Issue 27.09

Hard times are all around us.  So many folks out of work, so many empty stores, and more are going out of business.  What can we do?

First: It is time to band together as a community.  Support our little stores.  These families are counting on you!  When a store closes, it affects all of us.  That little store brings in taxes and jobs.  Jobs we all need to keep our community going.

We recently put up a sign “help wanted.”  Within hours, we had to take it down.  There were so many applicants, we couldn’t wait on our customers.  Almost every one of the applicants said, “I’ve been out of work for a while, and I live nearby.”

Notice the empty care lots of our local dealers.  Please, buy your cars here in town…not in Las Vegas or Salt Lake.  Help our stores like Nisson’s, who have been in business many years.  The family was born and raised here and are having trouble keeping their doors open.  Both Nisson’s Variety and Grocery have things we all need and their prices are low!  You can’t find better quality meat than theirs and the family has given their all, their best service, to our community.  If they close, it will be a great loss for all of us. 

Think of the other locally owned stores.  Helping them stay open serves you!  Their money stays in Utah.  Their business taxes pay for our schools, parks, recreation facilities, and we need them to prevent the collapse of our local economy!

Picture this:  If the small stores are gone, giant superstores like WalMart, Costco, and Sam’s Club can charge you whatever prices they want.  Their profits go out of Utah, to another state.  An employee is only a badge number to them and you are a dollar sign.  There will be no competition.  There will be no personal service because these companies only care about you long enough to get rid of their competitors.

Nobody will know your name at the meat market.  Or the clothing store.  Or the shoe store.  Your pharmacist and local optometrist will be gone.  Your florist.  Maybe your local insurance man, considering that mega-stores are adding these departments.

Now look at the job loss if small stores are closed.  The families that borrowed money to go into business, families with high homes, lost everything, including their credit.  We are left with hopelessness.  But, if we all pull together and support the small stores and restaurants during these hard times, we can survive.  Keep our dollars in Southern Utah.  We can turn this around and remain safe.  United, we can get through these uncertain times.  Spend conservatively, but keep spending at small stores.

Restaurants that are family owned are having hard times as well.  Notice how many are closing.  Again, big chains keep going.  They don’t need our money.  The small family businesses need us now.  We can all help.  Band together in community and stay strongly dedicated to this.  Failure is not an option.

Issue 23.09

You really have to see it for yourself, the finest quality, largest selection and lowest prices, as we clear everything out, finished and unfinished, Solid wood, tables and chairs, bedrooms sets, all colors and sizes.  American made quality sofas, loveseats, chairs, ottomans, and recliners.   Office, bookcases, china corner cabinets, art, florals, decoration pieces, all priced so low you’ll just have to take it.  Prices will not go any lower.

Due to illness we must empty the store.  Yes, we can still finish it for you and deliver.  Once it’s gone, it’s gone.  No special orders!  Selection is still good, quality can’t be beat!  As always, we promise real wood with a large selection of beautiful living room sofas in the latest designs and colors, name brand mattresses and unique items you won’t find anywhere else, to decorate the finest homes. 

We want to thank all our wonderful customers, who have been so faithful all these years.  Some of you have followed us from Vegas and from as far as Wisconsin.  We appreciate all of you.  We know so many by name and we have filled your home for 28 years.  Thank you.

I want to also thank Peter and Barbara who own the Senior Sampler.  They have been so gracious to allow me to write on a regular basis in their paper which is filled with so much information.  I’m so pleased with the response we’ve always gotten!  It is a paper not just for the elderly but for the wonderful community we live in.  We all love the humor and it’s a great, unique paper, we should all pick up.  Thank you, too, Christine, the editor.

Again, thank you St. George and community.  We are all so lucky to live here!  So much love, honor and integrity.  It’s just time for me to rest and heal but it’s been wonderful.  Fredrick and I will be staying in the area, it’s too good to leave!  Sending love to all of you.  Many blessings to all, we look forward to seeing you in these final days.

Life comes at you fast, sometimes.  Those things we enter into, we never know whether it be for a reason, a season or a lifetime!  Country Comforts Furniture was stared 27 years ago in Las Vegas.  It was then called Oh Joy Furniture and was opened to give the people real wood furniture.  It was an unfinished store starting on Sahara and Maryland Parkway 3500 sq.ft. and within 2 years it moved and grew to 70,000 sq.ft. to include finished and unfinished real wood as well as sofas and mattresses.  We also made furniture.  Eleven years ago Country Comforts Furniture was moved to Washington City, Utah.

Coming to Washington City was quite a change but I loved it!  The people, loving, ware, receptive and just plain wonderful.  I tried to retire a couple of years ago but the people kept asking would we re-open.  So we did and it’s been a delight hearing people say: “Every piece I ever bought from you I love and still have.” Or “The finest pieces of furniture in my home come from your store.”  It makes life so worthwhile.

