Dreams (bed retailer)

Dreams Limited
Limited company
Industry Furniture retailing and manufacturing
Founded 1985
Headquarters Loudwater, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire
Key people
 Mike Logue, Chief executive
Products Beds
Bedroom furniture
Bedsteads
Duvets
Mattresses
Pillows
Revenue £194m GBP (2008)
Owner Sun European Partners[1]
Website www.dreams.co.uk

Dreams is a United Kingdom-based bed retailer and manufacturer specialising in beds, mattresses, bedroom furniture and bed linen. The first Dreams store opened in 1987, and today there are 170 stores nationwide. The company has its own purpose-designed mattress factory, and currently employs around 1,500 people, across a network of retail showrooms.

History

Dreams store in Portsmouth, England

The first Dreams store opened in Uxbridge in 1987. By 2000, Dreams had 50 stores, and opened its own mattress factory.

In April 2013, Dreams PLC went into an pre packaged administration, and was purchased by Sun European Partners. It has since traded as Dreams Ltd.

Sun European Partners put the retailer on sale in early 2017, advised by N M Rothschild & Sons.[2]

Sponsorships

Dreams was the main sponsor of the Channel 4 reality television show Celebrity Big Brother from its sixth series in 2009 to its seventh series in 2010. In 2013, they then sponsored the eleventh series of Celebrity Big Brother, this time on Channel 5.

Investigations

Investigations in to the business's operations have been conducted by the United Kingdom's Office of Fair Trading in 1998[3] and again in 2001,[4] due to contracts in breach of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999. Following customer complaints, the company was also investigated and featured on BBC's Watchdog programme.[5] In response to this matter Dreams made an apology on the programme.

In February 2007, Dreams was investigated and censured by the Advertising Standards Agency for misleading claims in its promotional material.[6] In 2010, another complaint against Dreams was upheld by the ASA, which ruled that Dreams' advertising broke the rules regarding truthfulness, and contained misleading advertising without evidence to back up its claims.[7]

Awards

In the 2014 Which? "Mattress Brands League Table", Dreams was given a satisfaction score of 57%, nine points below Bensons, the next poorest. Dunlopillo, Marks and Spencer, John Lewis, and VI-Spring, scored over 80% in the same survey.

References

  1. ↑ "An Affiliate of Sun European Partners, LLP Acquires Dreams Stores". Sun Capital Partners. Retrieved 2013-03-07.
  2. ↑ Armstrong, Ashley (13 May 2017). "Chinese bidders circle £400m Dreams takeover". The Telegraph. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
  3. ↑ "Issue 5" (PDF). Unfair Contract Terms. Office of Fair Trading. October 1998. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 November 2008. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
  4. ↑ "Bulletin 18" (PDF). Unfair Contract Terms. Office of Fair Trading. May 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 November 2008. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
  5. ↑ Wallis, Ian (1 July 2007). "Dreams: Mike Clare (page 1)". Growing Business. Crimson Business. Archived from the original on 5 October 2012. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
  6. ↑ "ASA Adjudication on Dreams Plc". Adjudications. Advertising Standards Authority. 21 February 2007. Archived from the original on 18 September 2010. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
  7. ↑ "ASA Adjudication on Dreams Plc". Adjudications. Advertising Standards Authority. 16 June 2010. Archived from the original on 31 January 2011. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
  8. ↑ "Winners of 2008 Awards for Excellence announced - letsrecycle.com". letsrecycle.com. Retrieved 2016-02-01.
  9. ↑ "International Safety Award Winners 2015" (PDF). Retrieved 2016-02-02.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.