The LoveSac Rally Racing Team made its debut at the Idaho Rally this weekend. We ALL entered the race knowing really only two things about Rally: Go fast & stay on the road. Being that it was my first rally, my co-driver's first rally, and even my mechanic's first rally, I decided to make the pilgrimage first to my buddy, owner of LoveSac furniture, America's top Rally Car Driver & X-Games Gold Medalist, Travis Pastrana, for some Rally car tips at his house in Maryland over the 4th of July.
Unfortunately, between craning him out of his foam pit as he practiced his sick trick for the X-Games,
and getting cold-cocked by some rugby player that night in the chaos that follows fireworks & partying, all I could out of Pastrana was: "Go fast & stay on the road." Well Trav, as my wife would tell you, I seem to listen to about half of anything.....we went fast, anyway.
July 16, 2009
ROLLED MY CAR INTO A RIVER
January 20, 2009
Sundance Film Fest Loves the Sac
The LoveSac Bus has been re-wrapped, re-pimped and re-deployed, this week to the world famous Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. The Bus now boasts 24 Speakers (all by Kicker), 8 Sony Screens including one 40" HDTV, Live TV by AT&T Cruisecast, two mobile Wi-Fi routers, PS2, Guitar Hero, a bottomless fridge full of drinks and of course, all LoveSac furniture. Talk about a crazy weekend. But LoveSac was not just on the streets of Sundance, we were on the inside too.
Island/Def Jam, arguably the most successful record label of our age, was party-central on Main Street Park City, at the Phoenix Gallery, and ALL of the furniture in the building was by LoveSac. Sofas and cozy lounges for the gifting suites during the day were converted (by the legendary Sac'r, Charlie Tubb) to gigantic sectionals and VIP sections by night. Celebrities such as Mariah Carey, Nick Cannon, Young Jeezey, T.I., and many, many others were chillin' on LoveSac Sactionals and Sacs all through the night. [Celebrity photos yet to come.]
But, in all honesty, even with the celebrity guests the open bar (for those into that), and all of the "Movie Producers" to mingle with....the Party on Main Street Park City, inside of the LoveSac Bus, was more fun. All we did was roll up and down Main Street, watching movies, blasting the tunes, playin' a little Guitar Hero, and giving onlookers the occassional ride. People were swarming the bus, fighting to get on, get a piece of LoveSac Schwag, and just get in to the mobile party, on the LoveSac Bus.
One of the weirdest moments came after dropping off a couple of the Island/Def Jam Execs at their condo, a mile out of downtown Park City. There we were, on some dark suburban Park City Street, in the middle of nowhere, when I saw a couple of people huddled up on the corner, looking like they needed a cab to go to town. Good luck. So I got on the Bus PA (Fire-engine/cop siren) and told em to jump on board. We drove for 5 minutes, back to town, before someone in back, having chatted with them, shouted up to me "Hey, Shawny, you know who we picked up....PEDRO, from Napoleon Dynamite." That's right, LoveSac fan Effren Ramirez and his girl jumped on board and we rolled to his party. ACTOR EFFREN RAMIREZ ("PEDRO").
VOTE FOR PEDRO.
So the weekend just went on and on, and the celebs both on the bus and in the party just couldn't get enough of the Sac...but then, who can? I did get at least a half-day up on the slopes with a good friend of mine, Joe Loomis (white camo pants), including his buddies Rob and Benny. Joe is a fellow entrepreneur who just made an exit out of his first big company -- congratulations. Gotta love the risk-takers. They also make the best boarding buddies, and playing in general. It's always a party with weirdos like us around. Up at the Canyons we were on the slopes with Cameron Diaz and crew. We even ran into guitarist, Slash, at the restaurant on top of the Gondola. In true rockstar form, he was rockin' a black leather jacket, jeans, converse, and of course the hair. Let's just say I don't think he was there to ski.
