Conran’s, Kathwari says Ethan Allen has not been losing customers. But he does feel that the company he now controls has not adequately communicated with consumers who are in transition, going from cherry-picking furniture from Sears and specialty chains to spending thousands on full rooms of home furnishings.

Ethan Allen’s new ads are a sharp departure from the usual run of furniture store ads, but the company has long pursued a contrarian strategy. Department stores, downtown furniture stores and chains generally act as distributors for national brands, or simply act as buyers of products other companies design. Ancell built a vertically integrated business because he wanted total control over a product line for the home. He is passionate about the idea of “home,” and still dreams of extending Ethan Allen’s name into homebuilding, mortgage financing, landscaping and even a planned community. But for now, Kathwari is aiming a little lower. The next item on his agenda is a plan to modernize the colonial exteriors of the stores.

It’s an entirely new look for furniture advertising. One TV spot shows off the company’s traditional

The Real Benefits of Hard Drive Recovery

admin — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 12:41:59 +0000

The benefits of using certain hard drive recovery services is that if you are in great hands, your computer will probably be pretty happy as well. Have you ever worried about losing important data? Well, it happened to me recently, and I can tell you that it was pretty horrible. If your computer crashes, I think a lot of people make the mistake of trying to do stuff themselves when they can simply call up a good hard drive recovery company.

That is a great benefit. I know a lot of people who have had their computer crash before and they tend to get very upset about it. And yet, there really isn’t a lot of reason for them to be upset because there are a lot of professional services out there that will get all the information back for them.

I ensure that my hard drive was in much worse shape than this one.

I think it is pretty neat because then you don’t have to worry too much when it comes to recovering your hard drive. Just tell the service what happened and they will help you out. They will be glad to help a person that needs their computer recovered. This is a great benefit.

More Thoughts About Hard Drive Recovery Services

I have a few thought on hard drive repair companies in general. Yes, we know there are services all over the Internet that are called hard drive recovery services. They are nice to have. They help people retrieve lost data from hard disk failure. That is so awesome. I find that extremely useful.

People will tell you great things about some data recovery services, and bad things about others. If you search on the web, read some of the better review sites when you are looking into a service.

What I think I like the most about them is that they help people that lose data when their computer crashes. Computers are not nearly as stable as we think they are and are subject to a lot of dangers such as virus, malware, overheating, misuse; those are only to name a few. The tech you are dealing with will tell you that many hard drives will crash because people won’t let their computer take a break. In a sense, your computer has feelings, so treat like it does. When computers crash you may your lose data, but luckily we have great people that know how to recover it. They are called data recovery service technicians. Good people, a lot of them.

One day, my friend told me about a specific hard drive recovery service called Hard Drive Recovery Group. They were ready to help. My friend told me that they knew what they were doing. Another thing that got me interested was the fact that they answered all my questions. I was really happy that I could just go online to find one. Many people go to them when they really need all of their data back. I’m so glad I had someone to help me find this particular service.

You find services like this online if you look for them hard enough. I quite frankly would recommend them to almost anybody because I can tell you that in a situation where you lose your hard drive, it can be really tough. in a way, you feel like a lot of your life is flashing before your eyes because of the fact that you are afraid you might not be able to recover your files properly.

But, I think a lot more people need to take a look at the hard drive repair industry in general. I think you would be surprised by how many qualified people are there and how eager to help they are.

Setting up My Computer Again

admin — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 03:58:10 +0000

I have just started using voice recognition on my computer and I am trying to get the system trained to my voice. I think it will take a lot more time than I originally expected, but on the other hand I did buy myself a pretty good Bluetooth microphone, and I can tell that it at least is going to be very clear when I speak. I am doing this right now because I have decided to seize the day when it comes to using my computer and certainly my recent problem with a hard drive failure has made me realize just how important this system is to not only my blogging, but pretty much everything that I do in my life.

At any rate, this is going to be very short blog tonight because I have decided to call it a night. I have been working nonstop at the office recently and although I realize it will be rewarding in the long run, I am also starting to get a little bit worn down from all of this continual work.

I know that this weekend is not going to be as relaxed as I would’ve hoped, but on the other hand I am pretty excited about it. I know that a lot of people treasured every weekend, but when you have been working 12 hour days like I have for the past couple of weeks, you really begin to realize just how important your time off days. Lord knows that mine is very critical to me. At least, to my sanity.

