Hi All,
This Benefit Shop story brought a BIG smile to my face, so i thought i would share....
Early May I was invited to a viewing at a bee-yoo-ti-ful home in Harrison, where the homeowner, 92 year old Mrs M, so so generously opted to donate the contents to The Benefit Shop as she was moving, full time, to their fully furnished second home in Florida. She was delighted to have her family heirlooms live on through donation. As i was hearing stories, and learning about her family, we entered the living room, and there it was -- an eye-popping, hot pink, velvet tufted sofa - about eight and a half feet long.
I stopped, turned to Mrs. M, and in the language of my 14 year old daughter exclaimed "OMG-this-is-gooooooooooorgeous. She smiled knowingly, and told me everyone says so. Mrs. M hails from Germany, where her family has had a well known upholstery business for many generations. She was involved in the design and fabric selection for every piece she had in her home! WOW
We had a lovely afternoon together, and over the next several weeks six truckloads of treasures were delivered to the Shop; and on the last truck, over Memorial Day Weekend, the Hot Pink Sofa was offloaded and set right in the window so paasserbys could also enjoy.
But, the very next day, i was taking merchandise photos for our customer Johnny, who has a very sparkley Vintage Clothing Shop in Philadelphia, PA, and loves to buy, buy buy from The Benefit Shop. We had a particularly fetching outfit on our Window mannequin, so i snapped and texted. He pinged back immediately with "I LOVE IT!!!!!!NEED TO HAVE IT!!!!!"
I called him up and said "Johnny i knew you would love this one", when he interrupted and said "no, no, no not the outfit, the SOFA behind it. It is exactly what i was looking for!" he continued, without taking a breath, " iamwritingthecheckaswepseakcanyoudeliverittophiladelphianow,nownow!"
So, with my second hand (some days i wish i were an octopus) i texted Ham (yep that's his name) a home-for-the-summer-college-student-with-a truck. Ham stopped in one day and offered to help out with odd jobs (love that!)
I asked if he was up for a Philadelphia Road trip, the replied sure, Johnny cheered, I squeeled, we were off and running.
We pulled the hot pink sofa out of the window, wrapped it in heavy duty saran, loaded it on to Ham's truck, and off to Highway 95 it went. Three hours later we had an ecsatic customer and smiles all around.
Then yesterday, Johnny called. "Pam, you are sooooooo not going to believe this...I was sitting on my hot pink sofa that everybody just loves, when in walked one of my best best customers. She said, 'Johnny I LOOOOOOOOOOOVE the sofa and have to have it!!!!!! I have been looking for so long for the perfect one for my living room and this is it!'" Johnny went on, "Pam, I explained to her that I just had it delivered from Bedford, New york, and how I loved it from a background shot in a photo, and how I had to have it".
Johnny quite cleverly suggested she have it copied. "But Pam", he continued, "that wasn't going to work for her. It had to be that one and only sofa. It had to be true vintage, recylced, and re-loved by her in her home. So the traveling hot pink velvet sofa, with its extended story, is now residing in the Pennsylvania home of the CEO of United Healthcare, and Johnny has a very happy customer.