At night, the festivities went on. LoveSac continued to own Main Street Park City. I don't think there was a soul at Sundance that didn't know LoveSac was there. But I am afraid we might have worn out our welcome, at least with the local authorities. Apparently we were breaking half-a-dozen laws, between our holding up traffic, stopping for pedestrians clamboring to get on in the middle of the street, calling thru the Federal (Police/Fire) P.A., and generally shaking the sidewalks with the alternator-melting sound system on the Bus. (From the outside it sounds as if the bus is going to fall apart). The Park City Chief of Police finally pulled us over and was fully ready to impound it (after our third warning), until Joe saved the day. We even got a bit of it on tape. Bad boys, bad boys, whatchya gonna do....
COPS STOP THE LOVE BUS.
We dodged that bullet with a little smooth talking, having agreed to NOT STOP anymore on Main Street. No holding up traffic, when 100 yards up the road, SkullCandy founder, Rick Alden (maker of THE sickest head-phones in the world) jumps in front of the bus like a bug on the windshield demanding a ride. We somehow pulled he and his wife on-board in time to avoid incarceration, and drove them back down to their parking spot at the High School, partying all the way. You see, Park City is a town of about 15,000 people, normally, and expands to, say, 500,000 for the week of Sundance. Parking is a disaster....even worse for a 40' Bus. Rick is a good friend and fellow Utah entrepreneur. It's good to see SkullCandy blowing up like it has. It seems like only months ago we were experimenting slinging SkullCandy headphones out of our Salt Lake City stores just to help a brotha out. Now he has the national distribution of Best Buy, Target, and nearly everywhere else. Rock on SkullCandy. Their the real deal.
(SKULLCANDY CEO RICK ALDEN AND ME, center, his wife and Joe Loomis on the ends).
All in all it was a very successful Sundance Film Festival for LoveSac. A special thanks goes out to Island/Def Jam Records for having us, House of Hype out of LA for promoting the party, and especially to Charlie, Jordan, Alex, Chris, Kat, Sky, Tiffany, Jesse, my own wife, Tiffany, Joe, Rob, Benny, and all of the Sac'rs who worked their butt off (but especially Charlie) for pulling it off. NOT an easy task for a little brand like LoveSac to hang with (and out-do) the big-boys at Sundance. Now, the Bus rolls to the Winter X-Games in Aspen Colorodo thru Sunday, and then on to the Superbowl!! Keep an eye out. Find the bus and tell the Driver to "Show me your Sac," and he'll show you some love (in a good way--in the form of some LoveSac swag)....what were you thinking?
I'll leave you with some more pics and vids from the festivities, below.
From Park City, Utah...
-- Shawny D.
EFFREN RAMIREZ & SHAWNY D. ON THE BUS. PEDRO & THE LS CREW, PARK CITY
MORE PARTYING ON THE BUS....BUT CHECK OUT THESE ONLOOKERS, GAWKING AT THE LOVESAC BUS THRU THE WIND SHIELD. THIS IS SUNDANCE, 2009, PARK CITY, UTAH...
January 06, 2009
Customer's Own Pads from 2008...
I received a number of emails from various customers in 2008 showing me how they've Sac'd out their own lives. Here are a few of my favorites...
This kid (right) was just hangin' out in our Natick (Boston) LoveSacStore when he felt the power of the Sac for the first time. So strong it made the hair on the back of his neck (and his head) stand up. oooooooooh.
Then you have international celebrity DJ (with a face for radio) Marcus Schossow, showing up in the Dallas Galleria LoveSac Store for his first Sac experience (below)....
Sherri Later, of Columbus Ohio writes (down/right): I absolutely love our sactional!!! It's comfortable, looks really nice and best of all it cleans up easily. This is the best couch (if you can even call it that) that I have ever owned, it is so low maintenance. I have dogs and it is so nice to be able to take the covers off and just wash them when they get dirty or have hair all over them. I also love all the different options there are for arranging it, they are endless. We have used it in so many different ways and even as a bed on more than one occasion. Thank you LoveSac for making such an exceptional product we absolutely love it!" Sherri Perry
Alejandro, from Texas, sent me pics of some girl jumping from Sac to Sac at his place (his wife!?)...
And last, but certainly not least, one of our seeimingly biggest fans, straight out of England, by way of Sherman Oaks, California, Mr. James Crofton, who writes:
So I am overwhelmingly happy with my love sac experience.