Two months ago I went in the hospital for a minor surgery and supposedly a 1 or 2 night stay.  But I wound up in there almost 3 weeks.  I had a heart attack and was legally dead 3 minutes.  It’s been a hard row back with recovery almost 6 weeks, so far.

So what ever the reason or the season, enough became the reason and the time to end a wonderful season of selling real wood becomes the season.

My sweet husband, Fredrick, has had his hands full and we are slowly emptying the store.  No longer ordering.  Not because of the economy or hard times but because it’s time to do all the other things in life we’ve never gotten to.

Country Comforts furniture has been a wonderful experience, both my husband Fredrick and I have enjoyed so much.  The people, all of you, have been so great.  We love you all!  It’s been fun creating all the florals and finding the things I thought would make you home warm and memorable.  Yes, when you stop, you’ll see it is emptying fast.  When it’s gone – so are we.  Thank you for all you have been I our lives – all the hugs, the parties, the dinners, the weet friends we made! We will miss you.

We are at our final price reduction, up to 60% off on furniture, 50% off on mattresses, 20
% off art, floral and accessories.  We are still finishing to the colors you need.  Hopefully, by the time this comes out I’ll be able and strong enough to be there and see you again. 

Thanks to all of you – it’s been fun!

Your furniture could be making you sick and you don’t even know it.  Headaches and just an over-all “I don’t know what it is, but I don’t feel well.”

You see, particle board furniture looks good.  It is made to look beautiful to sell it.  However, it is made with all kinds of toxins, like lead, arsenic, formaldehyde, glue and other chemicals.  It’s covered over with a laminate, much like a plastic onion skin with a picture of a wood grain.  They laugh and call it “Glit”…first 2 letters of glue or glitter and the last 2 letters of another 4 letter word.  There is no thought of your health, it’s about huge profit; usually made in China.

Today, people who have never smoked walk around with oxygen tanks from the chemicals in furniture.  It used to be they even made it with asbestos.  Have you ever been in a travel trailer, years ago, when you walked in, in the heat of the summer, it burned you eyes and throat?  That’s particle board.  Heavy and cheap to make.  (The newer travel trailers have gotten better!)

As we watch the Olympics, we see all the chemicals in the air in China.  It’s not pretty!  We can’t yet see the chemicals here … none the less, they are there in a room with particle board furniture.  Better to buy 1 piece of real wood at a time and buy healthy.

You can walk into a furniture store and ask for “real wood.”  Chances are the salesman has no clue even what wood it is, or even if it is real wood.  They are on commission, so it is what you want it to be!  Like “Sam, turn on the blue light, the man wants a blue suit!”  If it’s finished cherry color - they tell you it’s cherry.  If it’s finished in a light or dark oak-they’ll tell you it’s oak!  It’s not their job to even know what kind of wood it is, just sell it!  It might have real wood doors or legs so it’s sold to you as “real wood.”  They are counting on you, not knowing.

At Country Comforts furniture we only sell real wood.  You can count on it!  Our manufacturers stand behind it for its quality and long life.  We bring much of it in unfinished.  They set aside the best for the unfinished furniture, there’s no cover ups.  We will help you pick out the color and help you design it for your home.  You choose the legs for your table, the chair, the china cabinet, and we make it all match.

It’s almost warehouse style, no fancy showrooms, all discounted for your affordability.  Lay-away, financing or Master Card, Visa or your check or cash is acceptable.  We have a large selection of entertainment centers, dining room, bedroom, office, bar stools, rockers, children’s furniture, living room and unique items you won’t find anywhere else!

You can’t beat our quality or low prices.  If you deserve the best for less, come see for yourself.  You won’t be disappointed.  We do know what kind of wood each piece is and you won’t find fast track commissioned sales people.  214 E. Telegraph in Washington City, of course!

We have 27 years experience in buying and selling the finest real wood furniture money can buy.

March is our 27^th anniversary, and in celebration we offer you quality real wood at 50% off.

Carpenters tell us they cannot build fine furniture at our every day sale price! Yet in celebration of our 27^th year, for the month of March, we are offering all in stock furniture at 50% off.

Quality furniture finished you way! Image the possibilities.  You can have in your home real wood-not throwaway particle board.  We offer it to you finished and unfinished.

Unlike other stores that offer you cheap sofas and sectional from China with MDF or particle board frames, ours are made in the USA with hardwood frames.

We just came from the Furniture Market in Las Vegas.  It gets harder every year to find real wood made in the USA.  Many manufacturers are closing shop.  They can’t make a living in this economy.  Environmentalists don’t want them to use the wood or to finish it.

I refuse to give up!  I can still find those quality manufacturers and I can offer you their real wood furniture.

