Well, Christmas time is here again and we've been kept pretty busy really so I must say a BIG 'Thank You' to all our customers over the last year, your support is really appreciated during these competetive and testing times for a small business such as ourselves.
Of course as we get to Christmas day we will be starting our usual 'festive mini-sale' to reward the early New Year shoppers so check out www.futons247.co.uk to receive some £££££'s off of our usual competetive prices.
Hope you all enjoy your Christmas break and best wishes for the New Year.
If you're on the lookout for Christmas gifts why not have a quick 'nose' at our friends eBay shop? They're Revolution Clothing and if you follow the link they've got some great gifts for under twenty pounds!

Revolution Clothing Plymouth - Mail Order
Ok, it's now official, we're in the festive futon buying season. With Cambridge Futons now nicely set up in the newly located factory, just outside of Exeter, we are now ready to go with pre-Christmas orders. At this time of year a futon makes a great space saving sofabed for Christmas guests (expected or unexpected!), so log onto our websites at www.futons247.co.uk or www.futonworld.co.uk to check out all the options. You don't need to spend a fortune so if you're unsure please call us for advice.
We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Our manufacturing 'sisters' Cambridge Futons are moving factory. Why do we need to tell you this? I hear you ask.....well, between Tuesday 27th September and Wednesday 5th October no dispatches will be leaving the factory, so if you need a futon during that time please take this into consideration and make your purchase accoringly.
Of course, you will still be able to call the following websites to enquire about your order or place a new order / discuss options...

http://www.futons247.co.uk/

www.futonworld.co.uk

The Futon Shop Ltd
Well, here we are in mid-September which can only mean one thing.......the 'season' for buying online is only just around the corner.
With the best will in the world we all know that come November and December the amount of us shopping online will, once again, reach record levels as consumers take advantage of the competetive nature of internet retailing. Of course this can, and will, lead to the 'usual' issues with parcel companies making successful deliveries to your home. We must take our hats off to the guys and girls who drive vans for the City Link / TNT brigade of delivery people, even at this time of year the driver who calls at our shop has around 100 to 130 drops to make each day, just think that through.......
Needless to say when we approach Christmas these people will be even more stretched so what we're saying here is......if you're thinking of purchasing one of our futons over the coming months do yourself a favour and avoid the busy season by making the purchase during September / October or early November, leaving it until late November or December will cause extra stress for all of us, not least yourselves; our customers! Follow the link below to visit us..

Don't forget if you like the Pangkor you can buy it here at www.futons247.co.uk, just follow the link below.

The Pangkor Futon at Futons247
Just a quick news item to remind everyone about the Pangkor Futon which has been a regular favourite here at the Futon Shop for some years now. If you're not familiar with it check out the video clip as it shows just how easy it is to convert this excellent futon from a sofa to a bed and back again.
With this type of easy conversion it makes the Pangkor ideal for rooms where space is tight as it can be operated from the front of the sofa.......no need to move it away from the wall or squeeze around the sides, ideal for spare rooms or fitting into alcove spaces.


Please take the time to check out this video clip on Cambridge Futons You Tube channel, it gives a great little insight into the manufacturing of futon mattresses at Cambridge Futons, our 'sister' futon company. Its worth a view and please feel free to leave comments here or on You Tube.
Lastly don't forget that all products can be viewed on our website at www.futons247.co.uk.


We are pleased to say that, at last, our new high street branch of The Futon Shop is now open. The name above the door is 'Revolution' and you can find us easily at 140 Cornwall Street, Plymouth, PL1 1NJ. We have a selection of our range of futon sofabeds, beanbags, oriental screens and gifts on display, so if you want to try before you buy pop in and pay us a visit.
Our phone number is 01752 226168 and we're open Mon to Fri 10:00am to 5:00pm (except Weds closing at 3:00pm) and Saturday 10:00am to 4:30pm.

For further info follow the link below:

Futons at Revolution Futon Shop
Our friends at Unique Futons are now offering FREE delivery to UK mainland addresses on thier great range of Oriental Screens. The screens make a stylish addition to most rooms including conservatories, they also seem to be popular with businesses including restaurants, beauty / nail parlours and health clubs. Have a 'nose' at the range today by following the link below.

