Welcome to the Cannock Beds Blog.

22nd February 2010
The Pinetum Pantone range of beds and furniture that I mentioned in my last blog has arrived, and I have got to say that it is awesome. The colour chart is unbelievable you can get panel wooden beds, slatted shaker wooden beds, low foot end wooden beds, high foot end wooden beds, and if you really want you can have them painted PINK I think that the other colours might be more popular, but you never know.
When you buy a Pantone wooden bed or furniture you will also get a tree sent to you. Yes, that’s a tree. A Norwegian Spruce sapling to be precise which you can plant in your garden. I am reliably informed that this one act can reduce your carbon footprint by 15%. If that’s the case then why not buy 7 nice wooden beds in different colours, plant 7 trees and leave no carbon footprint at all? Would that work?

5th February 2010
The big furniture exhibition of the year happens at the end of January and we have managed to secure two new supply deals which we think that you lot in customer land will love.
We have a range of beds and furniture arriving from a UK manufacturer called Pinetum. They make wooden beds of the very highest quality and in stunning designs. The thing which really is different however is that they have a choice of twelve colours and the wooden beds and the furniture can be made in any of the colours. The beds will be on the site in a couple of weeks and in the showrooms a couple of weeks after that. We have chosen our bed displays in the “truffle” colour.
We have also added an al singing all dancing mattress with 2000 pocketed springs, foam encapsulation, memory foam sleeping layer and Outlast temperature management system. This will be the highest specification mattress in our range, but we chose it because it is quite simply the most comfortable mattress that we could find in the whole exhibition. What a cracker

29th January 2010
I would have laughed at this time last year if you had told me that one of the most popular beds in the range is a leather bed with an electric motor that lifts a TV out of the foot end, but it has happened. The New York leather TV bed has been an enormous hit with Cannock Beds customers which just goes to show that people are still looking for a bit of luxury in their lives.
Our sales of the New York TV bed have been helped by the fact that some of our competitors are selling the same bed – but at a higher price. That always feels good.

14th January 2010
I am always anxious before the Big Sale starts just in case for some reason nobody goes shopping and we are left with thousands of beds and mattresses with thousands more beds and mattresses on order. The snow came heavy this year but shoppers did not seem to be deterred. We are right in the middle of the Sale now and I can report that our wooden beds and metal beds have been unbelievably popular. The prices have been very low this year (credit crunch and all that) and our customers have been able to spot the bed bargains a mile off. We have also sold and delivered more Sealy mattresses and memory foam mattresses with our beds that we could have imagined.
Thank you to all our customers for showing us so much support. Have a good nights sleep

2nd January 2010
Happy New Year Only on the second day of the year and already I am loving it. Our new bed showrooms have been going a bomb and the new wooden beds in particular have been very well received. I will give more information soon but right now we need about 450 more wooden beds by the end of next week just to keep our customers happy. Don’t worry we’re onto it.

18th December 2009
Christmas is just about upon us and peoples’ minds have understandable moved from buying beds to buying food and liquid refreshments. BUT – Boxing Day is looming large and the start of the Big Sale. For companies that sell beds this is expected to be the busiest time of year and consequently our warehouse is now stacked full of heavily discounted metal beds, wooden beds, leather beds and more mattresses than you could shake a stick at. It’s a veritable bed fest in there and having seen the sale prices everyone is starting to get nervous that we just don’t have enough beds for the mad rush. I hope that they are right – we can always get more.

25th November 2009
Well this is the week that we launched our new range of Nano Silver technology mattresses which go under the name of Silver Safe. They arrived in all of the shops on Monday along with some new divan bed bases, and they look $1million, even if I do say so myself. It is difficult to develop beds which keep up with the research being done on sleep. We tend to design new leather beds, wooden beds and metal beds quite often, but they don’t help you sleep. The Silver Safe mattresses and divan beds most certainly will.
The research findings are overwhelming that static electricity in your body will stop you sleeping soundly and these Silver Safe beds and mattresses will allow the static charge to completely dissipate. And here’s a big bonus – they feel just great.
I am pleased to report that on the first day of availability 3 people bought a Silver Safe mattress. I will contact them in about 3 weeks and report back on how they are enjoying their new beds.