This year’s market was an unreal experience.  The highlight, I will never forget, was going to one company who had an entire floor with - you guessed it - all made in China!  Not everything was pressed wood.  Piece by piece all those we checked out were 95% particle board.  The salesman who assisted us said “How can you have a store that only sells real wood?  All furniture comes from China!”  I said, “I promise real wood and that’s all we sell.  Not all furniture comes from China.  We still have American made furniture and real wood - I know where to find it.”

While at this market, they had some beautiful sofas.  They looked gorgeous and the prices were low!  “What is the frame made of?” I asked.  “Oh, they are all MDF, particle board.”  We didn’t buy any!

When people start to sit on a sofa, don’t they usually PLOP down?  What do you say to your large guest?  ”Please sit down softly?”  Imagine how long that cheap sofa lasts.  Do we need t fill our landfills with throw-away furniture?  Have you seen what happens when a screw comes loose?  Or when your fine particle board gets wet or scratched?  Buy it once-buy only real wood!  “We don’t need to throw our money away.  Come in and enjoy the real wood experience at Country Comforts, in Washington, of course.  We will treat you right!  You’ll want to tell your friends about this one!

Our sanctuary from the storms of life is not what it used to be right now.  The economy is so tight, we have lost some of our freedoms.  It used to be easy to buy and sell.  Now, when we find we’d like a change in location, whether it be to change town or state, or downsize or move up - the For Sale sign just sits.  Nothing seems to happen.  We lower the price, change agents, fret and stew…What to do?

With so many homes on the market and so many people wanting to change for whatever the reason, the stress is great!  Do we really need to stress?  What about just taking it off the market for a while and being patient until this ends?  It is said that building has slowed way down.  Yet, population is still growing.  We all need home to live in.  Let’s wait and see.

If we are patient and sit still, take our home off the market, one of the ways we can get through the wait is to remodel what we have.  Give it a whole new look!  We can see all the losses people are taking in their rush to get out.  Patience could be truly golden right now.  We know we have a nice home.  We like it.  Maybe if we just re-carpet and change some of the old furniture, that would give a whole new look.

Let your imagination run wild with new ideas, so when the housing turmoil settles down, you can sell for more money!

Tired of that old particle board bedroom or dining room set?  Come to Country Comforts furniture and get some real wood!  Choose new colors.  Let us finish it your way!  Come try out some new sofas, all made in the USA, in the latest colors and styles.  We have 15,000 of the finest quality, priced low.  No fancy showroom. No commissioned sales people.  You’ll find only real wood, finished or unfinished.

Let us help you design your home so you’ll be happier.  A wise man once said he was “too poor to buy cheap furniture, because I can’t afford to keep replacing it.”

At Country Comforts Furniture we have all styles: Contemporary, Southwest, Traditional.  Read wood makes future antiques - furniture your family will pass from generation to generation.  It does not have arsenic, formaldehyde, lead or other toxins.  Come see for yourself.  So much to choose from and it’s all in Washington City.  You’ll be pleasantly surprised and so glad you stopped to see.

Joy Ashley owns Country Comfort Furniture, located at 214 East Telegraph, Washington City.

Did you know most of the furniture you buy today is made in China, Malaysia, the Philippines and Mexico.  Those “name brand” we pay so much for are now being made by other countries.  Bought by the container at cheap prices and sold at high prices because people think they are “high end,” the best. 

No so! They are not even real wood.  People believe if it’s real heavy - it must be real wood.  It’s not.  Particle board is very heavy!  If it is 20% real wood and 80% particle board the store can legally get away with saying it’s real wood.  They are talking about the 20%, you’re thinking 100%.

Some people love woodworking so much they start their own little wood shop, hoping to build a life and a family from it.  It’s a hard struggle to stay in there.  In the last few years I’ve watched more manufacturers of real wood furniture go under than I care to count.  Because we don’t care if it is American made.

The new game is to bring in particle board dirt cheap, mark it way up and make customers think they’re getting a bargain.  The stores think people can’t tell the difference and some can’t.  But people are learning they only have to move it.  By the time it wiggles across town in a truck all the glue and staples come out and what they really bought was high priced particle board from China with a name brand.  Don’t let it get scratched or banged up for that’s another story.  In 2 years you have to replace it unless it sits there and you don’t use or move it.

Particle board is saw dust, blue and formaldehyde.  It’s toxic in your home!  I have never understood why people put it into a new baby’s room.

Let’s get back to the real wood treasures.  The kind that keeps American going.  Let’s not play the replacement game.  Buy one piece at a time and get real wood.  Learn how to tell the difference! Let’s not keep filling our land fills with garbage made in other countries.  Let’s wake up and keep our families healthy and working.  Let’s use our own resources.  Americans need to go back to work and build those real wood treasures.

Joy Ashley is the owner of Country Comforts, specializing in 100% real wood furniture, located in Washington.