The Last Word Blog of Gardner-White Furniture and Mattress Stores Detroit Michigan

140 and Gardner-White???

What’s The Connection? Why Is A Furniture Store A Sponsor of The #140Conf Detroit?

Guest Blogger, Leslie Carothers (@tkpleslie) ,CEO of The Kaleidoscope Partnership and the social media agency of record for #140conf Detroit sponsor, Gardner White Furniture, on why a furniture retailer was sponsoring a conference about the real time web.

By Leslie Carothers 
When we were first hired by Gardner White Furniture (@GardnerWhite), we were tasked with coming up with innovative ways to engage young families, their next generation of customers, with the Gardner White brand. For 97 years in Detroit, the Gardner White value proposition has always been: “Providing value for families.”

After listening closely for 3 months on Twitter to what people in Detroit were discussing, we could see what they really cared most about was the future of their city and whether or not there would be job opportunities there for them and their families so they could stay.

It’s no secret that Detroit has had major issues with unemployment which has resulted in the loss of many young families who have been forced to live elsewhere in order to create a secure future for themselves and their children.  We also could hear that many people in Detroit loved their city passionately and we saw that there were many grassroots efforts underway to rebuild and rebrand Detroit that were not getting any attention in the local or national press.

So, in the spring of this year, the owner of Gardner White Furniture, Barb Tronstein, (@BarbTronstein) agreed to our idea to hold a “Brainstorm For A Better Detroit” meeting. We had no idea if anyone would show up or not. The entire meeting was set up through Twitter and via phone calls with Eric Brown of Urbane Apartments(@Eric_Urbane) and was held at his popular co-working space in Detroit, @Urbane_Space.

On the night of the event, approximately 20 people showed up. Barb and the team she brought in were both surprised at this turnout since none of us had ever met anyone who showed up. Barb  listened and took notes.  Afterwards, we discussed with Barb what she had heard, and what she had heard was: “What everyone who attended really wants are opportunities for their businesses so they can grow and succeed and stay here with their families.”

Enter the #140conference. As probably everyone reading this knows who is an active user of social media, the#140conf is the most famous conference in the world about the impact of the real time web on businesses and individuals, attracts the world’s best speakers in whatever city it is held in, and gets an enormous turnout-both online and offline.

We proposed to Barb that Gardner White sponsor the conference as a way to show that she really heard the group that night and took meaningful action.

Why is sponsoring the #140conference Detroit taking meaningful action?

Because the #140conf Detroit provides excellent networking opportunities for the people that attend. These networking opportunities lead to jobs. Jobs lead to Detroit’s young families feeling confident enough to stay in Detroit, buy a home or rent an apartment and, eventually, furnish it.

Is this a huge leap of faith for a furniture store? Yes, but Barb is willing to trust that you, the young Detroit families impacted most by the #140conf Detroit, will “get” what she is doing , appreciate the guts it took for a 97 year old established furniture store to go so far *out of the box* with social media in order to support a web conference and, eventually and hopefully, find ways to let her know you recognize her “leap of faith.”

Three generations of Barb’s family have been raised in Detroit. She knows the #140conference Detroit is important to the people who were there that night at the meeting and what it can mean to those working so hard to re-invent Detroit at the grass roots level.

Gardner White is very appreciative of the local volunteers who are spearheading the #140conference effort. Christopher Barger (@cbarger) of lead sponsor @Buick, @adrianpittman who took the original lead in organizing the volunteers, @estrellabella10 who is doing a great job with speakers, @ericafinley @HajjFlemings @DaveMurr,@djmeph @HubertGAM and all the other volunteers giving so generously of their time.

Gardner White  hopes the international attention the #140conf receives will put Detroit firmly back on the map in the minds of investors everywhere and let them know  Detroit is a viable and desirable place to invest so they will come to Detroit and help rebuild it for the families Gardner White hopes to serve for the next 97 years.

Please follow @Gardner White and @BarbTronstein on Twitter and please *Like* Gardner White on Facebook athttp://facebook.com/GardnerWhiteFurniture . Please take a minute to share with Gardner White what you think of this *new way* they are providing long term value- that matters -to the Detroit and Michigan families Gardner White serves.

Tags: #140Conf Detroit, Alan Weinkrantz, Gartner White Furniture, Jeff Pulver, Leslie Carothers

This entry was posted on Monday, September 6th, 2010 at 12:25 pm and is filed under #140Conf Detroit. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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What's The Connection: Why Is A Furniture Store Sponsoring The #140Conf Detroit About the Real Time Web?

