text:
Posts Tagged 'state park'
No Roads Found to Caladesi Island
Reaching Caladesi Island
Caladesi Island State Park is a favorite destination for tourism, but how do visitors arrive to a location devoid of bridges and roads? Because of the remote location, arriving at the state park is an event even for locals. Caladesi Island was named when the barrier island stood alone, detached from other land masses. Thanks to a large storm, Clearwater Beach and Caladesi Island are now connected. Despite the land bridge, the northern reaches of the island are still a long way off. Only serious hikers succeed at the 1.5 to 2 hour walk from Clearwater Beach, especially in the warmer summer months. The solution for an easier journey is to enjoy a relaxing ride aboard the Caladesi Island Ferry.
Honeymoon Island Ferry Dock
The secret to reaching Caladesi Island State Park lies within a second park, Honeymoon Island State Park. Honeymoon Island is a fantastic destination in its own right, with hiking trails, beaches, a dog beach, and a nature center. What Honeymoon Island also has is a set of boat docks where the Caladesi Island Ferry departs. In order to get to the docks, visitors must enter the state park, paying a low entry fee per car. The ferry ride is $14 for adults, $7 for kids, and free for kids under five. Ferry service begins at 10AM. To ensure everyone gets back to the mainland, the ticket office stamps the tickets with a return time, which is about four and a half hours later. A shaded pavilion offers ferry ticket holders a place to rest while they wait for the next ride to Caladesi Island.
Caladesi Island Ferry Ride
The whole purpose of visiting Caladesi Island is to relax. The ferry is a perfect way to begin. The ride is smooth, traveling across an enclosed waterway which is protected from the Gulf of Mexico waters by the barrier island of Caladesi itself. The ferry passes between the mangrove shores of Caladesi Island and the palm-tree-lined Dunedin Causeway, which leads to Honeymoon Island. The scenery is always fantastic, which includes a chance to see local dolphins and manatees. The waterway is well-used by motorboats, kayaks, and jet skis, creating a lively summer-like playground 365 days a year. The ferry ride travels its last leg down a mangrove-lined channel. After a short, twenty minute shuttle, the ferry arrives at the docks on Caladesi Island.
The Docks at Caladesi Island
The docks at Caladesi Island are the first impression many people have of the famous Gulf Coast destination. Awaiting disembarking guests is the Caladesi Island concession stand. The food stand offers a variety of snacks, along with some much-needed refreshments on hot days. Beyond the building, visitors will find trails that lead to restrooms, outdoor beach showers, picnic tables, a playground, and hiking trails through the undeveloped lands of the island. Naturally, the beach is the number one attraction. Behind the restrooms and beach showers are long, raised walkways, transporting beach-goers through the coastal mangroves and dunes. The reward for this easy stroll is a beautiful, white sand beach of the Florida Gulf Coast. Caladesi Island Beach is a fantastic stretch of bright sand traveling north and south. The length of the beach is so long that walkers and hikers are sure to be pleased. With beach chairs and umbrellas available for rent, and the turquoise waters of the Gulf to play in, the destination is one to remember. The Caladesi Island Ferry makes reaching the island paradise so easy it would be shame for area visitors to pass it up.
Caladesi Island Ferry Video
Other posts you might enjoy
Southern Pleasures of Honeymoon Island State Park
Finding the Lost Dunedin Pass
Barrier Islands of the Florida Gulf Coast
Clearwater and the City of Dunedin have some of the best barrier islands in the United States. They are the three best known islands in the area, consisting of Clearwater Beach, Caladesi Island, and Honeymoon Island. Other great islands are also along our coast, just to be clear, with Anclote Key and Three Rooker Island to the north and Sand Key, Treasure Island, St Pete Beach, and Mullet Key to the south. The sands of the Florida Gulf Coast on the move, however, creating a changing history for the barrier islands.
Clearwater Beach and Honeymoon Island
When the area was first settled, the islands of Clearwater Beach and Honeymoon Island were in a very different condition than they are today. Clearwater Beach was called Hog Island and later on, Tate's Island. It had no access other than by boat. Later, a causeway was built and it was named Clearwater Beach. Honeymoon Island was much smaller. Development plans came and went for the island, the land eventually becoming a state park. Shifting sands over the last century have connected the nearby sand bars to the island, more than doubling its length. The northern extension of the island created a fantastic stretch of soft white sand beach and the enclosed waters of Pelican Cove.
Dunedin Pass
The shape of Caladesi Island has changed less than the other islands, probably due to the abundance of mangrove trees there. The most striking change is the sand bar that grew northward from Clearwater Beach, connecting the two islands. The waterway that used to run between the two islands was called Dunedin Pass. It was a popular passageway for boaters entering and leaving the intra-coastal waterway. Over time, the sands on the south side of the pass began to move northward. Dredging was discussed, and the city even voted, successfully, to purchase a dredging machine in 1977. The plan to keep Dunedin Pass open was not to be, however. In 1985, Hurricane Elena struck the area and filled the waterway with enough sand to make in impossible to navigate by boat. With the sand already moving northward from Clearwater Beach, the pass soon filled in completely. Today, beachgoers can walk across the sand bridge between the two islands. It has filled in with enough sand to create a complete beach. Only memories and written history allows newcomers to know that Dunedin Pass was ever there.
Exploring Dunedin Pass
Several methods exist for exploring Dunedin Pass. Walking northward from Clearwater Beach is the most common. It takes a little time and effort, especially on hot summer days, but beachgoers can walk the sands northward, arriving at the old pass in less than an hour. Another method would be to take the Caladesi Island Ferry from Honeymoon Island State Park. Once on the beach, visitors can walk south to find the narrow area of sand. If you are lucky enough to have a boat on hand, you can arrive via the coastal waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Boaters can cruise up the coast from Clearwater Pass or down the coast from Hurricane Pass. While in a boat on the coast, it is not easy to spot the old pass. The sand appears the same up and down the beach, rising too high for boaters to see over to the harbor. One clue is the park sign, set on the beach, telling beachgoers that they have arrived at Caladesi Island State Park. The remains of the pass are just south of the sign. The last route to pass is by boat on the intra-coastal waters. This route, however, is not for larger boats. To actually land on the eastern side of the beach, you will need a watercraft such as a kayak or a paddleboard. The water shallows to just a few inches for quite a long stretch before you can land. When you do, a very short walk takes you to the crest of the beach where you overlook the white sand beaches and the Gulf of Mexico.
The pass is a beautiful stretch of sand, some of the softest and whitest you will find in the area. It is also a part of the beach much less traveled, leaving the beauty of the area almost to you alone. Dunedin Pass is well worth visiting.
Other posts you might enjoy:
Remarkable Origin of Clearwater Beach Sand
Native American Indian Mounds of the Florida Gulf Coast
Curious History of Philippe Park
Southern Pleasures of Honeymoon Island State Park
The Southern End of Honeymoon Island
Honeymoon Island State Park has many faces, each one making the trip to the island worthwhile venture. It features natural beaches, a nature trail, nature center, a public beach, concession stand, loads of parking, and more. It provides a fantastic setting for anyone who likes wildlife or the beach.
One of the best thing about Honeymoon Island is that there is more than one type of beach. To the north you will find a very long stretch of beach that is in its natural state. Next to the parking lots is the best area of the island to have a day at the beach that will make your vacation memorable, with restroom facilities and a concession stand nearby. The southern end of Honeymoon Island is yet another region of the island that is a world of its own. This blog post focuses on the fantastic south end of the island. Read on to discover the southern pleasures of Honeymoon Island State Park.
Honeymoon Island Beach Trail
You can access the southern end of Honeymoon Island via the beach or the trail. While it might seem that they are almost the same, they actually quite different. At the beach, you will have the sea breeze to cool you and the beautiful views of the Gulf of Mexico. On the trail, the sea breeze might cool you off -or it might not. In the summer, it is a very warm walk. The payoff, of course, is that when you reach the end, you can dip into the water to cool off. If you have always wondered what it would be like to walk down a sandy trail amid the beach grasses, then this is a walk you should take. You will walk past palm trees and shrubs before breaking out into the open. Keep your eye out for wildflowers, as this trail is a very good place to view them. The sandy trail is also a great walk for photographers because the scenery changes in subtle ways as you go along. When you near the end, the path forks, leading to different sides of the island, which is quite narrow at this point. To the right is the dog beach and to the left is a cove. We recommend both! The dog beach is part of the main beach of Honeymoon Island while the cove offers a view of mangrove coastline and the Dunedin Causeway from a very small section of beautiful, white sand beach. If you want to see it all, then head left toward the cove, then walk the beach around the tip of the island. You will come wind up at dog beach and a second cove once you round the end of the island.
Fishing on Southern Honeymoon Island
Any shore you chose on Honeymoon Island is a fun fishing trip. Plenty of fishermen head to the park to fish just off shore, standing waist or chest high water. Because the Gulf Coast shores are shallow, you can walk surprisingly far out to do your fishing, well away from the swimmers at the beach. The very southern tip of the beach is a local fisherman favorite, however. The currents pass by the location strongly which provides excellent fishing opportunities. The current has also has washed away the softer sands, and that keeps most of the beach-goers away, leaving the spot open for fishermen. You will rarely visit the southern tip of Honeymoon Island without seeing someone fishing from this locally favored fishing spot.
