For YEARS now we at LoveSac have wanted to expand beyond just Sacs & Sactionals to include some other comfy stuff too. For many reasons it has eluded us....until NOW. Let me introduce to you LoveSac's BRAND NEW line of these products called..........wait for it........."Other Comfy Stuff." More importantly (and this is no exaggeration) THIS IS THE NICEST, MOST WELL DESIGNED STUFF WE'VE EVER MADE. I am telling you: if you want to give someone you love a truly unique, extremely high quality, expensive-feeling gift this Christmas you MUST watch this video and then check out these amazing products at lovesac.com.
This is just me, in my living room, showing you up close and personal how special these things are:
Here are some quick BEFORE and AFTER shots of our Tyson's Corner, Wash DC location, after our 3 day re-merchandising that we snuck in during my "Front Line" Tour last week. Jesann, Brian, Jeremy, Kevin, Craig (the painter/Sac'r) and the whole crew did an amazing job...in true LoveSac style, working (literally) around the clock. Honestly - we have the most amazing people.
Let me know what you think about our new look (BTW: its not 100% complete):
Hats off to the entire crew and BLOW IT UP this Holiday Season.
This will be my 7th year touring all of the LoveSac stores on what we at LoveSac call: Operation Front Line, 2009. After running the first LoveSac store day in and day out for months before we began to open more and build the company, I decided that I never wanted to get shut up in the office and lose touch with the customers who have made this company great. Not to mention our AMAZING Sac'rs who are out on the front lines making the sales, paying the bills, and who are ultimately responsible for LoveSac's success. So each year, just before the Holidays, I get out on the road and (mostly) drive to all of the LoveSac stores in the country. From LA to Boston, with each stop I am reminded of just how special our products are in our customer's lives and how great our band of young, capable, hard-working Sac'rs are at running this biz. [ABOVE LEFT: Natick MA LoveSac crew. RIGHT: Kyle & John, Sac users for years who now own Sactionals with multiple Covers]. BTW, COME FIND ME ON OP FRONT LINE AND SAY "SHAWNY D. SHOW ME THE MONEY,".....I'LL HOOK YOU UP.
This year, with so much going on, I will only make it to 2/3 of our stores before Christmas, but plan to catch the rest in the spring. [ABOVE LEFT: Bridgewater NJ crew]
At each stop I make sure that I'm not just dropping in to say "Hi" and point out shortcomings. I get to know every Sac'r by name, see who really tears it up and where our next Market Managers might be in the system! I work the store floor for hours, try to get my fair share of helping customers. I actually do the sales training while working the floor, with real customers; no role-playing here. They watch, I work. I usually make a sale or two and spend every other moment working with the store managers on merchandising training and setting their store right. [RIGHT: Columbia MD Sac'rs at the end of the 12 hour training. LEFT: Tyson's Corner D.C. crew - top selling LS staff!]
Each stop presents something new. I've wired lights, painted, re-located fixtures, hung posters, done light construction work...whatever needs doing. A typical "Front Line" day begins at 10am, sometimes noon, and runs until midnight, with all of the sit-down, hardcore training done after the store closes. We end the night by making ridiculous videos which live in infamy on the back walls of every LoveSac store and on the web forever, in the form of the LoveSac Store videos which you'll see playing in every one of our stores. Most customer's favorite part of these videos are the sections made by the Sac'rs on the Front Line visits....some better planned than others. I usually then drive on to my next location to the wee hours in the morning, wake up and do it again.
At each stop I take a new sidekick with me - usually a Manager or Assistant Manager from some other LoveSac market, with the purpose of getting to know them and further develop their skills at the Sac. They also work the floor when I'm back de-briefing the staff on the customer I just helped. I think it is always good for them to see other stores, other Managers, other ways of doing things. [RIGHT & LEFT BELOW: the new look of LoveSac, 2009 Columbia MD] NOBODY is too good at LoveSac to get their hands dirty, paint, clean, scrape, unload, setup, and go unil Midnight--or sometimes work for days straight, if necessary.