We asked Leslie Carothers (@tkpleslie) ,CEO of The Kaleidoscope Partnership and Gardner White Furniture's social media agency, why one of our two major sponsors for our Detroit #140conf on Oct. 20th is a furniture store. 

Here's her response:

"When we were first hired by Gardner White Furniture (@GardnerWhite), we were tasked with coming up with innovative ways to engage young families, their next generation of customers, with the Gardner White brand. The Gardner White value proposition has always been: "Providing value for  families." 

After listening closely for 3 months on Twitter to what people in Detroit  were discussing, we could see what they really cared most about was the future of their city and whether or not there would be job opportunities there for them and their families so they could stay. It's no secret that Detroit has had major issues with unemployment which has resulted in the loss of many young families who have been forced to live elsewhere in order to create a secure future for themselves and their children.

We also could hear that many people in Detroit loved their city passionately and we saw that there were many grassroots efforts underway to rebuild and rebrand Detroit that were not getting any attention in the local or national press. 

So, in the spring of this year, the owner of Gardner White Furniture, Barb Tronstein (@BarbTronstein) agreed to our idea to hold a "Brainstorm For Positive Detroit" meeting in Detroit. We had no idea if anyone would show up or not. The entire meeting was set up through Twitter and via phone with the local help of Eric of Urbane Apartments (@Eric_Urbane) and was held at his co-working space, @Urbane_Space. 

On the night of the event, approximately 20 people showed up. Barb and I were both surprised at this turnout since neither one of us had ever met anyone who showed up. Barb and I  listened and took notes. Afterwards, Barb and I discussed what she heard, and what she heard was this, "What everyone really wants to have are opportunities for their businesses so they can grow and succeed and stay here with their families." 

Enter the #140conference. As everyone reading this knows, the #140conf is the most famous conference in the world about the impact of the real time web on businesses and individuals, attracts the world's best speakers in whatever city it is held in, and gets an enormous turnout-both online and offline. 

We proposed to Barb that Gardner White sponsor the conference as a way to show that she really heard the group that night and took meaningful action. Why is sponsoring the #140conference taking meaningful action? Because the #140conf provides excellent networking opportunities for the people that attend. These networking opportunities lead to jobs. Jobs lead to Detroit's young families feeling confident enough to stay in Detroit, buy a home or rent an apartment and, eventually, furnish it.

Is this a huge leap of faith for a furniture store? Yes, but Barb is willing to trust us that you, the young Detroit families will *get* what she is doing , appreciate the guts it took for a 92 year old,  established furniture store to go so far *out of the box* with social media and respond back to her in a way that allows a businesswoman to know the risk she took in investing financially in the #140conf and the personal time she has committed in this brand new way to *provide value to Detroit families" has been heard by and appreciated. 

As Gardner White 's social media agency, what do we hope for? We hope the young families of Detroit will consider thanking @barbtronstein and/or @GardnerWhite publicly on Twitter and *like* their Facebook Page: http://facebook.com/GardnerWhiteFurniture. Most of all, we hope the young families of Detroit and greater Michigan will shop online at http://gardner-white.com or stop into one of their seven Detroit locations to see how their merchandise has changed in significant ways to reflect your more modern, urban tastes and to discover the values Gardner White's  partnership with Best Buy can bring to your enjoyment of your homes- and to let Barb know that afterwards -via Twitter or email. 

Ultimately, what Barb and Gardner White's support allows us to do is create a full circle of *wins* for everyone involved-the #140conf volunteers like @adrianpittman who is heading up the effort, @estrellabella10 who is doing an amazing job with speakers, @ericafinley @DaveMurr, @djmeph and all the other volunteers giving so generously of their time, the young families of Detroit, Christopher Barger (@cbarger) of @Buick (the other major sponsor at this time and the chief catalyst for attracting Jeff's conference to Detroit in the first place) and, lastly, Jeff and his organization for having the faith to bring the #140conf to Detroit and trust that his time would be well rewarded.

Lastly, Barb hopes her support helps the city of Detroit wins. She hopes the international attention the #140conf receives will put Detroit firmly back on the map in the minds of investors everywhere and let them know that Detroit is a viable and desirable place to invest so they will come to Detroit and help rebuild it for the families Gardner White hopes to serve for the next 92 years.

