Letter from the President of BunksNStuff

How it all began...

It started simple. A small business owner and his wife purchased a vacation home in central Washington State and needed sleeping accommodations for their daughters and guests. A neighboring furniture manufacturer met their needs and a business concept was born. It was Seattle in the late 90s and the two small businesses collaborated on plans to create a furniture offering for those people beginning to shop on the Internet. The husband and wife ran the new venture in parallel with their existing business, utilizing extra space in the warehouse and sharing office expenses. Upon finding a friend to develop a web site and configuring the basic needs for e-tailing, they launched in only a few short months. It was the summer of 1998 and the Internet retailer BunksNStuff.com was on the web.

It didn't take long for the orders to come in. The concept worked. Soon the warehouse became too small, the product line not extensive enough, and the web site too limited.

Growing the business...

When I became involved with the management of the company in July of 1999, I saw a company with incredible potential with many obstacles to overcome. We were seeing Internet companies booming in the late 90s with millions of dollars to spend and no need to worry about profits. BunskNStuff.com was not one of those. There was no large influx of cash to spend and lose, so we had to figure out how to grow a business the old fashioned way. We certainly had to earn it.

Our growth in sales was impressive, but expenses increased as well. We had a dynamic product line changing almost daily. We had to learn the hard way that the furniture industry, like a number of manufacturing industries, was not ready to embrace distribution of their products through the World Wide Web. The honeymoon was over in e-commerce, and the big furniture retailers on the web were starting to fail – and fail miserably. They had spent too much money and now there was nothing left to pay the bills. The few manufacturers willing to deal with the “dot coms” were now becoming leery, wondering if all were about to crash.

Doing business the old-fashioned way...

So, how did our company survive these turbulent times? We adhered to our fundamentals: offer a quality product, commit to great customer service, and offer a great value. We convinced enough reputable manufacturers to give us a chance to represent them, and in return, we strived to live up to every obligation as a responsible and successful customer of theirs. We took care of these partners like they were customers, understanding just how vital they were to our business. As we survived these times, the industry began to change.

Expanding our product lines and our stores...

We acquired a youth furniture site, BunkBedsOnline.com in early 2006, launched an adult furniture web site, PlatformBedsPLUS.com in early 2007 and most recently, opened a new baby and youth furniture store in a 20,000 square foot building in Tukwila, Washington named Cribs 2 Bunks. This building not only houses the new retail store, but is also our office headquarters and primary distribution center.

One thing that we have been able to say throughout all of these 10 years: these are exciting times for our company. Our new showroom at Cribs 2 Bunks has opened up a new path for us. We have been working to embrace the new eco-friendly trends in the furniture industry. We still look for great products and great values. What do we see for the next 10 years? As always, we are looking to grow, to improve, and to always bring our customers the best in quality, serve and design.

We couldn't have done it without our customers, employees, and vendors...

We would also like to thank everyone who helped to make these 10 years of business possible. From the thousands of customers who gave us a chance to the many manufacturers who did the same, and all of our employees and vendors, we say thank you. We know we could not have made it this long without so many incredible people on our side. 

What we have learned after the first 10 years, though, is to never compromise, and always do it the right way. That is what got us here, and that will be what will always keep us moving forward.

Marty Evans
President