That is just our culture: this laid back, easy-going, fun company whose "laid back" people actually work harder, go longer, and are more capable than any other store in the mall....period. I love these guys. It is these people to whome we owe our deepest gratitude and respect. I dedicate this and every Front Line Tour I'll ever make to those who are really running this company, the Sac'rs on the Front Lines.
-- Shawny D.
BTW, COME FIND ME ON OP FRONT LINE AND SAY "SHAWNY D. SHOW ME THE MONEY,".....I'LL HOOK YOU UP WITH A LOVESAC GIFT CARD. Noon to Midnight... Nov 20th: Westroads, Omaha NE. Nov 22: Dallas Galleria, TX. Nov 23: Stonebriar, TX. Nov 29: Gateway Mall, SLC, UT. Nov 30: Northridge Mall, CA. Dec 1: Glendale Galleria, CA. Dec 2: Tyler Galleria, CA. Dec 6: Arizona Mills, Tempe AZ. Dec 7: Sunset Galleria, Henderson, NV. Dec 8: Layton Hills Mall, UT. Dec 10: Lenox, Atlanta GA. Dec 11: Mall of GA, Atlanta GA.
THE WINNER of this year's Halloween costume contest gets a (brand new) KING BLANKET by LoveSac, worth $300 (hit stores in 2 weeks!!!) THE BEST STORE overall all get a pair of (brand new) PHUR FEET Slippers by LoveSac....a prize to be coveted, no doubt. So I'll show you all the pics (in no particular order), then I'll tell you who won at the end, then YOU please COMMENT and tell me whether we got it right. ALL comments welcome.
Westroads NE
Mims!
No shirt to work!?
Luigi
asdf8r
King of Prussia! PA
Northridge CA (red walls)
Nerd & Rainbow Bright at Columbia MD!
AZ Mills
Flatiron Eddie & his world famous jacket!
Tyler Galleria
Ladies Man-agers
sadf25l
asdf30r
Georgia, Jersey, & Pittsburgh girls.
Layton discofied (again)
Casey & Josh spread the word in sin city!
Hung over in SLC.
More holiness.
Weirdos.
asdf46l
asdf47r
asdf48l
asdf49r
asdf51r
asdf52l
Christiana DE opens on Halloween! Alex as El Hombre LoveSac Magnifico, I'm inked up, Libby is doctor hottie, Brian really should grow a mullet, Batman. Batman....and the legendary Jizamm as a Pink Lady.
My Lucky lady-bug, her furry friend & Tiffany added together make for a "whole lotta woman." Clearly adding to my hardcore image.
Today I spoke in LA at an event with Richard Branson as the headliner and Christian Audigier (Creator: ED HARDY shown BELOW) as the closer....what a lineup! The "Perfect Pitch 2009" seemed to be a huge success to me. With hundreds of aspiring entrepreneurs and investors in attendance I know that I was inspired by all of the success stories and information shared. I love these events. The greatest thing about these entrepreneur events is also the most humbling: hearing SO MANY incredible stories of success, over-achieving and ridiculous wealth creation--all under one roof. THAT is America at its best - no matter what Michael Moore says about it. Capitalism breeds unbridled innovation - God bless America. (GOTTA see the vid below though!)
I spoke on a panel with Apprentice (2nd Season) winner, Kelly Perdew. It was fun to rewind a bit and recant some of my experience from the old Rebel Billionaire days. I was reminded of just what a rare opportunity that was. God bless America. (Me and Kelly Perdew shown right)
One of the coolest entrepreneur presentations ("pitches") of the day came from the founder of Icon Aircraft. I was blown away by his concept for a "Sport Plane," meant to tap into the "Power Sports" market (Sport Cars, Sport Bikes, Sport Boats, etc)...but for planes. This plane is SICK. Checkout: http://www.iconaircraft.com/ It will only cost about $140k and anyone can fly it, on land or on water...and tow it home on a trailer.