Gardner White IS changing and finding innovative new ways to "provide value to Detroit families." We're simply happy to be part of helping Gardner White create the *winning circle* using the real time web.

 

Join the Furniture Leader Gardner-White!

By offering incredible values, family fun, and great service we
enjoyed the highest same store sales growth of any furniture chain in
America in 2009 (SOURCE: Furniture Today, June 2010). In fact, our
sales are still growing and we have openings for motivated sales
professionals.

Find out how Mr. H at our Taylor store made over $88,000 his third year selling.

Learn what helped Mr. L at our new location on Hall Road make over $78,000.

Become a member of our President’s Club like Ms. M. She had over
$60,000 in earnings in just her second year at our 14 Mile Road store.

Increase your own salary the same way Mr. F at Canton did. His income
was up 32% this year - he earned over $72,000.

Start earning your potential today. Salary, commission, spiffs and
bonuses. Training pay included. We have a complete benefits program:
medical, dental, vision, disability and life insurance, 401k with
company match, paid vacation and furniture discounts.

Apply in person at the store nearest you. www.gardner-white.com

Come On Down-Price is Right at Gardner-White

COME ON DOWN

The Price Is Right, one of America's iconic family game shows, is holding their ONLY Michigan auditions at our Canton store. The store is loacted on Ford Road next to the Home Depot.  see www.gardner-white.com for directions  Auditions will be held today Thursday July 15th  from 2PM-7PM.

On Thursday, the producers of CBS's long running hit game show will choose three of you as semi-finalists based on your applications and your answers to their questions and, if you are one of them, you will be flown to LA,  attend a filming of The Price Is Right and have a 1 in 3 chance of being selected to appear as a contestant on The Price Is Right!

Not only is this a great opportunity to have fun and chat with some of your fellow Michiganders who love the show, too, but it's a great opportunity to meet the local media and, if you are selected, the national media, as well.

To download your application, click here: http://llnw.static.cbslocal.com/station/wwj/PriceIsRightContestantSearchApplication.pdf

and to see the eligibility requirements, click here: 

http://llnw.static.cbslocal.com/station/wwj/PriceIsRightContestantSearchRules.pdf

The Price Is Right has enjoyed  a resurgence in popularity amongst a whole new generation of viewers. With Drew Carey (@DrewFromTV on Twitter ) as the host now and famous internet personalities like @ijustine (with over 1 million twitter followers) appearing on TPIR, it's grown more popular than ever!  

You can now play the The Price Is Right on Facebook,on your  Blackberrys and IPhones and can download it onto your Wii or Playstation 3 that you might have gotten for free from us when you purchased your *Room That Rocks* (btw, that offer is still good and we have them in stock, too! ) 

We'll be posting updates and videos over on our Facebook Page at http://facebook.com/GardnerWhiteFurniture and updating our Twitter feed @GardnerWhite and invite you to become our friend or follower on those sites to keep up with all the goings on as we track our three local semi-finalist winners!

We hope you'll #ComeOnDown and have a great time Thursday from 2-7pm! See you there and good luck!

Give Blood Give Life at Gardner-White

Give Blood: Give Life

Have you ever known someone in a car wreck? Most people don't realize that one single accident victim can need up to 100 pints of blood and with only about 10 pints of blood in the average human body, we need to  make sure there's enough blood available locally to help save a life in the event of a tragedy.

Please take a few minutes and come to  donate blood for the American Red Cross 's blood drive on Thursday, July 8th between 2-8 pm at our Canton/Plymouth, Macomb/Shelby Township, Sterling Heights/Warren, and Waterford stores.

Since blood cannot be manufactured, local Detroit hospitals, clinics and relief organizations rely on the Red Cross to make sure they always have enough blood on hand to meet the demands that are placed upon them every day by people here in the D in need of a transfusion.

To make an appointment to give blood and confirm your eligibility, please go to http://givelife.org. For Step One, enter *gardnerwhite* and then select the location and time that works best for you. If you'd prefer to make your appointment by phone, call 1-800-GIVELIFE. For more information on blood facts please visit http://redcrossblood.org.

As a token of our appreciation for donating, all donors that day will receive a 50.00 gift certificate good for use on  your next purchase here at Gardner White. In addition, all donors are eligible to win a 50" Best Buy 2010 Samsung HDTV. One TV will be given away at each store. 