23rd November 2009
The weather is wild. What has that got to do with beds you might ask. Well the fact is that we have 2 containers of new designs of wooden beds stuck in a ship just off Felixstowe and the ship can’t land. You didn’t know it but you were just about to be spoiled with the work of a brand new supplier who make wooden beds, oak beds and pine beds in a state of the art factory in Malaysia. This is a better wooden bed factory than anything which currently exists in Europe and they make wooden beds of a better quality and price than anything else that I have come across.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that you can’t see our new wooden beds for another 2 weeks because they are stuck on the English Channel.

9th November 2009
I went shopping on Saturday to look for a new fridge freezer – the old one seems to warm the milk instead of cooling it. After 3 hours and 2 retail parks worth of looking around it was becoming far clearer to me why shopping on the internet is becoming more popular. That applies to beds as well.
Nearly 20 years ago I was told that a certain catalogue company had just become Britain’s biggest bed retailer and I could not understand why people would buy a bed from a picture when they could go to a shop and try it first. Well if a catalogue was a good enough place to buy a bed then the internet absolutely spoils you.
Search engines are now so good that anyone looking for a bed will type a specific search term into Google and be offered a massive choice. People search for metal bed, wooden bed, leather bed or maybe double bed or cheap bed, and will find exactly what they are looking for. No retail parks, no bad weather, no sore feet, just a cheap double wooden bed for the best price available.
I am not suggesting that you should buy a bed on the internet without good advice. I am suggesting that visiting a bed showroom still has value. It is good to try a bed if you are going to use it for the next 8 or 10 years and it is good to get advice from a bed expert. At Cannock Beds we sell for the same price in our showrooms or on our website so we do not penalise you for coming to see us. And if you want a cheap bed, or a wooden bed and we do not have one on display that suits then you can view our website in store and get advice on our full range of beds from people who have tried them. Sounds to me like the best way to make sure that your new bed is a perfect match for your needs.
As for the fridge freezer – I bought it on line and it is being delivered tomorrow.

29th October 2009
It’s nearly Christmas. A walk down any high street will leave you in no doubt that Christmas now starts in earnest in October.
At Cannock beds we have taken a different approach to the festive season this year. About one month ago we place massive orders with our suppliers for metal beds, wooden beds and leather beds to arrive in the first week of December. Due to the fact that we can deliver beds and mattresses next day people can buy a bed from us on 22nd of December and be sleeping on it before Christmas. We are the only company on any retail park which can deliver beds this quickly and we expect that fact alone to keep us busy right up until the fat bloke in the red suit is loading his sleigh.
Take my advice and get your Christmas shopping done early this year. It will leave you time to look for a new bed before the Boxing Day Sales send everyone crazy.

9th October 2009
Opening new shops is a nerve wracking thing – despite all the confidence there is always a nagging doubt that new customers will not be as keen on your beds as your old ones were. The good news is that they do like our beds, perhaps more than ever.
New shops do give us the ability to launch new products and our bed range has changed by about 30% over the last month. We had been working long and hard with two bed factories in the Far East to improve our wooden bed and leather bed offer. We now have a choice of four wooden beds from the same factory but in a choice of white, antique and willow. Not surprisingly the white wooden beds are proving the most popular.
We also launched a new faux leather bed which is unbelievable value and has the option of matching underbed drawers. We launched this leather bed at £199 for a double, and I am pleased to say that it knocks the spots off our competitor’s beds at the same price. Notch that one up for Cannock Beds

18th September 2009
Sometimes in your life someone just inspires you. I had one of these moments yesterday when we were visited by a mattress manufacturer from Malaysia. This chap has so much passion for making beds and mattresses that it rubs off on everybody. The most interesting thing that we discussed was a new range of divan beds which has nano silver technology in the mattress fabric. Vince (for that was his name) explained to us about how static charges in our body will cause us to sleep lighter and have less restful sleep and they interfere with our body’s ability to recuperate while asleep. Having nano silver in the mattress will take away the static charges and allow a deeper sleep. You may also have seen nano silver in other things – socks and Elastoplast for example – as it destroys all bacteria.
The arguments for having nano silver in a bed are compelling so watch this space. Having spent a full day researching the subject I am committed to having a bed and mattress range with nano silver by the end of this year.

14th September 2009
I have not been keeping you up to date on our exploits because we have all been so busy opening the New Cannock Beds showrooms. Our Operations Manager John McIntyre is in desperate need of a holiday as he has been scouring the country looking for people to turn into the best bed consultants that the world has ever seen. I have got to say that he has done a great job and our new teams are already learning loads about our leather beds, wooden beds and all of the different mattresses.
We have 7 bed showrooms now – all in Scotland – so if you live North of the border and need a new bed or a new mattress then we shouldn’t be too far away.