Back in 2005 I moved from London temporarily to Los Angeles on work assignment. I had previously agreed to rent a room from my good friend and SFV local Jon. Unfortunately the major renovation works due to be complete earlier in the year on his house were running a little behind schedule. Since I was assured the inconvenience would be kept to a minimum i agreed to put up with the noise and moved my stuff in.
I was provided with a clean bedroom. but it soon became clear that the room was simply to close to workers and I could not sleep near all the fumes and dust coming from the next room.
I moved in to the living room. This room became a multi use environment including junk storage, (see photo below), Living room and bedroom among other things. How ever it was all made so comfortable and manageable by a very versatile piece of furniture I acquired the week earlier.
NO MODELS. NO TRICK PHOTOGRAPHY. JUST REAL PEOPLE ROCKIN' IN LOVESAC STYLE. WHO KNOWS WHAT 2009 MAY BRING!?
-- Shawny D.
December 29, 2008
Dragging bodies behind the car
A favorite Holiday tradition of mine is to drag my friends and family behind a moving vehicle dangerously fast, preferrably through the busiest streets. This is facillitated, of course, by copius ammounts of snow, and therefore is not always convenient or planned on. This year that opportunity came on Christmas Day night! Tiffany and I had both fallen asleep watching The Zohan when my cousin Richard White called. What he didn't know is that earlier that night, on our perilous whited-out drive home from Grandma's house, I was just trying to convince Tiff to come out with me later to wreak havoc in the snow, and when we brainstormed on who might actually have the guts to come out, we drew blanks. That's why I love my cousin Richard.
As I backed out of the driveway I thought to myself: This is stupid, repeated multiple times. I pushed on. I made the 30 minute (normally 10 minute) drive from Bountiful to Salt Lake City on completely snow-packed freeways - no pavement visible whatsoever. Too much fun. The only other person with cajones big enough to come out on a night like that finally texted me back from inside a movie, Ryan Money. He was on a date, but still down to tear it up. It was about midnight that I finally got suited up at Richards house in borrowed clothes. Richard's car covered in snow. Richard and his wife Emily and I killed an hour just doing 50 mph donuts in parking lots and residential streets. But on with the body dragging.....
HERE'S RYAN DRAGGING BARE-FOOT SKI STYLE BEHIND THE DURANGO...RIGHT THRU THE 7-11 PARKING LOT. HE'S A CRAZY MO-FO.
MAKING THE PREPARATIONS FOR PROPER HOOKEY-BOBBING.
SHAWNY D'S TURN TO NEARLY KILL MYSELF ON A PARKING LOT LIGHT POST. MERRY CHRISTMAS.
WE ACTUALLY RIDE THESE GIANT GARBAGE CANS DOWN RAW PAVEMENT IN THE SUMMER - GOTTA HAVE A STEEP HILL....OR, IN THIS CASE, SNOW AND A ROPE.
I LOVE YANKING MY COUSINS AT FREEWAY SPEEDS DOWN A 4 LANE ROAD...THEN WE CROSSED THE SOCCER FIELD - NOT SHOWING THAT ONE, DAMAGING EVIDENCE.
DID I MENTION RYAN MONEY IS NUTS?....
YEAH, HE'S ON THE ROOF OF THE CAR.
GOTTA LOVE GOING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS....NEVER GROW UP, ALL THE WAY.
YES, some day MY dream is to drive Rally Car, professionally....and once I said I was going to turn this oversized foam bag-thing into a company. You may doubt it now, but someday... You only live once...NEVER stop rockin' the Sac.
--Shawny D.
December 20, 2008
From East to WEST COAST Front Line Tour Ends...
My 2008 coast to coast drive in the LoveSac Bus ends in sunny California, at the California LoveSac Stores. I've met every Sac'r in the country, and, gotta say, I love em all. That really is my favorite part of operation Front Line. It's not the training; it most certainly isn't the remodeling and merchandising; it's got to be the Sac'rs--those that work for us and those who are just fans of the Sac. CHECK OUT SOME OF THESE WACK JOBS, from my visits to LoveSac Tyler Galleria in Riverside CA and Northridge CA...
