Telescope Patio Furniture
The Aruba II collection will be floored again this year with no major changes. We will again stock this set as a 42” round bar height glass table and four swivel café chairs for $1,699 in a Textured Black frame and Tweed colored slings. We will also stock a matching 6’ square commercial umbrella from Telescope to match.
A new collection added to our line up this year is the MGP Adirondack chat set. This set will be shown in the new finish & MGP color of Beachwood. We will show this set as a chat set wit
h 4 MGP Adirondack sling chairs in new sling fabric # 356 Lionsgate (gold/tan tweed) and a new 54” round MGP firepit table for $3,299. Telescope has jumped on the firepit band wagon and come out with their own line up of fire pits in MGP. We will show the 54” round firepit but you can also special order a 36” x 54” rectangular firepit. You will be able to mix and match MGP & frame colors on these fire pits to create your own look as well as being able to choose a MGP table top pattern of either slatted (like wood) or the new Herringbone pattern. In addition to the fire pit we are also offering customers an alternate choice of a 42” square MGP chat table with a slatted top if a fire pit is out of their price range. The fire pit alone is $1,799 and 42” chat table is $719.
The Bazza MGP sling collection will be floored again this year as a 3 piece chaise lounge set for $1,599. We changed the sling fabric on the chaises to a new sling fabric of # 466 James (muted gray) and will again show this set in MGP Textured Black finish. Telescope dropped the Terra Stone rectangular coffee table we showed last year so we are switching to the new MGP chaise table. This is a very narrow (10”) and long (27”) table that fits perfectly between two chaise lounges. This table is more reasonably priced at $179 as compared to last year’s Terra Stone table at $599.
Cape May cushion has been discontinued by Telescope and we will not be replacing it with anything new. Telescope came out with a new MGP cushion set called Belle Isle which is the technical replacement for Cape May but it is not very comfortable so Jeanne & I decided not to buy it. We have a few Cape May swivels left and we will reduce the price on them to clearance them out.
The Director’s chair bistro table has been discontinued from Telescope. We will reduce the price on this set to clearance it out. There are no changes to the existing Director’s chair frames, colors or covers. We will continue to display this set in the bar department as it tends to sell better with the bar items then patio. Please be reminded that the director’s chairs are not recommended for outdoor use and do best indoors. If used outdoors they should be under a covered area and not exposed to the elements!
The Gardenella collection will be shown again this year with a few minor changes. The Gardenella collection sales have continued to decline over the last few years, we believe, as a direct result of the competition we see from the mass merchants as well as the knock off brands that other manufactures’ make. That being said we don’t feel that we need to set Gardenella up as a full slot on the sales floor. It makes more sense for this group to be a cash n carry group then taking up valuable floor space. So this year we will display the dining tables on the table rack and continue to keep the chairs & chaises displayed on the slat wall. We have cut down on the variety we carry and have dropped a few items. Going forward we will only carry white and black frames with a limited selection of sling colors. In the white frame we will carry sling fabrics Navy, Forest Green and Cobalt in both arm chairs and chaise lounges with arms. In the armless chaise we will carry the Fiesta Stripe, Cobalt and the new fabric color Baja. The Lime sling fabric will be dropped. In the black frame we will carry only the Mocha sling fabric in an arm chair and chaise lounge with arms. The Textured Graphite frame color will be dropped. The price of the arm chair has gone up from $119 to $129. This is still a very competitive price as most on line retailers are selling the arm chair for $159 in an “A” grade sling. The chaise lounge with arms actually went down in price to $279 and the armless chaise stayed the same at $219. The 42” & 48” Werzalit and glass tables all went up in price about 5% across the board.