6th August 2009
I saw a Dreams advert on the TV last week and popped into one of their stores to have a look. Is it just me or do their beds look expensive. There is no doubt that they have loads to choose from and their advertising is second to none, but they seem to be about 10% dearer than everywhere else. Their leather beds and metal beds in particular looked overpriced. Still listen to me moaning about a bed business 30 time bigger than our own – they know what they are doing, and besides it makes Cannock Beds look better. I will not be visiting a Dreams shop in the next few months in case they beat me up for writing this.

14th July 2009
Cannock Beds is recruiting. The New bed showrooms will be open by the end of September so we need to bring people into the business during August to make sure that they are fully trained. If you or any one that you know would like to work in one of the country’s best bed stores then please send your details to sales@cannockbeds.co.uk .
You don’t need to have sold beds or mattresses before, just be confident and a good communicator and we will teach you everything that you need to know about matching customers to beds. Applications need to be sent before 31st of July.

9th July 2009
One of my daughters came to speak to me yesterday to tell me that she needs a new bed. “What do you expect me to do about it?” I said (or wanted to say). She explained to me that she is 12 now (time flies) and that she needs a teenagers bedroom, which apparently involves different coloured walls, Mcfly being replaced by The Arctic Monkeys and a new white wooden bed with a memory foam mattress. We went on line to choose the wooden bed (guess which web site) and we are going to test memory foam mattresses at the weekend. Of course her twin sister wanted the same bed. I have secretly ordered them posters of Bruce Springsteen – they will love that – won’t they?

1st July 2009
Great news for Cannock Beds. We have just completed an agreement with a new Upholstery retailer called World of Sofas who are opening 17 stores across the UK before the end of the year. Cannock have signed up to put bed showrooms into 7 of the Scottish stores. We have seen the store plans and some of the product ranges for World of Sofas and they look great – a welcome departure from the middle of the road stuff that you find on most retail parks. This development will help us to spread the Cannock Beds message and to take our range of beds and mattresses all the way from Ayrshire to Aberdeen.

8th June 2009
I have never come across a metal bed as popular as the City Block before. There are dozens of these modern metal beds sold every single week I would love to tell you that I am a clever bed designer who masterminded this model, but the truth is that I was looking at a very upmarket catalogue about 5 months ago and came across this metal bed which they were selling for nearly £400. “How can they justify that” I thought. The design was simple and I knew enough to know that it should not be as expensive as that, but people must be paying that for it or else it would not be in the catalogue. The design was sent to our best metal bed factory, changed slightly to improve the symmetry and PRESTO £149. I am a bit paranoid now that I have written this and will be on the lookout for any unscrupulous bed shops who try to liberate our excusive (and registered) design.

22nd May 2009
Three people have chosen a Harrison pocket sprung bed from us over the weekend. Not just me who thinks that these big beauties are the answer to all of our sleeping woes – except the wife snoring after too much sherry.

14th May 2009
We have just put a range of Harrison beds into Cannock Beds in Glasgow. Oh My Goodness they feel spectacular They are a bit more expensive than what we have offered before but they have pocket sprung mattresses and have spring counts of up to 4000. The beds which I particularly like are the Divan beds with a sprung base and memory foam – makes them a bit softer you see and my old bones need a bit of luxury. If you are driving along London Road one day and have 15 minutes to spare pop in to have a shot on these. If nothing else it will make you feel bad about the bed that you have at home

5th May 2009
May is a good month to have bed shops on retail parks – two bank holidays you see. We have just had the first Bank Holiday, and although we are clearly in a recession there are definitely more people out shopping. I am just on to brag about our new leather bed range. You lot have bought loads of them. We have a low foot end leather bed called the Nevada which you can put storage drawers under and it has been so popular that we are about to run out of stock. You don’t have to point out that picking nice looking leather beds is only half the battle – having some stock to satisfy our customers is the bit that I have not mastered yet.

10th April 2009
We have just launched two new bed showrooms. It is good news for us as we have been able to retain many of the teams which had faced redundancy after our bed concessions inside Land of Leather had to close. We are now open in Seafield Road in Edinburgh and inside In Style furniture on London Road, Glasgow. Both showrooms look great and we have completely changed our range of leather beds. I had taken the opportunity to put on dark glasses and visit some of the other bed shops in the area and decided that some of the leather beds which we stocked were much better than theirs (but then I would) so we have put more out onto display. I hope our competitors don’t read this page or I will be thrown out the next time I make a social call.