No store visit without someone ridin' a Sac full speed down the main hallway of the mall. (wait till you see the video, coming soon to the in-store DVD) After 3 grueling days and a nearly full remodel of the LoveSac Tyler Galleria Store, the Manager, James, wasn't the only loopy one. But thanks to a hard working staff, the store turned out great, and we had some crazy Mexican Food getting adventures that last night on the LoveSac Bus.
Besides the typical store visit I had a little visitor of my own. Bud and Keenan, from Home Break Surfboards, brought me my long awaited custom LoveSac surfboard. A "fish," just as requested, facilitated by their new partner (and my partner of 7 years), Mr. Jon Coltharp--manager of the LoveSac factory since 2001. Check this bad boy out...
We'll come back to the surfboard later--I promise. First, we had some serious training to do with the Tyler Galleria Staff...
In search of the best Mexican Food of the Inland Empire, we headed up Magnolia, further into Riverside. We found the natty natty Mexican food, and some other wierdos along with it...
All in all, the Tyler Galleria Crew were definately keepin the vibe alive, and it was a laugh a minute to be with em.
It's good to see that LoveSac is still alive and kickin' in California, even if it a shadow of what we once were....LoveSac is back in black and we are about to blow it up again. So on to the Northridge store--just above L.A., for my final Front Line visit.
The Northridge LoveSac Crew (right) were definately, once again, a unique crew of Sac'rs. I like it! They all pitched in as we tore their store up from the floor up, and in just a few short hours, it was like a new place. We replaced every light bulb, killed those life-sucking flourescents, moved the behemoth fixtures, and makd the place look like new. Then we busted out some wicked sales training on the LoveSac ice-queen (this woman just wanted nothing to do with the Sac), and we met a nice little LoveSac family too. Check out these two videos of Chris, Sue, and their cute daughters--who ultimately get their way...
With some lousy Pizza Hut Pizza on the Bus, and one final Guitar Hero throw-down in the parking lot of the Northridge mall, my Operation Front Line, 2008, was finished. Yes--that west-coast Pizza was making me miss home and the good old Colony Grill, in Stamford, Connecticut, with the bombest thinnest, spiciest, best pizza in the United States of America, and I knew it was time to be on my way. So THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU, Staffers, fans of the Sac, customers, to everyone who made my 2008 tour as wierd as it was...thank you so much. YOU make LoveSac what it is. YOU keep us weird, and we like it. YOU deserve a MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY HOLIDAYS, HANUKKAH, KWANZA, or whatever it is you're into. So have one.
I, on the other hand, was not about to leave California without trying that surfboard. So I have have reached the end of the line. From Boston to So Cal, LoveSac is still spreadin' the Love coast to coast, and the vibe lives on into 2009. Signing off from Huntington Beach, California.....watch this....
src="https://lovesac.typepad.com/.a/6a00e5501c846a883301053687ee01970b-250wi"> Ride the Love. Happy Holidays.
-- Shawny D.
December 08, 2008
SL-UT (Home of LoveSac) & THE LONGEST DAY in December...
My cross-country store tour brought me back to Salt Lake City, Utah for Thanksgiving! I can't complain. Home for the Holidays is always a good thing, especially with an extended family as huge as mine (and my wife's). We kicked it off on Thanksgiving NIGHT with a LoveSac Bus appearance at the Fashion Place Mall midnight opening for Black Friday. Thousands of people lined up outside of the mall entrance as we circled the parking lot in the bus throwing our balls at people, trading LoveSac schwag for stupid human tricks, and an ongoing Guitar Hero battle on the LoveSac Bus. It's as close to Girls Gone Wild as we get on the LoveSac Bus. Check out the chaos in this video...
I began the real work with a visit to Layton Hills LoveSac. It looked great! Best staff I've ever seen there. Thankfully, the Layton Hills Crew has been running a pretty tight ship. Good merchandising, and a growing business. I had a couple of fans of the Sac waiting there for me on arrival. Check out the green tea girls of Layton...
In each store we make a video which will be used inside of the in-store video. Layton did the wannabe Sac immitator race. Not bad. It was the best human Sac costume I've ever seen.