Just a 'quickie' reminder to all you futoneers out there that Futon World offer the roll-up Monk Futon Mattress in a choice of sizes; 90cm / 3ft wide and 137cm / 4ft6ins double size. Always a popular purchase at this time of year as these futon rolls are great for camping and visiting friends. Follow the link below:

Just sat here pondering the Cavendish 3 seat futon here in our showroom.....
We must have imported thousands of these Cavendish futon frames over the years and it continues to be a popular best seller today. I think its the simple style that people like, it's not too imposing in the room, ideal really as a comfortable sofa offering a double bed for when the occasion arises.
I can't praise this product enough really, the timber is nicely finished, the instructions are good and they seem to be a well put together, robust product.
Anyone got any experience with this product as a 'home user'? let us know what you think.

The Cavendish Futon
The Barcelona Convertable is a comfy, versatile and stylish futon lounger which now has a video demo clip available through You Tube. You can purchase the Barcelona from www.futons247.co.uk.
No need for any more words really....just check out the video.
Our friends at The Futon Shop now have a couple of really cool, retro style, denim beanbags available. So go on, chill out, tune into some 70's rock and remember the heyday of denim cool......you know you want to!

Funky Denim Beanbags
Well, I'm pleased to announce that the lovely Akino Futon is now back in stock as both a two seater or three seater style. The Akino is the only futon sofabed we offer with a dark wood frame which tones well with other darkwood furniture such as Indian Sheesham wood or dark imported teaks. Follow the link through to The Futon Shop for full details.

The Futon Shop - Akino Futon now in stock.


Here's a great picture of the Phoenix City under 14 Girls football team whose new kit has been supported by us here at The Futon Shop. My daughter plays in goal, thats her in the orange kit, along with all the others who make up a great bunch of players who enjoy getting together to 'gossip' with each other almost more than the football!! I'm standing on the left holding the new shirt as I assist (or hinder) at training and matchdays. This season we're hanging around in mid-table so going OK at the mo.....

I know its nothing to do with futons....but....here at the Futon Shop we took a trip to see the excellent My Chemical Romance in concert at Cardiff International Areana last night. If you're a fan and like the new Danger Days material then get along as it was top stuff, a true quality performance. Two of our three kids had never been to a live gig before but loved it. Watch out for the support act, The Blackout, certainly a lively bunch of entertaining lads from Wales, but you might want to censor their tunes!!!

I'm sure many of you read our recent post about Oriental and Shoji Screens, however you may be wondering where to buy these stylish items, so here we go, try the following sites:
http://www.theoriginalscreencompany.co.uk
http://www.futons247.co.uk
or browse on Amazon.co.uk for The Futon Shop Oriental Screens.

Anyone who's visited www.futons247.co.uk may have seen the 're-birth' of the Pocket Futoflex futon mattress. I use the term 're-birth' as this is a popular futon from the old days which we have been able to start producing again, over the last few months, thanks to a new source of the pocket spring units.

The Pocket Futoflex features top and bottom layers of the new Lambswool (completely natural...yyeeaahh), layers of wooldfelt and a core layer of 'mini' pocket springs. The Pocket Futoflex is designed to provide the same all over support you will be used to if you're sleeping on a futon, combined with a softer feel than usual, giving a really relaxing feel and a good nights sleep. Check it out by following the link below:


OK, thats the 'thank you's' over for 2010, now we have to look to 2011 and the challanging retail environment unfolding before us.
I'm sure everyone is aware of the increase in VAT to 20% to assist the recovery of the economy (hopefully). We also face challenges from increasing raw material costs on items such as cotton, transport cost rises, and transport availability, and the scarcity of commodities as the domestic markets in China and India continue to grow. Having said all this we are determined to address these challenges and continue to keep our focus on offering good quality futon products backed up by a caring customer service. This will, of course, mean prices have to rise to reflect increased production and distribution costs, but maybe now is the time to re-focus the way we make our purchases and look at buying quality items for the long term and not so much 'cheap and cheerful' short term fashion fixes?
Well, here we are on January 1st 2011....wow. I felt I must take the time to say a big 'THANK YOU' to everyone who has been a Futon Shop customer, worked with us or supported us during 2010.
A special mention must go to everyone who waited patiently whilst their pre-Christmas deliveries got stuck in the snow and the resulting 'parcel pile-ups' that happened with the various parcel carriers, leading to major delivery delays, so, once again, 'Thank You', we really did appreciate your understanding.
I should also thank certain staff members at a couple of City Link depots who, despite having many thousands of parcels piling up, took the time to assist us in locating certain items when they could easily just have ignored my e-mails and phone calls. Good to see that good service is still alive and kicking.