Leeward continues to be our # 1 selling dining set from Telescope. We have ordered additional stock on this group for the 2015 season as we ran out of this set early in the season this past year. We will continue to show this set in the Textured Kona finish with a Latte colored Sunbrella sling. This year we will be introducing a new table size which is a 120” extending table with two self-storing leaves. When closed this table is about 88” long and will extend to 120” when both leaves are in. The leaves are stored at the end of the tables for easy access. This table can seat up to 10 people if you use a small scale chair and is the largest table we will stock this season. This year Telescope also introduced a new MGP table top pattern of Herringbone. We previously stocked the slat top pattern but this year we are switching all of the tables over to the new Herringbone pattern. We will show this set with the same configuration as last season but we will switch out the regular 84” rectangular table for the new 120” extending. We will show the set with 2 swivel rockers, 2 arm chairs and 1 Chandler 64” backless bench for $3,899. We will have back up stock on the 84” rectangular table as well as the 54” round if customers prefer a different size table. The 84” rectangle is about $500 cheaper than the 120” extending table. The 84” still seats 6 people and is a good substitute for the price conscious shopper.
The Momentum colored glass top bar is discontinued as well as the Textured Mahogany finish we show it in. We have only one left and it is on final clearance. We do have extra backless Gardenella barstools in stock that can be sold separately from the bar. The stools are shown in a Hickory colored sling.
We will bring the SHB Primera 11 set in again with the Aged Bronze finish in an oldie but goodie sling fabric of #110 Bark. For all of you old timers this is the sling fabric we showed on this set when I started at Seasonal 8 years ago. The # 110 Bark sling continues to be a top 5 sling fabric color for Primera. It is an “A” grade fabric which helps to bring the price of the set down a notch and make it a competitive option for our price conscious Gardenella shoppers. We will again show this set with a 48” Werzalit table with a Rocky Road table top and 4 SHB arm chairs for $1,199. Last year we showed this set with 2 chairs and 2 swivel rockers. In order to make this set more competitive in price we decided to show all arm chairs to keep the price down. The optional table sizes are also available as a 48” round glass, 64” hex and 75” oval. A matching chaise lounge and a new 17” cast top end table is also available.
The St. Catherine MGP sling collection will be floored again this year. On Charlie Hesson’s suggestion we brought this set in last year because he told us it was the # 1 selling color combination that Telescope sells. He was right! This set ended up being a nice surprise for us in terms of sales. This set will be displayed again in MGP Textured Snow with a Breeze (navy blue multi) sling. This year we will show the set with a larger 48” round MGP table, two arm chairs and two swivel rockers for $2,199. An optional 42” round table will also be available. Please note that the table tops of both of these tables look the same but the table base leg styles are different. The 48” table is shown with a deluxe leg and the 42” is shown with a splayed leg. I have noted the difference in leg styles on the sign to remind you to discuss this difference with a customer when selling the smaller size table. St. Catherine is included in the “Free Sling” program so please don’t forget to fill out and give to your customers the sling registration form.
Sling Replacement & selection: Telescope has added two videos on how to properly select and replace a sling on their website at www.telescopecasual.com. At the bottom of the home page click on videos under the Media section. I would recommend that you watch these videos to become familiar on how to properly replace and select a sling. These are also great videos to have a customer watch if they have never replaced a sling before and are unsure if this is a project they want to attempt!
The “Free Sling” certificate program for Leeward & this year St. Catherine will be running again in 2015. The sling certificates will be in the back of the Telescope catalogue located at the Design Center. Please be aware that it is your responsibility as a sales associate to hand out the completed “Free Sling” registration form to the customer at the time of purchase. This registration form must be filled out and post marked to Telescope within 30 days after purchase in order for the customer to get their sling certificate. You must fill out the eligible items section of the form BEFORE you give it to the customer! If this section is not properly filled out then Telescope will not honor the registration. As a reminder, a “Free Sling” banner is attached to at least one or two of the floor model chairs to jog your memory about the registration form so please pay attention!
During patio season I often get questions from customers on how to clean & take care of Marine Grade Polymer products. So I am again attaching this annual reminder just in case you have forgotten and are questioned by a customer:
** Ammonia based cleaners, such as Windex and teak oil can permanently haze the surface of MGP and should never be used. In addition, the excessive use of nylon brushes or scrub pads can mar the finish. You can use citrus cleaners, bleach, alcohol or mineral based cleaners to remove touch stains such as grease or oil. A care & cleaning instruction tag is attached to every MGP item made. If this tag is missing you can refer customers to Telescopes website. The option for care & maintenance is located at the bottom of the home page on the left hand side.