Honeymoon Island Dog Beach
The dog beach on Honeymoon Island is easy to find via the many signs. The best route to the dog beach is the beach trail. The path helps you to avoid pulling your dog through all the sunbathers on the regular beach, which is actually not allowed. You will definitely want to bring a baggie for dog droppings. Canisters to deposit used bags are provided. Your pets will enjoy the beach trail but they will definitely love the beach. A small section of split rail fence marks the area where your pet is allowed to be. Unfortunately, leashes are required on this beach and park rangers in boats might give you a ticket if you break the rule. While this might seem unfair, the land surrounding the trail to dog beach and all the grassland bordering the beach is a bird sanctuary. Keeping your dog on the trail and on the sands of the beach is a must. Rules aside, the dog beach is a fantastic place to play with your pet. It is also a fun place to sunbathe, which means you and your four legged friend can both get what you want from a trip to Honeymoon Island.
Coves of Southern Honeymoon Island
You will find two coves on the southern end of Honeymoon Island. They are both very small, one at dog beach and the other on the far side of the island's tip. Both are great for swimming and are also fun places to land smaller watercraft such as kayaks of standup paddle boards. The eastern cove is less traveled, which might give you intermittent stretches of solitude. The other cove is right at dog beach. The dog beach cove is created by a sand spit reaching southward, separating the small section of water from the Gulf of Mexico. Because the spit is all soft white sand, it is a popular place for visitor to spend time and is therefore the most multi-purposed section of the entire island. Regardless of what you do at these two tiny coves, you might find them to be a pair of the most enjoyable spots on Honeymoon Island.
Caladesi Island Ferry
The Caladesi Island Ferry sets out from the southern edge of Honeymoon Island. The ferry costs $14 for adults, $7 for kids, and is free for those 5 years and under. The boat ride is fun and you will definitely enjoy the beauties of Caladesi Island. To reach the ferry port, look for the signs right after you pass the entry gate of Honeymoon Island State Park. The road, which leads to the ferry or the dog beach parking lots, will be on the left.
Honeymoon Island offers a Beach for Everyone
It is quite remarkable how many different activities you can enjoy just on the southern end of Honeymoon Island. Sunbathing, hiking, swimming, fishing, boating, beach combing, bird watching, photography, and fun with your pet are all found in one relatively small space. And, oddly enough, it is one of the less-visited sections, which means you will also have a fair amount of elbow space. Put this park on your list of sites to see on your next Florida Gulf Coast vacation. Among the many other pleasures of island, you should definitely give the southern end of Honeymoon Island State Park a try.
Other posts you might enjoy:
Beach Walk of a Lifetime at Honeymoon Island State Park
Exploring the Honeymoon Island Nature Trail
Beach Walk of a Lifetime at Honeymoon Island State Park
Setting out for the North End of Honeymoon Island
Anywhere you go at Honeymoon Island State Park can be a fantastic experience. The island has multiple areas that offer great entertainment for those arriving from near or far. You can visit the main beach area, the nature trail, nature center, or the dog beach. However, if you want to enjoy a beach walk you will remember for a lifetime, then set the north end of Honeymoon Island as your destination.
The park entrance fee is 4 to 6 dollars, depending on the size of your party, and the parking lots are large, with a surprising capacity. Your destination, however, is the north end of the beach. You will drive past the sign for the Caladesi Island Ferry and the Dog Beach. You will ignore the concession stand and the area of the beach most popular for sunbathing and swimming. You will drive past the nature center and the nature trail. At the very end,, the road will loop back and, after you drive around the 180 degree turn, you will find the entrance to the parking lot you seek.
Here you will find fencing marking off an area of beach eroded by storms and, to the north, you will see the brush of the island. With your hat on and your sun lotion applied, you are ready to go on your Honeymoon Island beach walk.
Preparing for a Walk on Honeymoon Island Beach
The beach walk is long, taking as much as two hours to reach the tip of the island, so here are some tips to help you better enjoy the experience. Take along a bag for collecting shells. A net-style sack is best since plastic is uncomfortable to carry on warm days. If your skin is sensitive to the sun, you might want to wear long sleeves. The sun here can be hot, and in the summer, quite intense. For those who are accustomed to sunshine, sun tan lotion is still recommended. With the sea breeze and the bright rays, you'll want to be protected on this wonderful, long walk on the beach. A sun hat is the other item at the top of the list. Leave your sunbathing for another day and enjoy this stroll in as much comfort as you can. The other tip for comfort and safety is checking on the weather. In the summer, if the rain chances are over 20 to 30 percent, then a brief seasonal storm is likely to occur along the coast. These storms build toward late afternoon and then burst with heavy showers and lightning. They come and go quickly but it is a good idea not to be on the beach when they occur. If you see tall clouds building over the Gulf or inland, it is a good idea to turn back. This beach walk is best planned for the morning. In normal conditions, you can walk all the way to the tip, explore your surroundings, and then make the return stroll without having any worries about the weather.
Starting your Beach Walk on Honeymoon Island
The start of your walk to the north end of Honeymoon Island begins at the parking lot where you will see a trail winding through the bushes and palm trees. Immediately beyond, you will see a small body of water to your right, which is the southernmost tip of Pelican Cove. Of course, to your left, is the beautiful Gulf of Mexico. The beach here, depending on conditions and season, is often gravely with very little sand. Don't get discouraged though, this beach has many faces, and the best is yet to come. Head north from here, keeping between the island grasses and the water. As you go, the beach will change, and you will be treated to many sights and sounds of Honeymoon Island.
Birds of Honeymoon Island
One of the fantastic sights on your Honeymoon Island beach walk is the multitude of birds that live on the island. Great blue herons, white egrets, sand pipers, pelicans, black skimmers, gulls, ospreys, terns and many more species of birds occupy the shoreline and the island's interior. You will see signs as you walk that inform you that the interior of the island is a bird sanctuary. It is easy to agree with this code, because aside from protecting the birds, the beach sands make a far better terrain for walking than the brush-filled interior. You can find to identify birds at various shops, and perhaps at the Honeymoon Island nature center. The best charts are laminated so that they last longer. It can be fun to try and identify the birds you are viewing while you continue along the coast into the soft white sands of Honeymoon Island.
Beach Combing on Honeymoon Island
Beach combing the shores of Honeymoon Island is a favorite activity. The shoreline changes while you go along, providing many different surfaces where you can search for treasures. The eroded section where you begin the northward walk is one of the best for the more unusual items, such as rocks with interesting patterns. Farther north, where fewer people visit, you will encounter more of the undisturbed items. Here you might find complete clam or snail shells, as well as whole sand dollars. On certain days, the beachcombing can be so good, it might put you in danger of not reaching your destination, if you indeed intend to make it to the northern tip of the island. You might have to choose which of the pleasures of Honeymoon Island you want to indulge in most.
Remarkable Sands of Honeymoon Island
The Gulf Coast of Florida is known for its remarkable white sands and Honeymoon Island beaches are no exception. While some parts of the shore might be strewn with gravely, white, coral stone, others are covered with the soft white sands that make the Florida Gulf Coast famous. Walking along the waterline will give you ample opportunity to enjoy the changes on this natural section of beach. The farther north you go, better the sands become. Be sure to look around while you go, the natural shapes the sand takes can be quite interesting. If you have the fortitude to keep going, you will eventually find yourself at the northernmost tip which might find to be the very best part of Honeymoon Island.
Beach Walk of a Lifetime
At the northern tip of Honeymoon Island you will find beach paradise. Take a moment to sit and take in the scenery. You will see the other arm of Honeymoon Island to your southeast, across the waters of Pelican Cove. Boats will surely be out on the Gulf of Mexico. You will see the mainland to your east and a scattering of more barrier islands to your north. For an added treat, closely observe the sands surrounding you. You will see that the wind has sculpted them into shapes courser sands cannot hold. You will also see footprints of birds, perfectly preserved in the tiny grains. The waters and breezes of the Gulf of Mexico move the sands of the island north. That means that the softest, lightest grains of sands find their way to that part of the island. Make sure you take off your shoes –if you are still wearing them. Sink your toes into the powdery sands for an experience like no other. The shallow waters, with white sands just beneath, will glow a beautiful turquoise in the sunlight, a perfect place to dip your feet. Once you have had your fill, it will be time to turn back and walk the beach south once again. You will then be among those who know why the walk north on Honeymoon Island is a beach walk of a lifetime.
Last 30 Seconds of Sunset
Other posts you might enjoy:
Exploring the Honeymoon Island Nature Trail
Florida Barrier Island Breakdown
Wildest Islands on the Central Gulf Coast of Florida
Exploring the Honeymoon Island Nature Trail
Location of Honeymoon Island State Park
You will find Honeymoon Island State Park on the Central Gulf Coast of Florida. It is just north of Clearwater Beach and Caladesi Island, both of which are popular tourist destinations. Honeymoon Island is reachable by car thanks to the Dunedin Causeway, which is a popular weekend destination for boaters, fishermen, and those who enjoy a more casual beach experience. The park has a manned entrance gate with a required entry fee of 4-8 dollars depending on the number of people in your car.
Honeymoon Island Nature Center
Any trip to the Honeymoon Island State Park nature trail should begin at the nature center. While the nature center is not at the trailhead, it will give you an idea of what you might find on the island. The rangers are always willing to help, and will answer any questions you have. You will find books on the area, dioramas of island wildlife, kid-friendly displays they are allowed to touch, interactive videos, and a display on the island's history. Outside is an observation deck that overlooks the shallows of St Joseph Sound where you can often observe Honeymoon Island ospreys diving for fish.