I then tore up Fashion Place Mall for a couple of days, completely re-arranging their floor and lighting...a change needed for years now. The staff there is a VERY cool group of young Sac'rs who later showed up for a late night ride on the bus to the infamous "PIE" pizza place near the U of U. Crazy times.
We had some REAL fun at the Gateway. One of those never-ending all-nighters that got really ugly, but ended up pretty...a completely new concept store now. We had all kinds of adventures in remodelling (and trying to keep the store running with happy customers thru all of the chaos), as you can see below in the numerous strange videos. Good stuff. The Gateway Store turned out amazing, I must say, thanks to the hard work of everybody on their staff, as well as Davey, Charlie, and Spencer from HQ, and even Andres, who flew up from New Mexico LoveSac to help out. Check this mess out...
FIRST, A RUG MUNCHER!? AT LOVESAC!?
THEN, A CUSTOMER WHO TAKES HIS SACTIONALS A PIECE AT A TIME...
NEXT, A WINDOW TINTING EXPERT WHO DOES THE FIRST EVER TOTALLY BLIND WINDOW TINTING JOB...ONLY LOST THE TIP OF A FINGER...ONLY AT LOVESAC...
Here is the itinerary for a day in the life of the glamorous Shawny D. on Frontline!? LONGEST DAY IN DECEMBER (so far):
11am THURSDAY: Arrive at the newly carpeted Gateway. Proceed to deal with brand new fixtures, arrived broken on delivery. Fix & set up.
2pm: Tear the entire store apart one half at a time, operating a functional Holdiay Season LoveSac store on the other side.
3pm: Discover yet more supplies (Velcro, staples, nail gun) needed to finish the store. Run to Lowes & Industrial Supply store.
5pm: Pick up LoveSac Bus having had minor work done to prep it for west coast front line visits.
6pm: Arrive back at the Gateway, BEGIN to re-set store layout after total upheaval.
7pm: Window tinter arrives and demonstrates his skills.
9pm: Electricians arrive to climb over the top of us, hanging lights where they can.
10pm: BEGIN to hang the artwork...a 12 hour process for 1 person (yours truly, plus one assistant)
1am: Midnight run for greasy Mexican food to keep us going.
2am: Large Artwork finally in place...goin' all night now...
7am: 75% of small artwork (300 frames!) hung on the walls. Beg Tiffany to wake up, bring me clothes, and deoderant so I can get to my next appointment...
8am FRIDAY: Give speech to room full of 100 entrepreneurs at the Larry H. Miller Shool for Free Enterprise in Sandy on zero sleep. At least 4 of them commit to buying Sactionals. LoveSac is back!
10am: Return to Gateway Mall, finish hanging ALL of the artwork and re-setting store layout for big weekend in sales.
1pm: Rush out to Bountiful, home of my in-laws to shower.
1:20pm: Rush back to Holladay to pick up my nephew Matthew and 8 of his friends for his 10th birthday party (something I hate to miss).
1:45 pm: A bus full of screaming kids playing Guitar Hero, on our way to the Ice-Skating Rink where they expect me to entertain them.
2:30pm: Pull 8 10-year-olds around the Ice-Skating Rink in Murray Utah in the famous "Uncle Shawn Train."
4:00pm: Eat Cupcakes.
5:00pm: Back on the bus for an hour of Guitar Hero in the Best Buy Parking Lot next door.
6:00pm: Back to the Gateway Mall for their Merch Walk-Thru with the Managers.
7:00pm: Sales Training with the entire Gateway Staff, where I work the store floor for 3 hours until closing. They watch, take notes, and we debrief after every group of customers leave. I put the hard-sale on two couples from Idaho, in town, shopping for Christmas. Sold two SuperSac packages right there. Charlie drove to Fashion Place Mall to pick up their SquattoMans!
10:00pm: Mall closes. Back to the LoveSac Bus for Brand Training ON the bus, where the entire staff stares at me while I try to remain coherent for a 90 minute training session. Ahhhhhh! In my sleep deprivation, I forgot to take the Gateway Staff Pic. Bummer.
