The LaDiff Christmas Letter

Dear LaDiff Blog Readers and Friends,

Can you believe it's almost Christmas? I'm sure you've been busy shopping and decorating and baking and cooking, just like we are. As seems to be tradition this time of year, we've jotted some notes about what the 'LaDiff Family' did in 2009!

In January, Andy enjoyed a trip to the Koln (Cologne) furniture show, followed by skiing and hiking in Gimmelwald, Switzerland with his friend Ernest. Gimmelwald is where the story-book lass Heidi was from! Andy found some really beautiful furniture in Koln, including the Infinity dining table from Italian resource Porado, in our showroom now! At the end of the month, we had our annual Home Theater event - #6! Ray Lepper of Home Media came back again to share his expertise with all of our visitors. NOTE: that is NOT Andy in the picture ; )

February... our friend Jeff Hiller came to visit and speak at the Richmond Home Show/ Maymont Flower & Garden Show. His topic was Sustainability, so, keeping with the theme, our booth was all about 'living green'.

In March, we expanded our LaDiff-ness into a new venture called Vive (as in Vive la Difference!). Jim and Lisa and Rick and Tom painted and prepped an empty space in our building and turned it into something magical. Vive showcases an assortment of global and ethnic fare that brings a sense of purposeful eclecticism to our LaDiff story! The colors are rich, spicy, earthy; the feeling is distressed, loved, worn; the service, value, and quality are all... LaDiff!

We started April by hosting the Richmond Ad Club award ceremony in our Parking Garage. Wendy Wyne of Fete Studios turned this cold, concrete-floored space into a magical stage for Richmond's most creative to pat each other on the back. After the party, we turned the garage over to our 3rd annual GARAGE SALE and sold lots of great LaDiff stuff at AMAZING bargain prices!!! The month ended with our bi-annual pilgrimage to High Point for the furniture market. There, we started blogging and tweeting for the first time. One of our first blogs was about our friend Tom Moore of Lawrance Furniture in San Diego when he won a contest with American Leather to promote their unique Comfort Sleeper in a video, now preserved on YouTube. (that man is so darn funny!!!)

In May, right before we went to the ICFF (International Contemporary Furniture Fair) in New York, we learned about The 3/50 Project, a grassroots project from Cinda Baxter that promoted support of privately held, independent, small local retail businesses. We were thrilled to learn that Cinda would be speaking at the Javits Center and we got the opportunity to listen to her 'campaign', meet her in person, and jump on board the 3/50 bandwagon!

June... another great summer in downtown Richmond and the canal boats were busy every week and weekend (and so were LaDiff's restrooms!). We *love* to see the increased activity in our neighborhood. We also loved sending our delivery truck out with its new, gorgeous 'skin'... check it out! At the end of the month, we had fun sharing the world of retail with Megan, our high school intern from the Cochrane Summer Economics Institute held at the Powell Center for Economic Literacy (based at Collegiate School).

Megan-the-intern was bright, a fast learner, and lots of fun... and she helped us kick off our annual JULY 4th Sale with a fireworkd-style BANG! Crowds of customers enjoyed sale prices AND burgers & dogs on the grill served by Terry-Teddy Bear-Fisher (aka LaDiff warehouse manager). July was hot-hot-hot!

August included our annual trip to the New York International Gift Show - our 2nd trip to NYC as a family! We visited with friend, lighting maven and jewelry designer Alecia Wesner while there, enjoying lunch at one of our favorite spots in Soho: Lucky Strike. When we returned to Richmond, our new TV spot - The Perfect Seat - was ready to air... featuring the backsides of several important Richmonders (okay, it's our staff and our family... but they're important to us!)

In September, I served on a panel for the Retail Merchants Association's First Friday Forum to talk about how retailers could get involved with the Think.Shop.Buy.Local campaign - our LOCAL, successful offshoot of the 3/50 Project. Later that month, while yours truly was busy prepping for high school reunion #25 (at OUR house), Jennie and Tim and Rick were busy prepping for the Chamber's annual BizLinc event at RIR (that's Richmond International Raceway to those who are not Nascar fans...). And, talk about cool, our booth was right across from the Chamber's booth, where guest speaker Bill Rancic - first winner of Trump's Apprentice title - was signing books and autographs in the afternoon!

October brought another High Point market... this one was MUCH more upbeat than the April show. Vendors were smiling, retailers were smiling... things are looking up! We had new product arriving weekly which means our sales team was smiling too! And, to make the market even more memorable, our own Lisa D got to meet design celebrity Thom Filicia IN PERSON. (And I got to meet Sponge Bob... but that's a whole other story...)

In November, we were proud to host another event, this time to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation: a wine tasting orchestrated again by the amazing Wendy Wyne. Our Passion for Dining tv spots brought some interesting and varied responses from our customers... we love the ad! And we ended November by starting two of our favorite 'donations for discounts' promotions to benefit Caritas Works' Furniture Bank and the Central Virginia Foodbank, two very worthy and deserving causes.

And now... it's December. There is always excitement and wonder at LaDiff in December. Andy and I spent the first few days of the month sharing ideas with other contemporary furniture retailers meeting in San Diego, sadly missing the Grand Illumination and rainy Christmas Parade the next day! But we returned to hear the news that long-time-LaDiffer Jaye Erickson received her certification as a 'GREENLeader Accredited Professional' - since she designed and built our 'Green Screen' and is our official onsite recycling pest, we are very proud of her! Now, with only a few shopping days left until the 'big day', the store is decorated, the windows dressed, and our sales team is busily sending out their holiday cards. Our annual staff party is Monday evening - a time to eat, drink, and be merry with each other, think about the year that has passed, and plan for the one ahead. It was a good year...

From all of us at LaDifference to all of you, we wish you a Happy Hannukah, a Merry Christmas, a spirited Kwanzaa, and lots of joy and happiness in the coming new year.