Honeymoon Island Loop Trail
The Honeymoon Island nature trail is a 2.5 mile loop, which runs the length of the island's pine forest. Honeymoon Island has two peninsulas that reach northward. The western arm is mostly beach, while the eastern stretch is forested, with shores covered by mangrove trees. The stretch of water between the two peninsulas is called Pelican Cove. The looping nature trail, which is on the eastern arm of the island, has a number of connectors, allowing hikers to shorten their hike by making smaller loops. Although you will walk through a forested area, the trail will also have lots of sun, so be sure to bring your hat and perhaps some sunscreen. The surface of the trail is sand, sometimes covered with grass or pine needles, but sometimes not. Be sure to use footwear that goes well with soft, sandy terrain. Keep an eye out for the small signs along the nature trail that give you information on island features.
Honeymoon Island Nature Trail Foliage
The most prominent plants you will find on the Honeymoon Island nature trail are the tall slash pines. You will also see them as the barren dead trees where the ospreys like to build their nests. The other common trees are palms and mangroves, a staple plants for the Florida Gulf Coast. In the past, the island appeared somewhat dry, with stretches of low foliage where you could see hikers on the other side of the loop trail. After the island received a prescribed burn a few years ago, the plants filled in the spaces that were previously empty. Now a host of the new slash pines are growing, which is one of the main purposes behind prescribed burns. In addition to the trees you will see a seemingly endless variety of other plants, many of them with flowers. During the spring you will also see the prickly pear cacti in bloom.
Honeymoon Island Nature Trail Wildlife
The most popular feature on the Honeymoon Island Nature Trail are the ospreys. These fishing hawks are expert at catching their meals out on the Gulf of Mexico, in St Joseph Sound, and in Honeymoon Island's Pelican Cove. You will often see them flying back to their enormous nests with fish in their claws. The grand nests are easy to see because the ospreys most often build them in dead trees. Joining the ospreys on Honeymoon Island are breeding pairs of bald eagles and great horned owls. These latter two, however, are not as easy to spot as the abundant ospreys. In addition to many types of birds on the island, you will also come across the gopher tortoise, an island inhabitant that is also popular with visitors. Some of the tortoises will make hasty retreats into the island brush while others will calmly watch you walk by. The tortoises and the birds mentioned above are not the only natural inhabitants, so keep your eyes peeled and you will surely discover more wildlife along the Honeymoon Island nature trail.
Honeymoon Island Nature Trail Amenities
At the head of the Honeymoon Island nature trail you will find a number of helpful amenities. A small park sits next to a parking lot that never seems to fill up, which is very handy. The small park contains picnic pavilions and a fairly large playground for the kids. You will find a restroom across from the parking lot which also happens to be next to the western trail head of the looping nature trail. If you turn right on path behind the restroom, you will be heading onto the nature trail. If you take the path to the left, it will take you to the famous Honeymoon Island beach. As for that beach, we will let you know more about the other fantastic features of Honeymoon Island State Park in upcoming blogs.
Other posts you might enjoy:
Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park
Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park
What is Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park?
Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park is home to a variety of animals native to the state of Florida. The park is home to a many rescued animals, along with its other exhibits. The animals are displayed in open areas which make viewing easy. The park walkways wind among tall trees, providing plenty of shade for Gulf Coast's warmer days. A bayou extends into the park which is frequented by manatees, one of the park's main attractions. Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park emphasizes natural Florida and the preservation of native species. It is a worthy stopover on a Gulf Coast vacation, especially for those who want to see manatees, alligators, or other native Florida species. The Homosassa Springs is a great place to spend the afternoon and makes great entertainment for kids.
Where is Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park?
Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park is located seventy miles north of Clearwater Beach. It is south of Crystal River Preserve State Park and north of Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge. Crystal River, Homosassa Springs, and Chassahowitzka are all located on the coastline known as the Nature Coast of Florida. The park is situated on a bayou branching off from the Halls River. You will find the park in the community of Homosassa Springs off of Hwy 19 (Suncoast Blvd), or by taking the alternate route on Fishbowl Drive, which is a very scenic back road. An old sugar mill is nearby on the Fishbowl Drive route, for those interested in history. Both parking areas leads to the same entrance but the large parking area off of Hwy 19 includes an informative and beautiful boat ride over to the parking area on Fishbowl Dr. We recommend the boat ride, because it starts at an interesting info center and gift shop. Plus, on your ferry to the park entrance, you can see the natural Florida environment and a good number of native animals living in the wild. The address of Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park is 4150 South Suncoast Blvd., Homosassa, FL 34446.
What to See at Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park
Our first recommendation for things to do at Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park is the boat ride to the park entrance. If you miss this ride, you've cut out a vital part of the complete experience. You will hear plenty of interesting tidbits from the boat captain as you wind down the slow moving water channel. You might also learn some history, such as the names of famous movies filmed in the area, and about the only non-native animal in the park, Lu the hippopotamus, granted official state citizenship so that he could stay in the park after the end of his Hollywood movie career. You will find gift shops at either end of the boat tour.
Once you enter the park, where you go is up to you. The walkways wind in different directions throughout the park, displaying both native plants and animals. Any walk along the waterway should be done with your eyes alert. You will undoubtedly see manatees swimming in the bayou. Even better is the underwater viewing room where you can see schools of fish and any nearby manatees. Your chances of seeing the large marine mammals is very good, because park rangers feed them at regular intervals from above. You might also find a number of manatees inside of pens on the others side of the waterway, recovering from illness or injury suffered in the wild.
The park is essentially a zoo, displaying Florida's native species. You will see just about any bird you can imagine, plus some others. A few of the larger species are egrets, bald eagles, owls, and even turkeys. You can also view of deer, black bears, wolves, cougars, bobcats, alligators, and otters.
While the park has a concession stand, it is also a great place for a picnic. You also won't want to miss the ice cream stand just past Lu the hippo's pool. The park makes for a great afternoon on a Florida Gulf Coast vacation and is just over an hour from Clearwater Beach, making it a great outing for the day. If you are going to strike out from the beautiful beaches of the Central Gulf Coast, Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park is one of the best attractions out there.
Other blog posts you might like:
Places to See Alligators on the Florida Gulf Coast
Top Theme Parks near Clearwater Beach


text:
Check in from 1:00 PM / Check out prior to 12:00 AM
Kerme Ottoman Palace: Find photos, reviews, information, amenities and compare prices for 4 stars hotels in Akyaka, Turkey.
Kerme Ottoman Palace is located in Akyaka and features free Wi-Fi. It also provides an express check-in and check-out feature, 24-hour room service and an executive floor.
Hotel description
This 4-star hotel offers a kids pool, a coffee bar and valet parking. Guests of can take advantage of the hotel's recreational activities, such as a garden patio, bicycle rental and a dart board.
Every room at Kerme Ottoman Palace includes a mini bar and a coffee maker, while the bathrooms feature slippers and showers. Each offer movies-on-demand, a refrigerator and bottled water.
Ottoman serves breakfast each morning, and has a bar where guests can unwind with a drink. In the evening, guests can relax in the comfortable lounge bar.
For those wishing to explore the great outdoors, Ottoman is close to popular fishing and scenic spots. Those wanting to discover the area can also visit Mugla, situated within an easy drive of the property.
Hotel features
Room Service, Restaurant, Bar / Lounge, Air Conditioned, Mini Bar, Refrigerator, Cable / Satellite TV, In Room Movies, Coffee / Tea Maker, TV, Shower, En suite, Private Bathroom
24 Hour Reception, Conference Room(s), Currency Exchange, Safe-Deposit Box, Wake-up Service, Meeting Rooms, Laundry service, Bicycle Rental, Shops, Photocopier, Facsimile, Luggage Storage, Designated Smoking Area, Shops in Hotel, Express Check-In/Check-Out, Self Laundry
Swimming pool, Tour Desk, Massage / Beauty Centre, Bath / Hot Tub, Garden, Scuba Diving, Water Activities, Fishing, Massage
High-speed Internet, Internet Connection (wireless)
Airport shuttle, Valet Parking
Windsurfing, Dart Board, Horse Riding, Salon, Private Toilet, Child Pool, Games Available, Packed Lunches, Executive Floor, Souvenirs/Gift Shop
Availability and Prices
Booking Site
Room Type
Per room
Per night
Per night
Users who viewed Kerme Ottoman Palace also viewed these 4 stars Akyaka hotels:
Yucelen Hotel Gokova
Hamdi Yücel Gürsoy Sokak No:2, Akyaka
Hamdi Yücel Gürsoy Sokak No:2, Akyaka
Kerme Ottoman Palace Akyaka
Koyuncu Sokak No:32, Akyaka
Koyuncu Sokak No:32, Akyaka
Kerme Ottoman Konak
Catalcam Sok. Kadin Azmak Yani No:50, Akyaka
Catalcam Sok. Kadin Azmak Yani No:50, Akyaka
Search hotels
based on
149 reviews
Nearest hotels
- Ottoman Residence
0 miles
- Kerme Ottoman Palace Akyaka
0 miles
- Ottoman Residence Akyaka
0 miles

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Ralph Lauren Corp. (NYSE:RL)
Q4 2014 Earnings Conference Call
May 9, 2014 9:00 AM ET
James Hurley – VP, IR
Jacki Nemerov – President and COO
Chris Peterson – EVP, Chief Administrative Officer and CFO
Omar Saad – ISI Group
Michael Binetti – UBS
David Glick – Buckingham Research
Kate McShane – Citigroup
Lindsay Drucker Mann – Goldman Sachs
Liz Dunn – Macquarie Capital
Erinn Murphy – Piper Jaffray
Joan Payson – Barclays Capital
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Ralph Lauren Fourth Quarter 2014 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. Instructions on how to ask a question will be given at that time. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.
I would now like to turn the conference over to our host, Mr. James Hurley. Please go ahead.
