Discovery
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Discovery
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651 Route 165 Preston, CT 06365 Tel. 860.886.1484
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Every so often, people question; "how long have you been here? How did you get started?" Sometimes it's just a statement, "that's the first time I've seen one of those!" It sort of begs for an answer and partly that answer was provided to a trade group in Charlotte, NC, in 1995. We gave a presentation with the audacious title, "Intelligent Product Diversity". The research for the subject had us scouring business texts and doing a self analysis on how we choose products for our floor. We'll spare you the presentation, but one aspect of it was how we critically select products. More than a few times, we have brought products to light - pioneered - with what proved to be good insight. A few discoveries, haven't yet had their day, but we believe they will. A few of the memorable hits are listed below for posterity. Tempur-Pedic - This now venerated sleep system powerhouse is a dominant player in the bedding category with many copycats including the Big S brands. Did you know that Preston Trading Post was the first stocking Tempur-Pedic sleep systems dealer in the country? At the time, Brookstone, a highly innovative retailer was featuring the pillows. We bought one and after trying it for awhile were hooked, We pushed to secure a dealership for the bedding products. It took a while, but Tempur-Pedic saw us as a good fit to test the retailing channel for it's sleep system products. The rest is history. SeeFire - (predecessor to many modern non-cat stoves). - The brand was originally built by Howes Products in Victoria Island, British Columbia. Sometime around 1988, with EPA phase I regs. going in effect, a brochure crossed our desk claiming 3.2 grams per hour (gph), easily beating EPA phase II without a catalytic combustor (the few stoves getting through phase I were largely catalytic models). 24 hour later, I was in B.C.. Not yet sold, we flew a stove back to the store so we could test the unit here. Impressed by its performance, we began bringing the product in in volume. Several years later, Howes became defunct for internal reasons, but the design was licensed to them by Fred Francis and Fred licensed Energy King in the USA and Napoleon in Canada. We ended up carrying both of these brands. Virtually every non-catalytic stove product you see today shares similar technology with those early SeeFire stoves! Energy Harvesters - Back in the later '70s, a remarkable stove for its time debuted on our floor. Dick Petersen's Energy Harvesters, was ahead of its time - a result of serious research and very high quality assembly and cast iron. Many of today's owners still won't let go! Coalbrookdale - Truly the oldest cast iron stove brand - Darby invented the process of casting-iron with coke in the 1700s. Primarily these were coal burners but some were decent as wood stoves. The high quality stoves were introduced to our market area by us, and for a period of years, we were the largest dealers for these stoves in the USA. Mendota - Many people know Mendota brand gas fireplaces and inserts as cutting-edge premium quality. We can't take credit for that. But did you know that more than twenty-five years ago, the company made innovative wood fired products. Notably the Mendota Hearth - a pre-fab fireplace with high efficiency that was way ahead of its time. Industry writers at the time thought this was the future and assumed everyone in a few years would be heating this way. While that hasn't happened yet, there are at least five brands of similar products today. Oh yes, we carried the Mendota brand then and now. Import Furniture - Today huge amounts of furniture are imported from Asia, with varying levels of quality. Sadly this has decimated the American furniture industry. Well before the popularity of the prices of these goods, we were importing a number of products - mostly oak roll-top desks in the '70s, but also occasional tables and even some glider rockers. In recent years, many retailers have converted to mostly imports, while we have moved back to American made furniture. We find the quality is much better, and the ability to get custom features or colors is possible. It's a sort of, "been there, done that!" First Dibs - Our position over the years in the hearth products industry, has yielded relationships with manufacturers where our suggestions and candor have often resulted in new models, re-positioned products in the market space, or other insights that benefit design. A result is that many first seen anywhere - initial serial numbers products - grace our floors and our customers eyes first. |
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Jotul Days Sales Event- scheduled for May 25th - June 1st. Incredible savings. Send mail to
tech@prestontradingpost.com with questions or comments about this web site.
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