And isn’t sanity one of the most important things that we all have? I think so.

My Computer Crashed: a Hard Drive Recovery Service Review

admin — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 21:13:27 +0000

I am glad to say that my computer is finally working like it used to. I am so glad that it works again. I went to look online for a place that does hard drive stuff and really knew what they were doing. I decided to take a look at some of the reviews I found on Yelp, of course, which is honestly one of my favorite places to look for reviews for almost anything. I feel like there are a lot of sites that do reviews, but no one has even come close to Yelp when it comes to overall honesty. It’s really hard for companies to big up themselves on there, as well.

Yep, that looks just about right.

And don’t tell me that this doesn’t happen on a lot of the review sites out there. I’m talking about you, foursquare.

At any rate, I ended up scouring the site for a couple of hours trying to figure out exactly who I should send my hard drive to. I looked locally in Ohio, of course, but there really weren’t a lot of companies represented. I guess I can’t say that I’m all that surprised because I have a pretty good feeling that a lot of the technology people end up in places like California or New York.

The funny thing was, of course, that I ended up calling a data recovery service located in California after all. I guess those people who always slam people for stereotyping things are looking pretty wrong at this point.

Getting Lucky With Data Recovery

I am the first to say that I really know absolutely nothing about hard drive repair in general. In fact, if your computer crashes, you probably do not want to come to me for advice. I mean, I can probably tell you that rebooting is often a good idea, which we all know it is. But at the same time if you have a overheated hard drive or something, I am probably not going to be the person you could call. That’s why people call hard drive recovery services, after all.

What’s An Irvine?

Yep. I know what you are saying. But I honestly had no idea exactly what Irvine was, but this company told me that they were easily the largest hard drive shop in Irvine. Hey, I know that I’m from the middle of Ohio, but at the same time I really have to say that when I think of Southern California, I think of Los Angeles or San Diego. I don’t really think of a place called Irvine. I almost really wonder what it looks like.

At any rate, these guys definitely understood what they were doing because they had me packing up my hard drive and sending it to them very quickly. I can honestly say that it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I mean, outside of assembling IKEA furniture now and again, it is not as if I am a huge fix it person.

So basically, when they are done, they send it back.

The Results Of My Recovery

I have to say that I’m extremely pleased to say that my computer is working again. I am so happy that it works again. I was getting a little bit tired of always using my desktop because I frankly am just a much bigger fan of laptops in general.

It’s really funny, because the other day I was thinking about the fact that I was always sitting at a desk before I had a laptop. Of course, I understand that laptops are obviously a double-edged sword because clearly I would not have had to send in my hard drive for repair if this thing wasn’t so damn portable. Ah well, I guess you live and learn.

Toyota Will Have a Battle Losing the Stigma of Camry Drivers

admin — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 20:54:35 +0000

Hey, it's not like I designed the license plate. I'm just sayin'.

I certainly do not want to get all rant-y in general. But I do have to say that at this point I am well aware of what Toyota is trying to do. I think after years of having some of the ugliest cars on the road that were incredibly safe, but also incredibly boring, they are actually trying to do something. Take their Camry, as an example. If you know anything at all about Toyota Camry drivers in general, you probably understand that they typically tend to wear a hat or have gray hair or just pretty much overall suck at driving.

Am I stereotyping about Camry drivers? Of course I have. I understand that there are always going to be exceptions to the rule, but you have to admit that typically Camry drivers can be those annoying cars that are going about 30 miles an hour on a 55 mile an hour road. I have been behind so many Camry drivers over the period of my life that I have to say that they have become the kind of driver that I absolutely fear the most in my life. There is no kind of driver that is going to be able to steal more of your time in the day than a Toyota Camry driver.

New Direction for Toyota in General?

You can tell when you take a look at their website that they are really trying to lose the old image that they had as a very safe but ultimately unattractive vehicle. Naturally, I have to say that my case move more towards the Yaris, which although I have no idea where this word originates, I am sure that somebody who is a massive Star Wars geek probably knows.

Actually, looking at pretty much all of their model for the 2012 year you can tell that they really put a lot of work into the designs. I think that is probably going to be difficult for them to shed their image overall, but at the same time I can respect the fact that they are trying. I still expect that a lot of grandfathers and grandmothers will be driving these cars, but I will say that if they keep it up with the design cue changes, it may be possible that some of the younger kids may get into it.