James Hurley
Good morning, and thank you for joining us on Ralph Lauren's Fourth Quarter and Full Year Fiscal '14 Conference Call. The agenda for this morning's call includes Jacki Nemerov, our President and Chief Operating Officer, who will give you an overview of the year and comment on our broader strategic initiatives. Chris Peterson, our Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Financial Officer, will provide operational and financial perspective on the fourth quarter, in addition to reviewing our initial expectations for fiscal '15. After the company's prepared remarks, we will open the call up for your questions, which we ask that you limit to one per caller.
During today's call, we will be making some forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including our financial outlook. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees, and our actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Our expectations contain many risks and uncertainties. The principal risks and uncertainties that could cause our results to differ materially from our current expectations are detailed in our SEC filings.
With that, I'll turn the call over to Jacki.
Jacki Nemerov
Thank you, Jim, and good morning, everyone. We are pleased to be reporting better-than-expected fourth quarter and full year fiscal 2014 results today. Our 14% revenue growth and 23% increase in earnings per share for the fourth quarter were result of double-digit top line expansion in each of our major geographic regions, with Europe and Asia leading the pace in addition to strong profit flow-through for core operations.
The results reflect an acceleration from the third quarter's strong growth rate despite a challenging retail environment, particularly in the United States. Our full year sales growth of 7% and earnings per share of $8.43 represents record levels for us and were achieved even with substantial investments in our growth initiatives and infrastructure, and in the phase of unfavorable foreign exchange headwinds through the quarter.
When we provided our fiscal 2014 outlook a year ago, we characterized it as a tale of two halves. We spoke about our spending margin being down in the first half impacted by more modest sales growth and upfront expenses related to the integration of formally licensed operations and pre-opening costs for new stores.
And we spoke about our second half in terms of an acceleration in revenue trends and improved profitability, as a result of realizing the benefits of those newly integrated businesses and the store openings.
The year played out as we anticipated, in fact a bit better than expected in the second half, which clearly demonstrates the discipline of our organization, to both, manage the business in real-time and plan for the future.
Fiscal 2014 was also a year of important progress on each of the company's long-term growth objectives of extending our direct-to-consumer reach, expanding our international presence, innovation with new products and investing in our infrastructure.
Our achievements included the creation of Polo for women, the seamless transition of our Chaps men's sportswear business from licensed to owned, the integration of the Australia/New Zealand territories into our organization and a doubling of the size of ralphlauren.com's North American distribution center and a smooth transition to SAP for many of our most critical operations.
We also established a new leadership structure designed to enhance our progress on our long-term growth objectives. We opened 46 stores during the year, which was an acceleration from the prior year and consistent with our focus on extending our direct-to-consumer reach.
We also established greater clarity around our retail growth objectives with Polo stores being an exciting new evolution in our direct-to-consumer efforts and a compelling complement to our Ralph Lauren luxury stores. Our global e-commerce operations experienced another year of strong double-digit expansion.
We expect this to continue to be one of our fastest growing channels over the next several years, bolstered not only by consumer confidence in buying online, but also by new leadership of our e-commerce team and a site re-platform that will enhance functionality and allow us to provide an even stronger brand and customer experience.
Turning now to our product. Both luxury apparel and accessories experienced significant growth during the year. Our men's Purple Label and Black Label lines were more fully developed through additional sportswear and Denim elements respectively to provide more breadth to the product offering and more depth to their lifestyle expressions.
Men's and Women's Black Label performance was particularly strong as we see customers around the world connecting with this brand's modern streamlined sensibility. We also saw a continued momentum in outerwear and handbags, with consumers responding positively to the distinctiveness of our aesthetic in these areas.
Dresses were important driver of growth in women's wear during the year. We began a more concerted focus on dresses about five years ago to both capitalize on an emerging trend and to express our brand voice in a category that was becoming increasingly important to the consumer.
In a short period of time, through a combination of design trend, fit expertise and excellent value proposition and of course the stronger feel of our brand, we've established ourselves as a dominant force in the dress category with market leadership across nearly all of our wholesale distributions.
Club Monaco also had a fantastic year building on strong multiyear trends. The momentum has been equally strong at Club Monaco's 57 directly owned North American stores, e-commerce operations and in international markets with the brand that is present in over 120 points of distributions, mostly concentrated in Asia. Club Monaco occupies a unique niche in the market offering the contemporary customer distinctive, on-trend merchandize at a great price.
While women's has been a consistently strong performer over the years, the men's business have made great progress, thanks to the clarity of design direction in aesthetic which is coming through in both the product and the shopping environment.
We supported Club Monaco's development by investing in growing and renovating the store base, most notably with the brand's spectacular new flagship in New York. Based on the success we've already seen, we intend to accelerate store development for Club Monaco in fiscal 2015.
As we look to the future, I'd like to provide some perspective on three key initiatives that we believe will become meaningful drivers of sales and profit growth over the next three to five years. The first initiative is what I'll call the intensified development of the Polo brand. Polo achieved significant milestone in fiscal 2014 with the creation of Polo for women.
We are very excited about the long-term potential for women's Polo, especially given the broad global success of our men's Polo product. Today, the split between our men's and women's mix is about 60/40. The overall marketplace is in the reverse, and we believe the introduction of women's Polo is an opportunity for us to increase the penetration of our women's business. Women's Polo will replace our existing women's Blue Label line, so the launch is not entirely incremental for us in the near-term.
Over the long-term however, we believe the breadth and scope of the lines aesthetic, fitting price points will address a much broader market than we did with Blue Label. We are also taking back our men's clothing license and will be launching an expanded line of Polo tailored clothing this Fall.
This more comprehensive assortment of suits, sports clothes and trousers will allow Polo to establish its strong foothold in these essential aspects of a man's wardrobe. Tailored clothing has always been an integral part of the Ralph Lauren DNA and is the perfect complement to Polo's leadership in sportswear.
We are also in the early stages of executing our plan to open Polo stores worldwide. We believe these stores will be a wonderful counterpart to our valued North America and European wholesale distribution. Polo stores will likely become the brand's primary distribution platform in certain international markets such as Asia and parts of Latin America, where the wholesale channel is less developed.
Between those operated by us and those operated by local partners around the world, we have 13 Polo stores today with approximately 15 to 20 planned for fiscal 2015. We are testing a variety of store formats as we refine our approach to market before accelerating growth.
Over the long-term, we believe there is an opportunity to have between 100 and 200 Polo stores worldwide, and with also concentration in international markets.
Our second initiative is the global e-commerce development. In fiscal 2014, we achieved $500 million in revenues through our directly operated e-commerce sites. That milestone was achieved as a result of sustained investment in the business, including distribution centers, customer service centers and building out our international operations.
Based on the high growth and the profit creative dynamics of the channel, we intend to continue investing in this space. In fiscal '15, we will begin a three-year project to upgrade our e-commerce operations by transitioning to a new global operating platform.
This is a proactive investment to advance our ability to continue to deliver best-in-class online and mobile customer experiences, as well as leverage omni channel opportunities more effectively. The global nature of the platform will provide a singular way for us to manage our customer touch points and experiences across regions and channels ensuring a consistent brand experience worldwide.
With the additional capabilities of a more sophisticated platform, and an expectation of continued double-digit growth for the channel, we've set our sights on achieving $1 billion in annual e-commerce revenues.
The third initiative is accessories in general and leather goods in particular. I'd like to provide some perspective on the excellent progress we've made with our leather goods offerings which include handbags, footwear, belts and small leather goods.
Beginning with footwear, which we converted from a licensed to owned model in 2006, we've now spent two years reimagining our offerings and building the appropriate leadership, design talent and sourcing capabilities to elevate the quality and support our distribution and growth aspirations.
We relaunched footwear in 2008 and have made tremendous progress since then establishing ourselves as an important player in the category. 2008 was also the year we assumed direct control of our handbag and small leather goods licenses. We've grown the leather goods category at a 20% compound annual rate. As you know, we've made big commitment to the Ricky bag as our most iconic silhouette. The customer response to the quality and versatility of the product, and to our advertising and marketing efforts has been extraordinary and the momentum continues to build.
In total, handbags, footwear and small leather goods represented a high-single-digit percentage of our consolidated sales in fiscal 2014. We expect leather goods to grow faster than the overall company for the next several years, supported by expanded offerings and increased distribution.
Our initial goal is for leather goods to represent 20% of our consolidated revenues, a target that should also have favorable margin implications.
The three initiatives I've just highlighted make it clear that we have a lot to achieve. With this in mind, we've spent a considerable time developing and implementing the optimal leadership and organizational structure over this last year, one that we believe positions the company for continued growth and success.
As you know, we recently appointed a President of Ralph Lauren Luxury Collections with global responsibility for the strategy, merchandizing, distribution and overall expansion of apparel and accessories for our men's and women's collection brands.
We've also made other important structural changes to our broader senior management group. These changes have moved some of our high performing talent into roles with more global oversight. This leverages their experience and subject matter expertise allows us to more easily and confidently apply successes in one channel or region to another and evolve the more regional orientation we had in the past.
We have consolidated oversight of the Americas under one leader, which is consistent with how we manage our operations in Europe and Asia. This new structure should enable us to better execute an omni channel approach, more effectively leveraging our robust planning, allocation and merchandizing expertise.
We also combined our sourcing and manufacturing operations with our distribution and logistics team, creating a fully integrated end-to-end supply chain organization. These changes are aligned with the progress we've made in other areas of the company, such as the creation of the global merchandizing team we've spoken about before and the more global oversight that Chris has instituted in finance and IT.
We believe that this streamlining of responsibilities allows us to be more nimble and responsive as an organization and to operate with a higher degree of global consistency. This new structure will enable us to make faster decisions, drive greater operational efficiencies and build a more effective go-to-market process.