11:30pm: Part of Gateway Staff hangs out on Bus for some Guitar Hero Action. The FASHION PLACE staff show up with their fiends/boyfriends/girlfriends, having not had the chance to be on the bus because it was in the shop. I take them all to the Pie Pizzeria for some late night pizza action, running the bus' sirens and PA all the way up town.
2am SATURDAY: Leave the Pie. Head back to Bountiful for my first sleep in about 42 hours.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATT!!!!!
Never stop rockin' the Sac.
-- Shawny D.
November 26, 2008
TX Stores, TX Customers, TX Football
I usually leave my Texas visit until the end of my Operation Front Line visits. I love the Sac'rs in Texas. Many of them have been with us for 3-4, even 5 years now and they are as "LoveSac" as it gets. Going to Texas is somehow a bit like going home. Not to mention, my oldest sister, Kristy and her family, live in Abilene, Texas. It is always nice to get out and see them.
While at the Stonebriar LoveSac store in Frisco, Texas, I was discovered by Brandon, a fan of the Sac who found me on the floor, re-wiring the cash & wrap fixture after moving part of it out (not that I know how...but it had to be done). He asked me to show him the money, so I hooked him up with a $50 gift card.
Then we proceeded to destroy the useless fixture. Check out the vid...
While at the newer store, the Dallas Galleria, I met Alejandro, from Mexico. Alejandro seems like a great business man and I just love meeting these people who really "get" our product and our brand. I showed him the money. Check out the video...
But before I wrapped up in Texas, I decided to work in a little family time. Without one day off for a month straight, leading into Christmas, I have to take every chance I get to take care of myself and my family. Last minute I decided to cruise out to Abilene, Texas, to hang with my Sister Kristy's family & my nieces. It was the night of the big playoff game, so I drove them and their friends out to the middle of nowhere, to check out the big Abilene football game. They take their football pretty seriously in Texas....
The whole group.
Myself + my nieces & friends.
Ally, Kimmie, Kirsten, PJ, I love you.
Keep rockin' the Sac. Keep lovin' your fam.
--Shawny D.
November 21, 2008
Omaha to Texas on LoveSac's Front Lines
After a getting kicked out of the Jordan Creek Mall in Iowa's parking lot "No fixing of vehicles on-site" for spray=gluing and spray painting (touch ups) the LoveSac Bus wrap (it takes abeating on the road), Eddie and I just made the drive. 12 hours, straight through, from Omaha to Texas, all in the name of the Sac.
Omaha LoveSac tore it up. We literally re-wired and re-lighted that entire store in one day. I am now the king of track lighting. As I train our people in my visits: "Make it happen." It takes a man of many talents to hang at the Sac (and I don't mean me). All of our Sac'rs are just known for making it work. Mark and the crew were great to train, and even more dedicated to making their store look hot...no matter how much I run over them. Eddie, as always, worked his butt off, and we made a HUGE difference in that store. I am now a track lighting installation professional/Rebel Billionaire.
I had a few "Show me the money" customers come in. Marty was one of them. Marty owns 2 Big Ones and a MovieSac. YEAH. That is a LoveSac loyalist. I tried to hit him up for the Sactionals, but he is blinded by the enormity of the SacHe caught me on the ladder as I literally installed all new track lighting in Omaha. I HATE Flourescent lights.
Then ther was Aaron, another Sac owner, who came in to claim his $50, take home some throw pillows, and proceeded to tell me how he uses his Sac in this little vid...
Also in Omaha, I ran into most of the O.G. LoveSac crew! Miriam came by, as well as the infamous Omaha twins. Clint is back on the staff (about time), and kickin' it real in the Sac. I love it when true Sac'rs return to the fold.
The drive from Omaha to Texas was nuts. I swear we are taking over the great plains. We stopped at the 24 hour ATM at the Sac Credit Union to withdraw some fundage. That's right! We have our very own bank.....in Kansas no less! We also have our own Casino, and, as Joe will tell you, it is becoming a bit of a tradition to stop and....get a bite to eat (at 3 am).
Now we're in Dallas. Eddie drove the last 5 hours. WAY TO GO Eddie!!! He handled the Sacs Machine with ease. I fixed stuff. Guitar Hero is now a permanent fixture on the LoveSac Bus.