Of course, maybe they won’t. Driving behind a Camry driver tends to scar a person for life.

IKEA And Its Media Invisibility

admin — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 20:41:03 +0000

It’s always interesting when you do a search on the web and you discover that some of the “newest” information on one of your favorite companies is actually quite old. When you take a look at this particular article on IKEA in the New York Times, I actually find it quite hilarious that it is still out there. It’s funny because this article is basically speaking about a recession that took place upwards of 15 years ago.

I don’t know about you, but I really wasn’t looking at economic factors too much 15 years ago. But it is very instructive about the fact that economic theory is pretty much up and down all of the time and that even a super shopping behemoth like IKEA is going to run into problems now and again. What is really kind of funny is that if you take a look at the article, it mentions that there are 119 stores in the world. I really have to wonder just how many stores there are right now, but I have to think that it has at least doubled. I mean, we’re talking 15 years here.

No News Is Good News?

At the end of the day, it is really strange that when I do a search for IKEA at the New York Times this is the article that comes up first. I mean, doesn’t IKEA have a public relations representative or something? Has there really been no stories in New York about this particular company in over 15 years?

In the end, I get it probably has a lot to do with the fact that Swedes tend to be quiet in general and obviously IKEA doesn’t want anyone looking at their labor standards which I’m sure are rather low. I think basically any mega company that makes billions of dollars is going to have a lot of people working for them for mere dollars a day.

So it is better to just sell cheap furniture and sit around hoping nobody notices your labor practices, I guess.

I’m not trying to say that they are trying to hide something, but it is very interesting that the press has not really picked up on anything, especially a media as respected as the New York Times. Well, I guess that’s the way things go sometimes.

Mac Hard Drive Recovery and Apple’s Big Problems

admin — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 20:32:57 +0000

No, my MacBook doesn't look like this, but sometimes I wish it did.

Just the other day day, my friend told me about Mac hard drive recovery service. I was really happy that he did, because my MacBook was really giving me a lot of trouble. I know that MacBooks are pretty good computers overall, but I do have to say that they are often a little bit annoying when they break down.

The funny thing about this is that it is not the first time I have had a Mac hard drive failure. In fact, I found myself at the Apple forums doing a lot of looking around lately and I realized that there just really isn’t a lot of good support knowledge there. I find that most of the things that people talk about are not anything to do with their Mac at all. And I find that the people who do this supports stuff there tend to be very quick to tell you to simply send your machine in and they will replace it immediately.

What they have to understand is that I am not looking to replace my machine, but to fix it. What’s more, you can’t just replace my hard drive and expect me to make all of the data out of thin air. I mean, I’m not a magician.

The Fantastic Stories About Hard Drive Recovery Services

I have heard some great things about some hard drive repair services. One great thing I heard about them is that they have some of the most qualified people in the computer world. It can see why your typical hard drive recovery service for Mac tends to be very expensive, but it worth it.

I bet they get to meet all sorts of people. I would love to have that job.

I remember my friend having to call this particular data recovery company because his computer messed up. He was so mad and upset. I wonder what happened to it. He told me that it crashed from overheating. That had to suck. He probably lost some data. He looked online to find someone to help him fix it. He was really happy when he found someone.

But, I think you could probably talk all day about how crappy Apple is in general. At first, I think it was pretty exciting to get a MacBook and I have always loved things like the iPad and the iPod. But I feel like this company is getting a little bit too big on itself and is trying to tie you to too many different proprietary things. I just wish they would lay off for a while, because it is pretty obvious that they are one of the most profitable technology companies in the world.

I think sooner or later they’re going to figure out exactly where they went wrong, but by that time they will probably end up being like Sony was in the 1980s. In a word, they will be completely dead and people will start to look at Apple as a relic.

I certainly hope that it never comes to that, of course, but I have to admit that I recently switched to an android phone because my iPhone was bugging me so much. I was tired of spending all that money for crappy software.

The Jackets And Next Year

admin — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 20:17:32 +0000

If you want to vote for Rick Nash or Jeff Carter for MVP, you obviously are not a fan.

If you’re a watcher of hockey, you obviously know that it is the postseason. The postseason is always a great place to be, but it’s not as if I would know as my beloved Columbus Blue Jackets remain in the dark dark cellar that is the NHL basement. I am not trying to say that I am considering another team, although there is word that the NHL is considering moving them, but I do have to say that this was a tough year. I am not going to say that it is a good thing to be in the basement of the NHL, but I will say that at least we are getting a second round draft pick. That only because Edmonton got lucky again and is the first round winner. Bastards!