The changes have all been well received by the organization and we are settling nicely into the new structure with Ralph, Chris and I spending the appropriate time to ensure that everyone is transitioning smoothly into their new roles.
I am sure most of you have seen that Roger Farah will retire from Ralph Lauren at the end of May. We are enormously grateful for the leadership and dedication, Roger has provided over the last 14 years.
In partnership with Ralph, he has guided the company to a period of tremendous growth in sales and profits. In doing so, he has built an impressive team and his characteristic balance of prudence and creativity is a legacy that is ingrained in our culture, and certainly in everyone he has mentored over the years. Roger, you are like none other and we wish you and your family all the best.
The strength of the Ralph Lauren brand and the positive customer response to our expanding range of product offerings puts us in the best possible position to achieve our growth objectives.
Before I turn the call over to Chris, on behalf of the office of the chairman, I'd like to thank our global team for their contribution to our record fiscal 2014 results. As Ralph said in this morning's press release, their creativity, passion and diligence is incredibly invigorating and they are a critical ingredient in our ability to deliver sustainable, profit enhancing growth over the long-term.
Chris Peterson
Thank you, Jacki, and good morning, everyone. As you've seen in this morning's press release, we're reporting strong fourth quarter sales and profit results today.
Let me start with a brief recap of the quarter. Consolidated net revenues rose 14% to $1.9 billion, reflecting robust wholesale segment growth and strong retail segment expansion. Revenue was up double-digits in each of our geographic regions during the quarter.
The revenue results were better than the expectations we articulated in February due to stronger wholesale revenue as we gained market share in North America and returned to robust growth in Europe. For the full year, net revenues grew 7% to $7.4 billion and were up 9% excluding the impact of discontinued businesses and foreign exchange.
Gross profit margin of 56.2% was 310 basis points below the prior year period. The decline in gross profit margin is primarily attributable to the mix impacts from the integration of the Chaps men's sportswear operations, the mixed impact from stronger wholesale revenue growth and negative foreign currency effects in the quarter.
Operating expenses rose 4% to $825 million, but the operating expense rate of 44.2% was 400 basis points below the prior year. We delivered substantial cost leverage on strong sales growth, which was achieved despite continued investments in the company's long-term strategic growth initiatives in infrastructure.
Operating income rose an impressive 24% to $225 million in the fourth quarter, which was achieved on top of a 33% increase in the prior year period. Operating margin improved 90 basis points to 12%, which was at the high-end of the outlook we provided in February.
Operating income of $1.1 billion for the full year of fiscal 2014 period was modestly above the prior year. Operating margin declined 100 basis points to 15.2% due to unfavorable foreign exchange and the mix impact from integrating the Chaps men's sportswear operations.
Net income for the fourth quarter was $153 million, 20% greater than the prior year period and net income per diluted share increased 23% to $1.68. The significant increases in net income and net income per diluted share were achieved on top of strong double-digit increases in the prior year.
Higher operating income drove the strong growth in net income and net income per share. The effective tax rate of 30% compared to 25% in the fourth quarter of fiscal '13 primarily due to a favorable discrete tax item in the prior year period.
For fiscal 2014, net income rose 3% to $776 million, and net income per diluted share increased 5% to $8.43.
Before I move onto segment level highlights, I want to discuss some changes we've made in our segment reporting. As Jacki mentioned, we've reshaped our organization structure to better support our long-term strategic growth objectives.
Specifically, we've expanded the scope and reach of our centralized global shared service organization. We believe this change will increase productivity by enabling faster and more consistent execution against the company's key growth strategies.
It also provides an opportunity for us to leverage our scale in a more cost effective manner going forward. As a result, we've organized key functions such as design, merchandizing, advertising, supply chain, finance and IT to operate on a global basis. And certain of those costs that used to be allocated to our wholesale, retail and licensing segments are now reflected in the unallocated corporate expense bucket.
While this changes the financial information of our segments, as you see in this morning's press release, the change has no impact on the company's consolidated financial statements.
Moving onto segment highlights for the quarter. Wholesale revenues of $983 million were an impressive 24% greater than the prior year period, driven by double-digit expansion for most merchandize categories in the Americas, including strong growth in accessories, the contribution from Chaps men's sportswear operations and double-digit growth in Europe.
Wholesale operating income grew 25% to $296 million in the fourth quarter on top of double-digit growth in the prior year period. And wholesale operating margin increased 40 basis points to 30.1%. The improvement in wholesale operating margin was due to stronger profitability for core operations, which more than offsets the mix impacts from the integration of Chaps men's sportswear and negative foreign exchange effects.
Fourth quarter retail segment sales rose 5% to $845 million, driven by growth in international operations and global store expansion, including newly transitioned operations in Australia and New Zealand. Excluding the impacts of discontinued businesses in foreign exchange, retail sales rose 7%.
Our North America retail operations were negatively affected by the cold and late start to spring and the Easter shift from March to April, which caused traffic to decline during the quarter. Double-digit growth in our European and Asian retail sales was strong enough to overcome the pressure in North America.
Retail segment operating income was $51 million in the fourth quarter and the retail operating margin was 6.1%, 400 basis points below the prior year. The lower retail operating income margin reflects costs associated with the company's global store and e-commerce development efforts and negative foreign exchange impacts.
Retail operating margin was also affected by increased promotional activity in the U.S. where the promotional tenor of the marketplace intensified in the post-holiday period due to the unseasonable weather conditions.
We anticipated a more intense promotional landscape when we provided our fourth quarter outlook in February, and our results actualized better than we expected at that point in time.
Licensing revenues of $39 million in the fourth quarter were 10% below the prior year as mid-single-digit growth in licensing revenues for Ralph Lauren products was more than offset by lower revenues as a result of the Chaps and Australia/New Zealand license take-backs.
Operating income for the licensing segment was $35 million, in line with the prior year period.
Consolidated inventory was $1 billion at the end of the fiscal year, reflecting incremental inventory associated with newly transitioned Chaps and Australia/New Zealand operations and investments to support anticipated sales growth for existing operations and new store openings.
We spent approximately $390 million on capital expenditures to support new retail stores, shop installations and infrastructure investments during the year.
Company repurchased 3.2 million shares of its common stock during fiscal '14 at a cost of $548 million, and returned an additional $149 million to shareholders via dividend repayments.
In total, the company returned approximately $700 million to shareholders during the year. At the end of the fourth quarter, the company had $580 million available under previously authorized share repurchase programs for future buybacks, and we ended the year with approximately $1.3 billion in cash and investments.
We are pleased with the strong fourth quarter and full year results, particularly with the accelerated top line trends. Disciplined planning and day-to-day execution enabled us to overcome meaningful foreign exchange and environmental headwinds and deliver higher profits even as we continue to make substantial investments in our global retail development and product innovation and in our infrastructure to support our long-term growth objectives.
Now I'd like to turn to fiscal '15. As we articulated to you in February, we expect to maintain strong revenue growth this year. We are increasing our investments in the business to support that momentum and longer term shareholder value creation. The key areas of focus in fiscal '15 include global retail development, infrastructure investments and increased advertising and marketing.
With respect to retail store development, we plan to open approximately 40 to 45 new stores in fiscal 2015, a pace we'll likely maintain over the next several years. As a result, we'll incur substantial increase in pre-opening costs, particularly since our plans included a handful of large high-profile stores that are scheduled to open in the next two years.
Among the new store investments is a dual-gender Ralph Lauren flagship store in Hong Kong, as well as flagship stores for the Polo brand in New York and London. This confluence of flagship store activity is important to elevate the brand equity and image, but puts near-term pressure on our retail segment, as stores of that scale has significantly greater pre-opening costs and a lower profit contribution early in their development cycle.
With respect to infrastructure, the largest area of investment continues to be SAP implementation. In fiscal 2015, we will be completing the transition of our North America wholesale operations from legacy systems to SAP, and we will begin the implementation process in Europe.
Based on the current scope of the SAP initiative, fiscal '15 will likely represent the peak level of investment for us. While we anticipate substantial SAP costs in fiscal '16 and '17, we currently expect them to be below 2015 level. Over time, we believe SAP will enable productivity improvements and procurement savings in addition to providing the company with a robust global platform for future growth.
We also intend to begin a three-year project to upgrade our global e-commerce operating platform. We've been operating on our existing platform for over a decade. While it continues to serve us well, we are proactively investing in capabilities that we believe will support accelerated revenue growth through increased productivity and improved conversion rates.
Consumers are clearly choosing to shop more online and our objective with the new platform is to create world-class shopping experiences that place us on the leading edge of the industry. To do this, we're moving to a more flexible platform, one that can better service a growing range of devices and enable more omni channel capabilities, as well as more sophisticated CRM activities that should drive stronger engagement, retention and repeat purchases. This initiative requires a mix of capital and operating expense that will likely intensify as the project progresses.
We've also planned to substantial increase in advertising and marketing. There are three main areas of investment, each of which is aligned with our core growth objectives. The first is incremental funds for Polo brand, largely to support the launch of women's Polo, the opening of the Polo flagship store in New York City and additional Polo stores around the world.
Second main area is to improve our brand awareness in Greater China. We've made excellent progress since opening the Prince's Building store last year, and we intent to build on that with stepped up outreach and messaging, including activities surrounding Ralph Lauren flagship store opening in Lee Gardens.
Final area of investment is for our luxury products, both to support the strong trends we are experiencing and to showcase our accessories offerings. All totaled, our planned investment activities represent about 200 basis points of operating margin pressure for 2015 compared to 2014, with global retail development accounting for about half of that investment.
