What's happening at Plumeria Bay®

June 25th, 2009. Wow. It's hard to believe that a whole year has gone by since my last entry in this column. And what a year it's been... for the whole world, in no particular order of magnitude: Stress. Politics. War. Climate Change. Recession. Hope. Change. Ah well, I'm sure I don't need to tell you. We're all living this together.

We do have much to be thankful for though, despite the economy and perhaps because of the economy. For us, Family and Home have become even more precious. As Dorothy said while experiencing the whirlwind of OZ, "There's no place like home." If only it was as simple as clicking our heels together 3 times :)

Perhaps it is as simple as recognizing what we do have though. As I mentioned above, for us it is our family, and by extension our extended family of Plumeria Bay customers. We, along with most of you have certainly been challenged by the changes in our world. To our new customers and our loyal return customers: Thank you. We know that we would not be here without you.

We're also thankful that we have the worlds most comfortable bed to get into every night! Troubles just seem to disappear, along with a big sigh of comfort. And a good nights sleep really does make a difference :)

We've had many requests, so we've made our online catalog available for downloading here.

Thank you again and please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or if we can be of any assistance whatsoever.

June 27th, 2008. Here's a funny story about a baseball player, down pillows and an "overstuffed owie"! From Yahoo Sports

June 26th, 2008. In this time of uncertainty, economic and otherwise, we have some good news to share! Plumeria Bay was born in 2002, so this is the first "recession" that we have experienced. We entered 2008 with some trepidation since sales seemed to lagging a bit, but I'm happy to say that our uncertainty was unnecessary! We are once again on a pace to set another record year of growth in sales. Frankly, I'm not sure why. Perhaps people just know a good value when they see one? Whatever the reason, we are very grateful. Thank You! Despite my earlier statement about "unnecessary uncertainty", the economic conditions for the near future are certainly... less than optimal. We'll just continue to do our best in offering the best products and customer service at a good price, and hope that those people experiencing hard times right now will find better days just around the corner.

On to other news: I'd say that, while we're not "reluctant" to add new products to our line, we are definitely selective. 3 items have "made the cut" so far this year: We're happy and proud to announce the addition of Brahms Mount Blankets to our select line of products. Truly the finest cotton and linen blankets (the only linen blankets) that we have ever seen.

Sferra has come out with quite a few new items in the last year or so (they have to to stay "fresh" I suppose!). They did come out with a sheeting line that basically knocked our socks off, Giza 45, the nicest bed linens we've ever slept in. Period. The Percale is our favorite (and least expensive).

We've added the St. Dormier Featherbed Protector from St. Geneve. This padded featherbed protector is quilted with New Zealand wool and is machine washable. It really does make a difference in comfort; the wool sleeps cooler (an important consideration with featherbeds) and will last much longer than a padded polyester protector. They also make a mattress protector (which we use - it's great!). We'll be adding these to Plumeria Bay soon.

Last, but not least, some not so great news: Our costs have been rising for quite a while. We have held the line firm, but will have to raise our prices for down comforters and pillows... soon. Costs for raw materials, fabrics, down, and the associated transportation costs have all gone up dramatically. If you want to enjoy a real bargain, try to make your purchase between now and July 10th. Our prices may remain unchanged a little bit beyond that date, but no guarantees!

October 3rd, 2007 - Energy Saving Tips by Molly Brown, Mt. Shasta Herald. Close your curtains, dress warmer and invest in down comforters. Save about 3% on your heating bill for every degree that you lower the thermostat. Link removed July 2008 - article no longer available.

April 20th, 2007 - Happy 5th Birthday Plumeria Bay!

February 23rd, 2007 - The new year is off to a great start! Plumeria Bay® has a brand new look and has been completely redesigned from the ground up to make your shopping even easier and more convenient. Many of these changes were made based upon your comments; we really do listen, so please let us know if there is a feature that you'd like to see.

July 30th, 2006 - Our move is complete and we've also finished a major upgrade to our store functionality. Enhancements for registered customers include the ability to view your order history, print invoices and more. We have more plans in the works so stay tuned!

