Spring has finally sprung and Blackpool has finally returned to its resplendent self in the sunshine (for how long, though, is anybody’s guess!). It’s this time of year when everyone’s thoughts turn to spring cleaning and freshening up ready for the summer ahead. At Fabulous Furniture it’s no different. We’ve been looking at our website and decided that it’s time for a facelift. Perhaps we’ve been inspired by the hoards of customers buying on-line and visiting the store, excitedly telling us of the changes they are making to their interior design schemes. Or perhaps it’s something altogether bigger. As any of our local readers will know, the iconic Blackpool Tower, Golden Mile and Winter Gardens have recently been purchased by Blackpool County Council in a bid to return these attractions to their former glory. When there’s a refurbishment like this going on in the town, who can resist the urge to refresh?
The Blackpool of old was the tourist destination of the UK. Holiday makers used to flock to our sandy shores in their droves and the summer found Blackpool’s Golden Mile alive with tourists basking in the sun, having a flutter on the many bingo halls and arcades or simply enjoying a stroll, ice cream in hand. The Council want a return to those days and, as bastions of style in Blackpool, we think this couldn’t have come a moment too soon.
A massive £38.9m has been spent on buying the landmarks, including £10m to refurbish the famous Blackpool Tower, which has been gradually rusting away for some time now. Blackpool Council has done what any sensible organisation would do when looking at spending that amount of money, and brought in the professionals. It has hired Merlin Entertainments Group, the theme park gurus whose other responsibilities include the London Eye, to run the attractions. Its job is to raise visitor numbers from 458,000 a year in 2008/09 to 800,000, a massive feat if it manages it. This will bring an additional £36m a year of visitor spending into Blackpool’s economy, putting the town back on the map and giving the local economy a much-needed boost. In fact, it has been said that the deal should create 1,000 jobs in Blackpool – in this economic climate, this can only be a good thing. A figure of £223m per year in benefits to the local economy is being touted around, with the government claiming there will be a return of £7 for every £1 of public sector investment. We aren’t the only ones hoping that the master-plan works and we get to see Blackpool taking to its throne as the premier tourist destination in the UK. If nothing else, it might mean some of our loyal internet customers will have an excuse to come and visit our huge showroom in Blackpool.
And, so, onto our own little refurbishment. While its budget is not running into the millions just yet, we hope it will have a significant effect on our business. Too many furniture dealers forget how important it is to communicate with their customers. We definitely don’t want to make this mistake so, if there’s anything you’d like to see on our site or something you think we should be doing that we’re not already, let us know. In our store, we always make sure that the customer’s every whim is catered for, so why should our website be any different?
In the meantime, we have been getting on with a few changes in the background, and we hope you are enjoying the results. You may have noticed that we have been spending more time recently updating the descriptions of the fabulous furniture on our site. After all, while a picture tells a thousand words, we recognise that you need to know a little about the nuts and bolts of the furniture you’re perusing. And, when the furniture is as well-made as ours is, we thought there was little point in being shy about it! We hope that the new descriptions will tell you enough about our great products (and we’ve added a few new beauties so make sure to check them out) but, if you have any questions to ask about our furniture, you are always welcome to contact us with any queries.