We continue to expect these investments to deliver a rate of return that is well in excess of our cost of capital and they are meant to support shareholder value creation over the long-term.
With that as backdrop, I'd like to review our initial outlook for the year, which was outlined in this morning's press release. For the full year fiscal 2015 period, we expect consolidated revenues to increase by 6% to 8%, led by retail segment growth. Revenue growth is expected to be primarily organic, as there is no material contribution from license take-backs this year and we expect foreign exchange impacts to be relatively neutral.
We expect our full year fiscal 2015 operating margin to be approximately 75 to 125 basis points below fiscal 2014 level, due to accelerated investment in our strategic growth initiatives and infrastructure. Excluding the impacts of the incremental investment in the company's strategic growth initiatives, underlying operating income growth would be up low-double-digits for the year.
Our fiscal 2015 tax rate is expected to be 30%. A higher level of investment that's flowing through the P&L is also reflected in our capital spending plans. We are planning approximately $400 million to $500 million in capital expenditures in fiscal 2015 to support our global direct-to-consumer and infrastructure investments, as well as wholesale shop development for the women's Polo launch.
For the first quarter of 2015, we expect consolidated net revenues to increase by 3% to 5%, led by retail segment growth, as wholesale segment sales are expected to be essentially in line with the prior year period.
Our operating margin for the first quarter is expected to be approximately 300 basis points to 350 basis points below the prior year period, primarily due to higher operating expenses related to the timing of investments to support the company's strategic growth objectives.
In addition, we will not be anniversarying the one-time gain on the Chaps acquisition that we had in the prior year period, which accounts for about 100 basis points of this decline. The first quarter tax rate is estimated at 30%.
Our opportunities for growth are tremendous and our strategies are clear. We are focused on executing with excellence and are committed to being prudent stewards of capital and global brand development. The investments we are making in our long-term growth initiatives along with our new management structure are intended to maximize our sales and profit growth over the long-term.
At this point, we'd like to open up the call for your questions. Operator, can you assist us with that?
Question-and-Answer Session
(Operator Instructions) One moment please for the first question. The first question comes from Omar Saad with ISI Group. Your line is open.
Omar Saad – ISI Group
Thanks. Good morning, and thanks for all the color heading into '15. It's really helpful. I wanted to ask you a question to maybe get you to elaborate a little bit on some of the realignments in the organizational shifts that are going on and the shared services, especially in the context of the recent announcement around Valerie becoming the President of the Luxury Ralph Lauren brands. Are you going to do something similar maybe with the Polo brand as its growing, and how it kind of all fits together and what's some of the benefits do you think are some of these realignments around the org structure? Thanks.
Jacki Nemerov
What we've done is we've really looked at our overall structure, and what our plan was to consolidate our viewpoint of all three regions. So Europe and Asia had already had a consolidated approach between our retail business and our wholesale business.
We decided that there was value in doing that in the Americas, and in looking at the overall business in the region between North America and now South Americas in that world, and to be able to really strategize our viewpoint in an omni channel way. So to really look across our wholesale businesses, our retail businesses and make the best decisions as to how we should move forward in the region, rather than with a more siloed approach that we had operated under.
So the leadership of that is under Joy Herfel, who has spent 25 years in our company and ran our Polo and children's businesses, and has obviously run our biggest and most profitable businesses within the company.
Reporting to Joy is Kim Roy, who is Head of our U.S. Wholesale business, also a veteran of Ralph Lauren and has been with the company for 11 years. Has done an outstanding job in building the world of Lauren and Chaps and has great visibility during that time for the – to strengthen the balance of our wholesale division. And Kim is often running in her new role.
We also promoted and expanded Don Baum's role, who was Head of all of Manufacturing and Sourcing. We really saw great benefit in combining manufacturing sourcing with supply chain, and Don now has full oversight of that end-to-end seamless execution from beginning to the end of process from distribution out to our stores and our customers. And we believe that there will be great benefit overtime in the seamless and view of that organization.
We've also had very strong success in our merchandizing organization by taking a global view in our product and our presentation worldwide. And led by David Rosenberg, we started with the consolidation in our men's merchandizing world and now we are expanding that based on its success addressing SKU count and a more cohesive presentation around the world to the balance of our businesses. And that's moving along quite well.
Valerie in her new role is focused on our luxury opportunity. As you know, Valerie comes to us with tremendous experience. Spent her career in that sector, and we believe that there is great opportunity in building both our apparel and of course our accessory business under her leadership.
In addition, we brought in Denise Incandela, who is now heading – came from Saks Fifth Avenue is now heading our online business. And we are very excited about having Denise on board, and the understanding of this space, both as a merchant and as a marketer, as you know she had the CMO role as well in Saks, and think there are many opportunities that we have not yet taken advantage of that Denise has really brought to the table.
So, as we are looking at our entire organization and we are looking at the strength of that leadership and the past seven months that we've all been operating under this structure, we've already seen some very, very positive results.
And our Polo brand is really built centrally designed, merchandized, marketed and then distributed in the regions, each taking that as a key centerpiece for what we believe the opportunities are going forward, both in Polo stores, Polo product expansion with women's and clothing for men's and of course with the exciting entry into the market of our new store on Fifth Avenue, which is expected to open at around Labor Day, and then of course the Ralph Lauren Restaurant that will follow that opening. So that kind of summarizes our leadership changes.
Chris Peterson
The other thing I would say, Omar, to your question is that, as we're – really a lot of these moves are meant to globalize the company. And it starts with an underpinning from a system standpoint which is what the SAP project is about, which is what the e-commerce re-platforming project is about. A lot of the management moves that we're doing are taking multiple organizations that we had acquired over the years through license take-backs that operated in silos, and combining organizations so that instead of doing the same job three times or four times, we do it once.
And over time, what we believe and what we're already starting to see opportunity for is we think that's going to lead to significant opportunity for cost leverage, which should result in SG&A leverage overtime as we get into the new structure and as we begin to leverage. It also should allow us to be more consistent as a brand across the world, and it should allow us to rollout faster new initiatives from an innovation standpoint.
So we're excited about it. I think we're early days into sort of this globalization. And I think a lot of these themes are going to play out more fully when we get into fiscal '16 than in fiscal '15.
James Hurley
Next question please.
Thank you. The next question comes from Michael Binetti with UBS.
Michael Binetti – UBS
Good morning guys. I guess two quick questions here. One is, as I think about the factory outlets in the U.S. I think those have been struggling with traffic for a lot of last year. And those are obviously very big percent of the U.S. retail comps. Can you tell us a little bit more about your thinking in that channel based on what you're seeing now, and if you think sales there turn back to positive in fiscal '15? And then Chris, you also talked about – obviously gave us a lot of good color on a number of initiatives that are baked into the SG&A guidance for this year. There was a lot of projects that have varying durations, and as we look at the longer term comments that you're making and think about our models which tend to focus on longer term for the Ralph Lauren company in particular, how you guys are thinking about maybe some of the payback period analysis that you did, or whether the EBIT margins can start to expand as soon as fiscal '16? Thanks.
Chris Peterson
Okay. I'll start with the factory channel. So in the fourth quarter, we saw actually very good growth in the factory channel in Europe and Asia. The U.S. factory business was down in the fourth quarter and that was because we saw traffic – again our fourth quarter is Jan through March, and the traffic trend that we experienced in the fourth quarter was down double-digits in traffic in that period, which had a significant impact in the company's comps.
The encouraging part of that is that in the first quarter, to-date, the first part of April and May, we're already seeing the traffic trends reaccelerate in the U.S. to the factory outlet channel. So we're seeing not the same trend that we saw in January-March in the U.S. market.
From a longer term perspective on some of the margin trends going forward. I think you're right that some of the things have different payback periods. So I would characterize if you wanted to parse it into two broad areas. The infrastructure investments that we're making, whether it be SAP or the e-commerce platform, we're likely to be in investment mode on an aggregate of those two things for a couple of years, because the e-commerce re-platforming is a two or three year project, where you're investing before you turn on the new platform.
On the flipside, the Polo investments that we're making, whether it be women's Polo or the flagship stores, the start of the rollout of new stores, we should start seeing and be able to report a much stronger progress on that as we get towards the end of this fiscal year, because we'll have experience in the market when women's Polo launches in the fall, and we'll began to get some initial reads from the stores that we're opening.
So it's too soon for us to say how all of that nets together from a fiscal '16 and beyond perspective externally, because we typically provide guidance one year out, but that's a little bit of how we expect the underlying trends to play out.
James Hurley
Next question.
Thank you. The next question comes from David Glick with Buckingham Research.
David Glick – Buckingham Research
Thank you. Just continuing on that trend, I think the concern that we're hearing from investors is that the operating margin has been down, let's just call it 100 basis points a year FY'14 and then kind of taking the midpoint in FY'15. You've given us a lot of qualitative. I mean is it reasonable to assume that you could see at least some margin stabilization in FY'16 assuming that the Polo initiative and the new store openings open as you plan them? And then second for Jacki. Just when will we start to see the Polo women's merchandize in stores? And I am curious what to make up the American Living appearance at Macy's, whether that's a significant opportunity for you guys?
Chris Peterson
So I guess on the operating margin. Let me start with fiscal '14 just to make sure we're clear. So in fiscal '14, the primary driver of the operating margin being down in fiscal '14 versus the year ago was foreign exchange. So if you took out the impact of foreign exchange on our profitability, our earnings per share would be up double-digits in fiscal '14.
In fiscal '15, I think we've provided perspective around the impacts of the investments, which together account for 200 basis points of the operating margin pressure, which the midpoint of our guidance range is down 100 basis points. So if you looked at the operating margin excluding those investments, the operating margin would be up 100 basis points in fiscal '15.
