HPBExpo 2015
Please come visit us next week in Nashville at the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Expo. We are in Booth #1600, which is the first one after entering the show floor.
Rasmussen has exhibited at every show since the founding of the Wood Heating Alliance (which became the Hearth Products Alliance, then the HPBA), and look forward to this exciting new venue.
Be sure to ask us “What’s New”, as we have a “Show Special”, new products, an exciting grill promotion and new electric heater, as well as displays of many best sellers in vented and vent-free logs, Alterna Contemporary Gas Fires, Solaire Infrared Grills and Bromic Radiant Patio Heaters.
Our booth will be staffed by Rett and Irene Rasmussen, Felix Ortiz, Rich Robles and Ray Vavla, as well as our regional sales reps. For those not at the show, please be patient with us on technical, sizing and special order requests, as those who provide such assistance will be at the show with limited time to address such items. We’ll do our best, but please expect delays.
We are accepting orders for our booth displays. If you are driving to the show and wish to purchase and carry off some of our displays of log sets and grills at the shows conclusion Saturday afternoon, please email Rett@Rasmussen.biz for an updated list (some items have already been sold) and details. We really don’t want to ship our displays back to Whittier, so they are priced to move. Payment with order is required and all sales are “as is” and final.
For those who will not attend HPBExpo, we will provide a recap in a later newsletter.
See you in Music City!
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DOE Strikes Again!
On February 9, 2015, the US Department of Energy (DOE) published in the Federal Register a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) regarding an energy conservation standard for gas fired hearth products. The short version is the DOE wants to abolish standing pilot lights in all “Hearth Products”, a yet-to-be defined, but expected to be broad, category of indoor and outdoor products. This would take affect five years after the publishing of the final rule.
DOE will hold a Public Meeting in Washington, DC, on Monday, March 23, 2015. Public Comments must be submitted no later than April 10, 2015. Rasmussen will attend the Public Meeting and submit comments, just as we did during the last go-around with DOE in 2011. We encourage everyone to attend the meeting and submit comments. We will provide more information and guidance after HPBExpo, but in the meantime, please consider what impact the loss of standing pilot control systems (manual and millivolt controls) would have on your customers and your business, in terms of lost revenues, fewer consumer choices, decreases in employment and any other items of concern.
Please visit our website SaveGasLogs.com to read more about the five year, continuing fight our industry has had with DOE. Check back periodically as new information will be posted at this site.
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New Bromic Sales Aid
We now have on our website RadiantPatioHeater.com, the site we created to promote Bromic Radiant Patio Heaters, a free Site Design Survey request form. For consumers and dealers alike, completing this form tells us what we need to advise you on the number and placement of heaters for the space detailed in the request. Please familiarize yourself with the form so you’ll be ready when your customer has a need for Bromic patio heaters.
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Worth a Read…
Independent Retailer? Here’s How You Can Step Up Your Game to Compete With Big Box Stores
Like it or not, if you’re a small business owner you will have to compete against big box merchants. Whether it’s Walmart, Target, Macy’s, Bed, Bath and Beyond or Ikea, you’re store is bound to battle retailers larger than life – so to speak – or at the very least, with larger budgets and more man power than your small biz. As an indie specialty retailer, you have countless advantages over big box stores. Then again, you have countless obstacles you can’t always beat. Rather than dwell on that, however, focus on what you can do.
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Quote of the Month
You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.
— Albert Einstein