April 20th, 2006 - Happy 4th Birthday Plumeria Bay! Today marks our 4th full year in business and we're marking the start of our 5th year with a significant milepost. We're a newly authorized retailed for Sferra Bro's, one of the finest manufactures of bed linens in the world. You can see our carefully selected collection of Sferra Bro's bed linens and duvet covers here.

April 8th, 2006 - Spring is here again! Time to store your down comforter? Just remember to store your comforter in a very dry environment, covered in a breathable fabric (the bag your Plumeria Bay down comforter and pillow came in is perfect to store them in), to keep your comforter clean and protected from dust, etc. Store your comforter loosely, so that the down can breath. We do not recommend packing it in plastic, or storing it in one of those vacuum space saver storage bags.

For this Spring, we are proud to announce that have added a line of wonderful cashmere and cotton blankets and baby blankets from the renowned Italian maker, Sferra Bro's. We will soon be adding a selection of fine bed linens and duvet covers from this fine manufacturer.

Oct. 15th, 2005 - Link removed July 2008 - article no longer available. Pile on the down comforters! (John R. Crane, Cortez Journal - Cortez CO). This article is representative of what we're all seeing in the news. Heating costs are expected to rise significantly this winter. You can save money on your monthly heating bills by turning down the thermostat and sleeping with one of our quality down comforters.

Oct. 13th, 2005 - Who would've thought that videos of down pillows could be so exciting! Well, O.K., maybe watching a down pillow getting squished is not as thrilling as watching "The Terminator", but you can see the difference between a soft 650 fill down pillow and a soft 750 fill down pillow. We hope you like this new feature.

July 18th, 2005 - When most people think of camping, they think of cramped sleeping bags and leaky air mattresses. Not us! We rough it in style, with down comforters and a featherbed.

June 8th, 2005 - "The Myth of Siberian Goose Down" I am often asked about our goose down, where it comes from, how it's cleaned, etc. All good questions from smart conscientious shoppers. Often, during the course of this conversation, I'm asked "What About Siberian Goose Down?" It's then that I usually find myself laughing and then apologizing (it's not polite to laugh at a sincere question)

June 7th, 2005 - This last month has been hectic, but full of progress! We are now an authorized retailer for Schlossberg - Bonjour of Switzerland and are also proud to represent St. Geneve. Schlossberg-Bonjour is a Swiss maker of fine bed linens, and St. Geneve make the finest eiderdown bedding in the world! Plumeria Bay has seen still more improvements, making it even easier for you to find just the right comforter and pillows. This has been our best Spring ever, so we'd like to say take this opportunity to take a big breath and say.... Thank You!

May 4th, 2005 - Coming soon - We will be offering fine bed linens and duvet covers from St. Geneve and Bonjour of Switzerland.

March 31st, 2005 - The Down Comforters of Switzerland (Idaho Mountain News) Discover the joy of down comforters and the simple pleasure of a good nights sleep. Click here to learn more about our lightweight Batiste down comforters.

March 22, 2005 - As part of Plumeria Bay's recent site upgrade, we have also upgraded our server platform. The new servers will provide much faster speeds, especially in the resource intensive secure shopping cart. We have seen a dramatic performance increase. For example, secure pages that previously took 15 seconds and often much more to load, now take about 1/4 of one second! We hope you notice!

March 18th, 2005 - Marriott International, Inc. is looking for that warm and fluffy feeling. They plan to replace their traditional bedspreads with down comforters, softer sheets, plusher mattresses, more pillows, a new "fresh white look" and more to 628,000 beds worldwide. Complete story here.

March 18th, 2005 - Plumeria Bay's comprehensive store (site) wide redesign is complete! If you see any page that looks the same as it did a few days ago, please click the "refresh" button on your browser.

Please let us know what you think about our new look and feel, especially if you have any difficulties or find something that doesn't work.

We will be doing some "fine tuning" over the next few days.