As I mentioned on fiscal '16, there is going to be varying impacts of these investments, because they have different payback periods. And we'll provide more color on that in our normal guidance pattern as we go forward.
Jacki Nemerov
On Polo women's, David, we'll start to ship Polo women's in mid-to-end August and the first impact will be in our retail stores over the Labor Day weekend, and in our wholesale customers approximately the same time. We are building beautiful shops as a backdrop for the Polo women's brand. We have a lot of confidence in that opportunity, and feel that, as I said we can get relation to what we are doing in Polo men's and which we're fairly confident about that we can really grow that business and we're really excited about our fall shipments for that brand.
As it relates to American Living, as you know we had exclusively at J.C. Penny up until the time that they have their change in management. And for many reasons we decided to withdraw the brand from J.C. Penny. Interestingly, we had built it into quite a big successful volume brand for J.C. Penny and felt that it had that a great future and kind of put it on the sidelines until we could determine what the next opportunity might be.
We had a great conversation with Macy's and we decided that we would utilize the American Living brand in conjunction with their American Icon marketing strategy which incorporates Memorial Day into July 4 into Labor Day. And so we shipped the brand for beginning of April. And it has been a very exciting launch so far, and we are very, very pleased with the results.
We have another concept package going in for holiday. And then I believe we'll determine how we build the brand and opportunity from there. And that's – as I said, it's very early days at this point, but nice results.
James Hurley
Next question please.
Thank you. The next question comes from Kate McShane with Citi Research.
Kate McShane – Citigroup
Thanks, good morning. Is there any sales pulled into Q4 from Q1 and that's why we're seeing deceleration in the Q1 top line guidance, or just Q1 fiscal year '15. And is there a change in guidance as you conveyed today on the top line, I had noted that you were guiding high-single-digits for fiscal year '15 and now 6% to 8% it seems a little bit lower than that, so I was hoping you can reconcile that for us? Thanks.
Chris Peterson
Sure. So on the first question, I would say, yes. There was a little bit of shift in timing of the wholesale business. March and April are in a lot of cases viewed somewhat together. And so we do have a set of shipments that go out March 25. Some of those shipments went out a little bit early at the request of our customers, but it wasn't a material impact.
One of the key drivers of that is Easter. So I think it's probably a fair comment that looking at the wholesale business on a rolling basis as opposed to a quarter-to-quarter basis is a more accurate – is a better reflection of the trends in that business. And you see that in our guidance for the first quarter where we had very strong wholesale shipments in the January-March period, but in the April to June period, we're effectively guiding wholesale shipments about flat versus year ago. Over the six month period, it will be a very strong wholesale pick-up.
On the top line for the total company, yes, we expect high-single-digits. I think 6% to 8% is consistent with that in my view. So there is really no change in our thinking there going forward.
James Hurley
Next question.
Thank you. The next question comes from Lindsay Drucker Mann with Goldman Sachs.
Lindsay Drucker Mann – Goldman Sachs
Thanks. Good morning everyone. Just to follow-up on that question. It sounds as if – even if we were to adjust for some of the shipment timing that you U.S. wholesale business is still running up very strong high-single, maybe a low-double-digit type of growth. Is that – first of all, am I right in thinking about it that way? And second of all, do you contemplate that sort of growth rate continuing as we move into the back part of the year? And for your sales guidance of the 6% to 8% for the full year, how much incremental sales from these new initiatives are contemplated in that guidance?
Chris Peterson
So yes, I would say that the U.S. wholesale business continues to operate very strongly. If you look at the sell-out of the business and our customers, we continue to gain share consistently in that channel. I think the other encouraging thing in our wholesale segment results, is as we talked about at the last call, we had made a strategic pullback in shipments primarily in Southern Europe on the specialty store channel. We've now annualized that, and so we're starting to see a return to strong wholesale growth in the European business as well. And so we had a double-digit increase in wholesale in the quarter in Europe as well.
So I think the trends in our wholesale business broadly are very encouraging, and I think we expect them to continue.
On the new initiatives, I think the 6% to 8% revenue growth is effectively organic growth in our view. There is no acquisitions in that. There is no foreign exchange in that. I think the women's Polo impact during the year is going to be somewhat muted, because we're launching in fall, so we'll have a part year impact, and we're replacing the Blue Label business. And so during the transition, I think we see opportunity, but I think we see even stronger opportunity as we begin to get into fiscal '16, as we really get behind the women's Polo line, and as we open more freestanding Polo stores.
James Hurley
Next question.
Thank you. The next question comes from Liz Dunn with Macquarie.
Liz Dunn – Macquarie Capital
Hi, thanks for taking my question. If Roger is listening, best of luck. It's been an absolute pleasure. And Jacki and Chris, thank you so much for all the detail, particularly quantifying some of the things like e-commerce and the amount of pressure that you're expecting next year on the operating margin. In terms of that 6% to 8%, I don't mean to keep hitting the same point, but does that imply that as we go forward perhaps beyond fiscal '15 that the 6% to 8% will accelerate or could potentially accelerate as some of these growth initiatives begin to really kick in? And then relative to the accessories business, are you Jacki, do you think that the progress that we've seen so far has been slower than you anticipated, or is it just one of these businesses that takes time to build and now you're finally seeing some signs that that growth is beginning to accelerate? Thanks.
Chris Peterson
I'll address the long-term revenue growth. So on the long-term revenue growth, I think our view is that we'd like to try to target high-single-digit growth, sort of on a continuous basis, but in any given year I think we want to be prepared for mid-single-digit growth. And a lot of it's going to depend on the macroeconomic environment, the timing of initiatives, the timing of store openings. But I think our goal, if you will, is to try to be a consistent high-single-digit type of grower.
Jacki Nemerov
On the accessory front, Liz, I think that we are pleased with our introduction, beginning in accessories in 2008 as that was not a core competence of the company, and we have made it one since in two critical areas, one being the luxury accessory business. And I think that over this last year, we've seen some great traction with the Ricky and continue to fuel that opportunity.
We've also had some great success with our Lauren accessory business. And we are seeing very nice growth in that brand as well. So I would say that in our whole leather goods category, we've accomplished a 20% compound annual rate growth. So, look, we always hope for more, but we are pleased with where we are and we think we finally have put in the right foundations to continue to build from.
James Hurley
Next question.
Thank you. The next question comes from Erinn Murphy with Piper Jaffray.
Erinn Murphy – Piper Jaffray
Thank you. Good morning. I was just hoping, if you could follow up on the strength that you saw in Europe in the fourth quarter. Could you elaborate a little bit more about country specific regional trends that you are seeing? And then with the pace of wholesale growth there, should we assume that whether you are also seeing that type of double-digit growth in the fall order books? Thank you.
Chris Peterson
Yes. So I guess if I were to step back and talk about Europe for the year, we've pretty consistently grown our retail segment revenues in Europe, double-digits every quarter for the past year, but we saw wholesale really start to accelerate a little bit in the third quarter and then get to double-digits in the fourth quarter. And that's what allowed us to translate into double-digit growth in Europe in the fourth quarter, with both, retail and the wholesale at that pace.
I think we're at a place where we expect that to continue in terms of revenue growth going forward in a strong way. If you look at the trends within the region, I think we're seeing the U.K. is probably the strongest part of our business, the GDP has improved there markedly. I think we're seeing Southern Europe stabilize. So it's no longer going down, it's not necessarily going up, but it's stabilizing. And I think we're seeing some strength in the Scandinavia region in Germany and some stability in France.
The other encouraging trend that I would point to in Europe is that, as we've invested in resetting the brand image in Greater China, particularly with the opening of the men's Prince's flagship store and a number of the other luxury stores, we're starting to see the Chinese tourist business in Europe increase at a significant rate, off of a low base, but we're up very, very strong double-digits in terms of our business to Chinese tourists in Europe, which is helping to fuel the growth of that business right now.
And we think as we open the Lee Gardens flagship store and increase the marketing and advertising spending behind Greater China, where we have a low awareness, we think that's going to translate through both in Europe and in the U.S. business.
James Hurley
Operator, we're ready for our last question.
Thank you. The final question comes from Joan Payson with Barclays.
Joan Payson – Barclays Capital
Hi, good morning, and thank you for taking my question. I just wanted to ask another question on Europe actually and the Polo full price opportunity in particular. Given your store network over there, how many retail stores do you think the region could support overall? And you also mentioned the 100 to 200 store number for Polo full price being a little more weighted towards Asia and Latin America, but how do you really think about the allocation in terms of the regional perspective with those?
Chris Peterson
I think we see a big opportunity for full price stores in Europe. We're in the middle of prioritizing locations around the world and we're doing it on a global basis. I think, we think there is both in opportunity in Western Europe and we think there is an opportunity in Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East for Polo stores. If you think about the allocation of that 100 to 200, I would expect that maybe we could have 20% to 30% of those stores in Europe over time.
Jacki Nemerov
We're excited also about our London opening on Regent Street for Polo, which we believe will set the tone for Polo in Europe.
Chris Peterson
All right. Well, thank you for joining us this morning. I think we're pleased with the fourth quarter results that we have reported today I think. And we're looking forward to coming out and talking more about it and following up with you. And please feel free to call Jim or myself with any additional questions. Thank you very much.
Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude your conference for today. Thank you for your participation. And you may now disconnect
Copyright policy: All transcripts on this site are the copyright of Seeking Alpha. However, we view them as an important resource for bloggers and journalists, and are excited to contribute to the democratization of financial information on the Internet. (Until now investors have had to pay thousands of dollars in subscription fees for transcripts.) So our reproduction policy is as follows: You may quote up to 400 words of any transcript on the condition that you attribute the transcript to Seeking Alpha and either link to the original transcript or to www.SeekingAlpha.com. All other use is prohibited.