I'll be at the Dallas Galleria tonight hanin' with the lovely Kai, THE SAC'R WHO HAS BEEN WITH LOVESAC, STRAIGHT, LONGER THAN ANYONE IN THE COMPANY OTHER THAN MYSELF!(Friday, Nov 21) until close, and then at Stonebriar tomorrow (Morning), and all day Sunday. Stop by and say "Shawny D., show me the money," and I give you $50.
Not a bad deal if you ask me.
PS: Big ups to my girl Annie Aziz, who, while still recovering from being ran over by a tractor IN HER LIVING ROOM, is still representing the LoveSac brand. It saved her life!!! She was on Fox News, NATIONAL, just the other day, telling her crazy story (Check out my blog 4 previous).
Keep rockin' the Sac on the front lines....
--Shawny D.
November 14, 2008
Pimp My Bus....Love My Staff
So after finishing the first week of Operation Front Line, working over all of the East Coast LoveSac stores (see pics further below), it was time to get serious. With a 5000 mile road-trip ahead of me, we had to apply the LoveSac lifestyle to my ride….so we pimped out the bus….LoveSac style.
It wasn’t pretty at first. Sure, the bus was wrapped already, but inside, it was just a plain old motor home with a few Sactionals in it. As with anything LoveSac, it needed to be remark-able.
With help from Mike, Dave, Sambir, and Ben from LoveSac HQ, and a couple of temps, we gutted the entire bus and transformed it into a Shawny D. original design…
2” thick 100% wool hand-tufted deep shag rugs throughout, 7 flat-screen monitors off the in-dast DVD player, 9 speaker Memphis sound system powered by 1500 watts complete with Pioneer Premier sub-woofer, a complete repainting in Galveston Gray (just like our stores), and eventually we will cover the walls in framed art, just like our stores.
Once the basic renovations were done we got serious and installed the newly re-upholstered captain seats, done over in Simba and Black Diego fabrics from the LoveSac Custom Order swatches. Of course, a Black Diego Custom CitySac in the corner.
I personally fabricated all of the TV shrouds using the table saw and jig saw, covering them in the Black Diego fabric, mounted and installed all of the new speakers, in a row above the seating. The seating….4 Base 6 Side long sectional, all in Custom Simba (tiger) Covers beneath the Custom Black Diego curtains. We ripped out the entire stove, sink, and kitchenette, replacing it with a Custom Shira (Leopard) Chaise Lounge beneath the 20” flat-screen up above. All ceiling lights replaced with custom club-blue light bulbs.
In the rear, we installed a 4 Base 4 Side Movie Lounger beneath the black lights on the ceiling, and the drop-down 20” monitor. A Moroccan pillow-pile in the corner on the bench.
The bus is finally ready for the trek west on Operation Front Line, 2008. Every year for the last 6 years, I drive across the country and visit every single LoveSac store to personally work on every store-floor, do hands-on training, and generally stay in touch with LoveSac employees and customers everywhere.
First stop (from last week): Tyson’s Corner (DC). Mike and the crew are the top LoveSac store in the country. Adam, (our manager of 5 years!) from Texas, ridin’ shotgun and helping me train in DC and NJ.
Next: Garden State (NJ, shown in previous entry) and Queens Center (NYC). Jennifer and the staff (left) keepin’ it real on the lower level of the Queens Center Mall. Katie came back to the Sac, having worked for us down in Texas years ago. I love that so many people who leave LoveSac end up coming home.
Up north to LoveSac Natick Collection (outside of Boston). Jeremy and his staff (right) of newbies keep the place lookin’ smooth, even without a woman’s touch. Jerome – sorry I couldn’t stay and hang. We’ll have to go tear it up next time I’m up there. Hellen, our National Sales Manager based in the KOP store came along and absolutely killed it. She’s better at LoveSac sales than I am, no question.
Wrapped up the east coast leg at Hellen’s store, King of Prussia, PA. Matt, Hellen’s assistant, and the rest of the crew do an amazing job on one of the country’s smallest store floor. We tore it down and re-built it, an impromptu re-merchandising that turned out better than I even expected!