Rick Nash And Sadness

If there was a story this year that really brought tears to the eyes of almost every Columbus Blue Jackets fan, it has to be that of Rick Nash. What can you honestly say about a guy who basically blew it all over the NHL and basically said that he hates Columbus. I understand that it is not necessarily the most cosmopolitan city on the planet, but at the same time it isn’t all that bad. Plus, Rick Nash basically was the Jackets. Once he is gone, I’m not really sure exactly what team is going to do.

Of course, the reality is that next year is going to be a complete rebuild for the team. They’re always going to be people who look back upon the Rick Nash era with a lot of sadness because of the fact that nothing really was achieved. But, I would also say that at least Columbus got a hockey team. There a lot of cities in the United States that can say that and some of them are actually wanting a team.

And in the end, at least we’re not Phoenix. That would be a far sadder scenario for pretty much anyone.

What to Look Forward to Next Year

I honestly have no idea what I’m going to be looking forward to as far as this team is concerned. Steve Mason, our goalie, is absolutely horrible. Outside of a few members of the team that actually surprised me, a.k.a. Vinnie Prospal, there really wasn’t a lot that was outstanding about this team. Obviously, the Jeff Carter situation was pretty horrifying for everyone, and I am glad that he moved on. You could tell right away that he was pretty upset that he was traded to Columbus, and I guess I can’t blame him because Philadelphia is a pretty exciting team to be on.

At any rate, next year is obviously going to be a big refresher for the entire team and I have to say that this is going to be very critical for the organization in general. If it doesn’t start doing something about all this losing, they could end up being a very bad thing. I realize that the team has to blow itself up, but I certainly don’t know if Columbus is going to support a franchise for as long as say, Edmonton, which has been losing for years.

Needless to say, I will be watching the playoffs, but I will always be a little bit saddened by the fact that there is no Ohio team in it. I would like to say that next year will be our year, but I somehow feel like that is a little bit too optimistic for anyone but the most dire of fans.

IKEA And Conan: a Match Made in Heaven?

admin — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:56:22 +0000

I can certainly understand why a lot of people shop for stuff at IKEA. This has to be one of the best no-nonsense furniture places in the world, and I have to say that a lot of the designs are getting a lot better as life goes on.

I wish all IKEA instructions looked like this.

What is also pretty cool about this store in general is that it makes people a lot more handy than they might originally have been. Yes I understand that sometimes assembling your furniture can suck, but the fact is is that it does give you some level of skill set that you may not have figured out before. Plus, it’s really cool because you can just go on their website and get IKEA assembly instructions whenever you want them. I have had a number of cases where I lost my instructions and it was pretty annoying in general. But once I figured out that I could just download a PDF copy of the same instructions directly from the IKEA website, I realized that I probably should do that. In fact, I find that reading my IKEA assembly instructions directly off of my iPad is probably the most convenient way to assemble furniture ever invented.

Yes, I may be exaggerating a little bit, but when have I not?

Nice Price

Yep, I know that IKEA furniture has been getting a lot more expensive over the years. I think it makes sense, because frankly I think at the start we were all getting away better deal than we thought. I realized that in Sweden people consider IKEA to be very similar to Kmart, but in the United States it is actually a pretty top drawer place. I mean, the designers alone are fantastic in general. Plus, I think it’s surprising always to find out just how many different kinds of products they have out there, and have easy to assemble they are.

This one is a joke, obviously, but it is something that I actually wouldn’t be surprised seeing from IKEA. I have to say that I do like Conan and I am actually one of those people who was sad when he ended up leaving NBC. I actually don’t know a lot of people who actually watch TBS these days, but I can tell you that he probably must get a lot less people watching him. I actually just managed to find this clip on CNN, but it made me remember just how great he is. not as great as IKEA, of course, but pretty good.

Well, That’s about as far as I want to go today, but I have to say that my friends and I have been joking about assembling our own IKEA entertainment system over the past couple of days. As big fans of design, obviously you have to get a little bit nerdy now and again.

Startin’ Er Up!

admin — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 14:04:24 +0000

Time for a new post. It’s been a while since I’ve had the opportunity to contribute to the site, but it really is about time for me. So, here goes!