If you have any additional questions about our online transcripts, please contact us at: email@example.com. Thank you!


text:
Tama Short Tom Mount
Sku #440218000000000
Tom Mounts
- Write a Review
- Seen a Lower Price? Click Here.
45 day price guarantee, 45 day return policy, 100% secure shopping
- Buy New
- Alerts
Tama MTH900A Tom Arm Attachments
Flexibility and speed
Allows you to add single toms to stands with flexibility and speed of Tama's Omiball/L-rod combination. Both single tom attachments employ the same 19.1mm diameter pipe but the MTH900AS features a shorter pipe to set toms as floor tom height.
Order it now.


text:
Feel easy and breezy in this stylish moccasin. Faux leather upper with moc stitching and metallic hardware detail
- Soft System comfort package provides all-day support, flex, and cushioning
- A plush layer of Velocity with Memory Foam cradles your foot
- Traction sole provides you with extra stability
Delivery and Returns
Estimated delivery date: 2 (based on standard shipping).
We offer free shipping on orders over $99, and free returns and exchanges for up to 30 days.


text:
Estimated grade. Ex. New Netherlands (1946) Sold by David Akers Numismatics Oct '97 Price realized $3850
Ron Guth:
Eight varieties comprise the entire mintage of 1830 Dimes. Seven of the varieties have what is known as a "Medium 10C"; the eighth variety (JR-2) has what is known as the "Small 10C." Two overdate varieties (JR-4 and JR-5) are subsets of the Medium 10C's.
The PCGS CoinFacts Condition Census includes over one hundred Mint State Medium 10C's, most of which are MS63 or MS64. The best examples are a PCGS MS67 and a PCGS MS67+.Gordon Wrubel: Here is a tip in determining Medium versus Small 10C varieties: Medium has a "football" shaped 0 in 10C that is the same size as the 1. Small has a round 0 that is smaller than the 1.


text:
Newegg.com - A great place to buy computers, computer parts, electronics, software, accessories, and DVDs online. With great prices, fast shipping, and top-rated customer service - once you know, you Newegg.
If you are reading this message, Please click this link to reload this page.(Do not use your browser's "Refresh" button). Please email us if you're running the latest version of your browser and you still see this message.
Newegg.com - Computer Parts, Laptops, Electronics, HDTVs, Digital Cameras and More!
Showing Results: Most Recent
This review is from: GIGABYTE GA-F2A88XM-D3H FM2+ / FM2 AMD A88X (Bolton D4) SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
Pros: Price is right, usb 3.0 built in, bios setup is pretty, and all connections feel solid.
Cons: No compatibility for the APU and usb 3.0 drivers in windows vista 64.
Other Thoughts: Gotta love it when the answer from gigabyte tech support is you have to spend more money on a different os. (They have xp drivers for this)READ FULL REVIEW


text:
Anyway, onto the plotline. Sirius, Remus, James and Peter all are very good friends, but they werent always that way. How did they meet? Where did they meet? Why did Remus ever speak to these idiots? All these questions and more will be answered by my ideas in this hilariously dramatic fanfic!
Sequel to More than a Feeling
*Chapter 10 is 'A Wedding and a Funeral'*


text:
Call toll-free 1.866.663.0859
Bella Sera Nove 3 Organic Mattress
Natural and organic mattress with three layers of 3 inch dunlop latex. Choose soft, medium, or firm for each layer!
$1,800.00 to $4,675.00
Green Sleep Hevea Dolcezza
Our High End, Luxury Natural Rubber Organic Mattress With Plush Pillowtop!!
$3,979.00 to $9,237.00
Naturepedic EOS Pillowtop
The EOS Pillowtop mattress has two 3 inch organic latex layers on top of an eight inch encased coil support layer allowing you to customize your mattress firmness from firm to ultra plush.
$2,499.00 to $5,698.00
Naturepedic EOS Standard Mattress
The EOS Standard mattress combines a 3 inch comfort level on top of an eight inch encased coil support layer allowing you to customize your mattress firmness from extra firm to plush.
$1,799.00 to $4,498.00
Little Lamb Natural Rubber Mattress by Suite Sleep
Kid's mattress with four or six inches of natural latex covered with organic cotton and wool. Great prices!
$879.00 to $2,017.00
Bella Sera Nove 3 Pillowtop Organic Mattress
Fully customizable mattress with the added softness of a pillowtop!
$2,570.00 to $5,885.00
Green Sleep Hevea Vimala
Our High End, Luxury Natural Rubber Organic Mattress.
$2,639.00 to $7,137.00
Green Sleep Ergo Concept 8 Natural Rubber Mattress
The Ergo 8 Natural Rubber Mattress features 8 inches of natural latex enclosed in organic cotton and wool. The Ergo 8 allows for individual customization on both the right and left side of the bed as well as the head, middle and foot sections of the bed.
$2,929.00 to $7,567.00
Green Sleep Ergo Concept 9 Natural Rubber Mattress
The Ergo 9 Natural rubber Mattress features 9 inches of natural latex enclosed in organic cotton and wool. The Ergo 9 allows for individual customization on both the right and left side of the bed as well as the head, middle and foot sections of the bed.
$3,499.00 to $8,517.00
Green Sleep Hevea Sogno
All the luxury of Green Sleep, yet remarkably affordable! A firm natural rubber mattress with 6.5 inches of natural latex.
$2,049.00 to $5,937.00
Green Sleep Nature's Nest Niu
Luxury Pocket Coil Mattress
$2,699.00 to $5,687.00
Sueno Euro 4 Natural Rubber Mattress
Customize each side! Ten inches of natural rubber in a beautiful knit fabric.
$2,519.00 to $6,039.00
Sueno Suerte Natural Rubber Mattress
Customize each side! Eight inches of natural rubber in a beautiful knit fabric.
$1,799.00 to $4,599.00
Sueno Kids Natural Rubber Mattress
Kids Rubber Mattress Priced Economically.
$979.00 to $2,049.00
Royal Pedic Premier Natural Latex Quilt Top Mattress
10 inches of organic latex! Premier Collection by Royal Pedic
$4,129.00 to $9,223.00
Savvy Rest Organic Serenity Dunlop Mattress
Our most popular organic latex mattress! Customizable with 9 inches of natural latex.
$1,999.00 to $5,094.00
Savvy Rest Organic Serenity Natural Talalay Mattress
Our best selling Organic Serenity, but made with natural talalay latex.
$2,499.00 to $5,994.00
Bella Sera Nove 4 Organic Mattress
For those looking for even more customizablilty, 9 inches of latex in 4 customizable layers.
$2,700.00 to $7,012.50
Bella Sera Nove 4 Pillowtop Organic Mattress
This organic mattress has 5 separate layers, being one of the most customizable mattresses you can find.
$3,855.00 to $8,827.50
Savvy Rest Organic Serenity 1 layer Talalay 2 layers Dunlop
Nine inch customizable latex mattress with one layer Talalay latex and two layers Dunlop latex.
$2,149.00 to $5,394.00
Savvy Rest Organic Serenity Pillowtop Mattress
Nine inches of natural latex plus 3 inches of natural latex in the pillowtop!
$2,799.00 to $6,294.00
Savvy Rest Organic Serenity 1 layer Dunlop 2 layers Talalay
Nine inch customizable latex mattress with one layer Dunlop and two layers Talalay latex.
$2,299.00 to $5,694.00
Savvy Rest Organic Tranquility Dunlop Mattress
All the great qualities of Savvy Rest, but with just 6 inches of latex for a firmer feel.
$1,699.00 to $4,594.00
Savvy Rest Organic Tranquility Natural Talalay Mattress
All the great qualities of Savvy Rest, but with just 6 inches of natural talalay latex.
$1,999.00 to $5,194.00
Suite Essential Natural Rubber Mattress
A six inch natural dunlop latex mattress in either medium or firm.
$1,199.00 to $4,058.00
Suite Dreams Natural Rubber Mattress
Three inches of soft dunlop latex on top of a 6 inch core of medium or firm dunlop latex.
$1,989.00 to $4,678.00


text:
Ryan Gosling walked around LA on Friday playing cameraman filming his pup before stopping to talk to a Vietnam vet and fellow dog owner. Ryan's been keeping busy with his music, gearing up for his band's performance at SXSW Music Festival next month and album release soon after. Gosling's experimental new project with his friend Zach Shields and a choir of kids aged 5-17 is already getting attention on the indie scene — which sounds like the perfect place for this reluctant heartthrob to fit right in.
Join The Conversation
Around The Web
thanks to this site to put pictures of ryan ... since this film is no more difficult to find .....
He's filming his dog, awww how cute! :D
that is one LARGE dog that he's got there. i guess he's got a manly dog. in any event, i hope that his performance at SXSW is good - i love that festival, and i think that he could be well received if his band puts on a good show.
Okay, he's definitely looking good here. Back to hot Ryan.
Like us on Facebook
Related Posts


text:
Originally Posted by ChantelleJoy
Hey everyone!
Just wanted to update you that last week, Friday August 3, 2012 me and Edward got married on the beach in Bahamas (our parents were our only guests).
Here's my wedding Album if anyone is interested in seeing a few pics!
Just over one more month, and I'll be back on the site nearly full-time!
Can't wait till Christmas Season!
Oh, Chantelle congratulations to you both. I wish you a happy and long marriage...
Merry Christmas to all...
Forum Rules