 We never know when the person needing that blood might be someone close to us. Working together, we can make it a record blood donation day for the D! Please pass the word around to your family and friends and come see us on Thursday, July 8th at one of the four blood drive locations listed above between 2-8 PM.

Give blood. Give life.    

Do You Know a 2010 Michigan High School Graduate?

 We love celebrating and supporting the children and families of the communities where we live.  We want to congratulate all graduating high school seniors in Michigan and let them know how proud we all are of what they have accomplished.  How?

Announcing our first Gardner-White Book Scholarship of $1000.00

How can you help?

1. Upload a picture of your 2010 high school graduating senior in their cap and gown to our Facebook Page: http://facebook.com/GardnerWhiteFurniture.

2. Tag their picture with their name and leave a comment for them on our Facebook Page sharing how proud you are of them!  Share your comment with your Facebook friends so they will be encouraged to congratulate the graduating high school seniors too.

3. Ask your friends to upload the pictures of their own 2010 high school graduating seniors to our Facebook Page.

4.  Come back to our blog here and let us know in our BLOG comments that you uploaded a picture of a 2010 high school graduating senior and commented on their picture and leave us your contact information.

On June 15th 2010, we will snip ALL comments left on our blog here by you and your friends and put them in a box and draw one name.  That lucky 2010 Michigan high school graduating senior will receive our $1000.00  college book scholarship.

Imagine the feeling these students will get when they see the hundreds of thousands of supportive comments we are hoping to get from families all over Michigan.  Please share this blog post with your friends. Let's let everyone know how proud we are of all the hardworking determined young men and women of Michigan.

Working together as a state we can support a more positive future for ALL of Michigan's young people and encourage our students to stay her and work here after college by showing them we care about making sure they have a future full of enticing possibilities and a supportive network of adults who care about their success!

Follow us on twitter,too @GardnerWhite and use the hashtag #MI2010Grads! Let the fun begin!

Winner must be a graduate of an accredited Michigan high school in 2010. The check will be made payable to an accredited university, community college or technical school located in Michigan. The graduate may be asked to show proof of graduation and admission to an accredited institution of higher learning. The decision of Gardner-White regarding the winner is final. Employees, children of employees or suppliers of Gardner-White are not eligible.

Michigan Moms-We appreciate You

 

Moms. We appreciate you. We hope you know that. But did you know we also “get” you and what you care about? Not because you buy from us-or might buy from us- but because we are owned and operated-every day and on site- by a Moms. 

When we began doing business in Detroit 97 years ago, we were owned by a great team of men, and working side by side with those founding men were their wives –who were also Moms. Today, in 2010, things have changed a bit and now our stores are owned and managed by Barb.Working side by side with Barb is her husband, Steve, whom many of you know as the public face of our stores.

We also have many Moms in senior management positions within our stores and within our corporate offices. Our advertising is managed and purchased by a Mom, our customer service is managed by a Mom, one of our senior buyers is a Mom, our internet sales and special order purchasing is managed by a Mom and several of our stores are managed by Moms.

Having so many women in senior management positions gives us a unique advantage in understanding the needs of our customers-many of you whom are also Moms. Here in Detroit, we recognize that many of you are working within very tight budgets to furnish your homes -given our local economy.

We know, since many of us are Moms too, that the desire for warm, beautiful, comfortable furniture for our families to curl up together on, relax, and watch our local sports teams( Go Tigers!) take on the world- is always with us.

That’s why we strive to stay focused on bringing you the absolute best values we can find-wherever and whenever we find them and why we support local events like Bike Day at Beaumont Hospital with the Children’s Miracle Network. We care about what YOU, the Moms of Detroit- our core customers- care about: great values in furniture and electronics and then re-investing a portion of what you spend with us in the events and charities in the LOCAL communities we serve that support your families.

We know that when you buy from us, you have a choice. We appreciate it when you invest your hard earned dollars in Gardner White. As a local Detroit business run largely by Detroit moms, your support allows us to provide more jobs and to GROW our ability to re-invest in your communities on behalf of  your families -as we have been doing for the past 97 years. We have also, recently, started working with the local online community to seek out solutions to help rebuild Detroit into an even greater city than it was in the past because we want you to know this: we’re not going anywhere and we hope you’re not either.

 

Working together, we believe we can weave an even tighter fabric of support for what we all cherish so much –the ability to call Detroit “home.”