Sambir and Mary, new employees from HQ, jumped on board and worked the sales floor at KOP for 8 hours straight. They absolutely KILLED it on the floor. A bit quiet at first, but by the end of the day, they were working the customers over! I think they came away with a new respect for our people on the front lines who ultimately bring in all of the money for our company, and pay our salaries.
Back to the office (Monday) to Pimp My Bus. And then…
The 8 hour drive to Pittsburgh, PA & South Hills LoveSac. I had Mike from Tyson’s Corner with me, who not only rode shotgun, but drove the bus! Mike was a roadie for rock bands for years and knows how to handle a the road (niiiiiiiiiice). Torin and Libby, at South Hills, surprised me with one of the best-kept stores in the country. Who knew?
You should see these videos they are all making for insertion into the in-store DVD experience. OUT OF CONTROL. Here you have Big Fan Sacs Sumo Wrestling (and costume prep). No comment on this pic (right).
The next day, on the other side of Pittsburgh, the Ross Park visit was, um, interrupted. Our store in that mall is like the home of the old lady where she just won’t sell, so they build the giant high-rise community all around it anyway. You see, the store just needs some updating.
With some paint, some lights, and a serious re-organization of the store floor, we will finally be able to hang with the Louis Vuittons, Burberrys, True Religions, and Tiffany’s stores which all of a sudden surround us there. So we all got dirty, tearing that store down, completely, and re-building it to look like the new LoveSac. Paint and artwork going in next week! I will return in a couple of weeks to do the staff training then.
We wrapped up at 2am. There is no rest for the wicked. Our Mayfair, Wisconsin Front Line visit was scheduled in 12 hours, and it is a 10 hour drive. Mike fell asleep in back, on the Movie Lounger, I tore thru 5 DVDs a 32 oz. Dr. Pepper followed by a 32 oz. Monster Energy Drink. Hello Wisconsin.
Tiffany and Lucky (my cute wife and baby) joined up with us in Milwaukee, and last night we walked the store with Katie and the Mayfair Wisconsin LoveSac Crew. I love these guys. (below)
Gio’s been with us for like 4 years. Megan just returned to the LoveSac family, having left for a year or so (the good ones all come back!). Rockstar Matt watched the floor while I knit-picked the Model Store with Katie, just looking for ways to mark them down, as I had set their store personally, just a few weeks before. Good crew.
We did their training on the Bus and wrapped up around midnight. I’m on to Appleton, Wisconsin, Fox River LoveSac, today. I’ve got Lucky and Tiffany ridin’ on the bus, and Katie coming along for backup. My good buddy Ryan is runnin’ the show up north, and I am sure doing a great job of it.
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WIN $50 JUST FOR SHOWING UP
Finally, CHECK THIS OUT, last night at Mayfair Mall LoveSac, I bought $50 LoveSac Gift Cards for the first 3 fans of the Sac who came in and said the code words, “Shawny D., show me the money.”
Come find me on the bus, out on the road, and I will hook you up with some serious LoveSac schwag – even the employee T Shirts and other Limited Edition LoveSac Gear.
Come find me in a store, on my Front Line Visits (see my schedule at LoveSac.com), say the code words, "Shawny D. show me the money" and I will hook you up with a $50 gift card (but be early – only the first 3 customers each time; I usually arrive at the stores between 2-5pm, and leave at close. Courtney & Clair (above left) are "shown the money". This reader of my blog is going to use his $50 towards a PillowSac Rocker next week. (right) I got the chance to personally give him a Sactionals demo on the sales floor. Gotta Love our ever-growing LoveSac family.
Phewwwwwwwwwwwwwww. What a mouthful. Keepin’ the dream alive, on the road. See you at Mall of America, Minneapolis, Minnesota this weekend (Sunday, Nov 16), and then on to Des Moines, Iowa, Jordan Creek LoveSac on Tuesday (Nov 18) next week.
Please keep in touch with me!
--Shawny D.
Shawn D. Nelson
Born. Played. Worked. Played. Worked. Married. Worked. Won $1 Million on TV. Worked. Fathered a child.....
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