A family member returns to the bedding arena
By David Perry, Executive editor -- Furniture Today, December 9, 2001
He was the greatest of alltime, the possessor of skills others can only dream about. He left when he was at the very peak of his career.
And now, amazingly, he's back.
That Michael Jordan (who did you think I was talking about?) just can't stay out of the arena.
Well, I'm no Michael Jordan, although we both attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which, until this year, always had a good basketball team. But I am working on my own little modest comeback.
With this column I return to the bedding beat at Furniture/Today that I last covered 12 years ago. A lot has changed since then, including me. Perhaps the picture at right will jog your memory. I'd like to think that I'm older and wiser, but I might just be older.
But I am back. Actually, I never really left. Oh, I did lose track of which producer has the best edge support and who makes the best pillowtops. But one thing never left me: the sense of family that we share in the bedding industry.
I said goodbye in this space on Oct. 23, 1989. I ended that "farewell" column in this way: "Whatever the issue, you have always nurtured me with your kindness and support. One of the great things about the bedding industry is the strong sense of family that permeates it. Thanks for making me an integral part of the family."
Over the past 12 years, I've managed to stay in touch with several of my bedding friends. I always had a great time going to the International Sleep Products Assn. conventions, where I renewed old friendships and made some new ones. And my duties at Furniture/Today occasionally brought me in contact with some of you.
As I reflect on those years, I appreciate the importance of friendships. With the support of so many of you in bedding, I gained confidence as a business journalist and gained friendships that survived my changing roles at Furniture/Today.
Now, as I return to my old stomping grounds, it feels great to once again bask in the comforting embrace of the bedding industry. "This will be good for your soul," one of you told me the other day. What a wonderful gift for me to reclaim.
I hope our new journey together will be good for your soul — or at least for your bottom line. I want to do what I can to make bedding an even more profitable category on retail floors. And I want to have some fun too.
And one other thing. I also want to cheer Michael Jordan on. Comebacks can be very good things.
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