Finally, in contrast, I leave you with this thought - which can only be expressed in this real-life, unplanned, un-scripted, spur-of-the-moment little video that I just had to record as I watched TV the other night. THIS is the antithesis of everything that I stand for. I mean, hats off to Bob for his entrepreneurship, but OH, America - don't give in to becoming the unabashed couch potato that this ad implies that you are....
LoveSac lovers...YOU'VE GOTTA SEE THE VIDS BELOW (no, it is not snowing in this pic)....All of our Market Managers LoveSac Stores all over the US came to Stamford for an intensive 3 day training. In true LoveSac fashion: we work hard, we play hard. I'd write more but I couldn't do it justice. To get an idea of the (organized) chaos that ensued, just click on the videos below. First, 3 days in 9 minutes. Next, Sac Diving gets nasty. last, a flickr slideshow of some of my favorite pics of the week. If a picture is worth a 1000 words, a LoveSac video says it all...
MANAGERFEST WRAP-UP
SAC DIVING
FLICKR PHOTO GALLERY SLIDESHOW
Please COMMENT on what you think of our lunacy....good, bad, or ugly!
Just arrived in Prescott, Arizona for the Prescott Rally. I get adrenalized just thinking of driving rally...easily the wildest thing I've ever done. 12 hour drive down here. Not at all glamorous and we have a problem - possible spun bearing in the motor. Don't know how long it will last. BUT I race Friday afternoon (night driving!) and Saturday. Follow the results of each stage (8 stage, 100+ mile race, 4 stages per day) at this link:
In my endless travels China is one place I have been to dozens of times now. It is still a picture-a-minute. Of all the many accidents I've seen (and been in) in China, this is the first time I've ever seen a milk truck disaster. I love the Chinese version of a semi-truck. Always open-air with a massive net over the top. Clearly not so effective this time.
Just another reason to back up traffic.
Now of all the burning cars I've seen (and I've seen many), this is the first burning car I've seen in China. For some odd reason, when I used to live in California I swear I saw a flaming vehicle once a month. In fact, one time I even saw the car in front of me catch on fire...I actually dialed 9-1-1 for them! Then, when they pulled over and got out, we just sort of watched it burn.
I mean, what do you do? It's an oil fire and unless you have a fire extinguisher, the flames shooting out from underneath the car, threatening the fuel tank, are pretty much gonna do their thing. In this case, the car must have gone up fast...not even a fire-truck on the scene yet.
China really is a picture a minute.
The past few weeks at LoveSac have really just been all about the grind. TONS of new product development work and office work...not much to write home about. So I just thought I would share these weird photos I took on my trip. Hope you enjoy.
Look. It is a giant gold dog and a giant silver dog on the back of a flat-bed semi-truck.
Look. This is actually my absolute favorite China vehicle (see my blog about 10 posts previous for the entire list). If you CLICK ON THE IMAGE it will enlarge and maybe you can see what is going on here.
It is a raw internal combustion engine driving the front two wheels directly, pulling the cab and truck bed behind it. Much like a horse-drawn carriage, only pulled by a crude ode to the modern man, instead of a horse. The best of these motor-carriages are actually turned by giant handle-bars that the driver holds onto, turning the whole direction of the entire motor/front-wheels part of it, pulling the driver behind. THIS is the kind of thing that in another 5 years will be totally gone from the ever-modernizing China.
Finally, there was this fish. This fish is very LoveSac.
Here's a new video you probably haven't seen. A compilation of our just some of the various TV appearances & celebs rockin' the Sac over the years...also starring all of our store Sac'rs from last year:
LIVE IT. LOVE IT. LOVE SAC.
-- Shawny D.
Words cannot describe the thousands of picture-worthy moments which so make me love my visits to China. With no time to travel or play on these work trips, I still find myself constantly entertained just looking out the window. I share with you the first collection from my own amateur photography of one of my favorite subjects. I fear it have vanished into the future within just months or years from now the way China is steaming onward. Enjoy....
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