The Thrilling Taste of Freedom-Bike Day for Kids at Beaumont Hospital!

THE THRILLING TASTE OF FREEDOM- BIKE DAY FOR KIDS at BEAUMONT!

 

Do you remember that thrilling taste of freedom (and terror!) when you took off on your first bike ride on the new bicycle your parents bought for you? Away you went, teetering and unsteady, but with the wind blowing in your hair and the ability to explore your world in brand new ways-wasn’t it exciting?

Unfortunately, there are many physically challenged children here in Detroit with parents who cannot afford to give their children what their heart most desires to have-a chance to be a normal kid on a bike.

That’s why we are so happy here at Gardner White to be sponsoring Beaumont Hospital’s Pediatric Rehabilitation BIKE DAY this year in conjunction with Fox 2 News and the Children’s Miracle Network.

For every individual donation you make in our stores, we will match your donation up to $10,000.00 so special needs kids who might not otherwise ever have a chance to own a bike can experience the feeling of independence and delight that we had as kids!

A bit of background:

Our local Beaumont Hospital is the only hospital in Southeastern Michigan to be part of the nationwide Children’s Miracle Network. One of the many things that the Children’s Miracle Network supports is the purchase of specially adapted bikes for special needs children at Beaumont Pediatric Rehabilitation. The mission of this program is to provide every participating child with a free bike and a free helmet.  This year, Beaumont Hospital has identified 40 children who will benefit from attending Bike Day. Each bike costs an average of 1700.00 as they are specially fitted for each child.

Since 2004, when Beaumont Hospital initiated Bike Day, 218 bikes have been funded for children that have been referred for these special bikes through their physical therapist at Beaumont Hospital or, occasionally, through one of our local schools.

For these special needs kids bike riding offers numerous physical and social benefits they would otherwise never get to experience as most insurance companies will not cover a specially fitted bike and many parents cannot afford the high cost of these bikes.

We hope you will join us in helping to get these kids these special bikes by coming into our stores and making a donation- we welcome one quarter as much as we welcome 25.00! Every donation will be matched by us up to 10,000 and given to Beaumont to help these kids locked in by their physical limitations get a feeling of freedom they’ve never experienced before.

If you have a few minutes, watch this short video clip http://home.comcast.net/~wjbkpromo/spotapproval/CMN_BikeDay.mpg to see what it means to this young Mom and her son to have one of these bikes .We’d love for you to share what it meant for YOU to have your first bike-can you please leave a comment here or share that feeling with us over on our Facebook Page at http://facebook.com/GardnerWhiteFurniture  or on our Twitter feed @GardnerWhite ?

We hope we’ll see you in our stores this weekend to help make these kids dreams come true-we’re open Mon-Saturday 10-9 and Sunday 12-6!

 

 

Customers Excited About Their Room that Rocks

Check out this recent customer mention from the blog post "The Road to Adulthood."

Sunday, February 21, 2010

And another one bites the dust.... In a good way!!

I have another thing to cross off my list today! Justin and I went out to Gardner White to find some furniture for our apartment, and we ended up finding one of those "couch with TV" packages that comes with not only a 42 inch LCD TV, but also a WII!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited. As soon as it comes, I'm going out to buy Wii fit and Wii sports because I'm all about the bowling game. I think I might be more excited about the Wii then the furniture, lol. I haven't done much as far as packing goes, but I'll get to it this week. I am planning on doing nothing this week but packing (and working) so I can get it all done by D-Day.

From all of us at Gardner-White, congratulations on your wedding Emily & Justin... we hope you enjoy your new furniture.

Gardner-White to host tryouts for the Biggest Loser

He has kept the weight off, developed his own 10-week life transformation class (Lose It Fast, Lose It Forever) and touched thousands of lives as a motivational speaker. 

Sterling Heights’ Helen Phillips just graced the cover of Good Housekeeping and continues to wow the world with her weight loss of 140 pounds. She won $250,000 on the seventh season of “Loser” and hopes to open a spinning and wellness center in Macomb County.

Now “Loser” representatives have lined up a March 13 date at Gardner White Furniture in Macomb to find contestants for an upcoming season of the show. 

The open casting call runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Those who show up must be at least 18 years old and a U.S. citizen They should have 100 pounds or more of weight to lose and should bring along a photo. The store is at 45300 Hayes Road in Macomb. 

For more, go to htp://www.thebiggestlosercasting.com.