Right-On Futon
Coloring Outside The Lines

panorama shot of Right-On Futon, with all "fifteen" of Bello's employees

Da History

"This is Milwaukee Avenue," said Bello, as we moved closer to the city from O'Hare airport. "Milwaukee Avenue is a road that has many personalities," he added. As the day progressed I began to draw some parallels between the avenue and Bello himself.

Formally trained as an artist, with a Masters Degree in sculpture from the Art Institute, Bello landed in Chicago after growing up in the New York City area and also after doing his undergraduate work in St. Louis. "I was looking for that mid-west experience but with a more metropolitan, urban setting," said Bello. "Chicago was the perfect combination for me."

Bello had been a waiter during his undergrad years and took it up again after starting his graduate work at the Art Institute, but he soon found himself delivering futons on the side. "I was shopping for a futon sofa-bed for an apartment I had just rented," said Bello. The retailer he purchased his futon from recruited him and his truck to do deliveries. "I ended up making more money doing a couple of deliveries than I made waiting tables," he said.

That's me in front of Bello's Frigidaire of fame (He has pictures of himself with famous people like Steven King, Gene Simmons of KISS, and me)

Over time Bello learned the business and after completing grad school decided to try his own hand at the futon furniture business. He had discovered that he could make money and do things his way while working for someone else. "I said to myself I would give it six months and see if I could make it work. If it succeeds great; if not I would use it as a learning experience."

For Bello and his friends who help him keep Right-On on track it has been both a success and a learning experience.

"I went to several of the vendors whom I had developed relationships with while I was in grad school. They must have believed I could do it because they all gave me the credit I needed to help me start my own business," Bello said.

One of these vendors was Chuck Haase, who still makes product for Bello. "I went to see Chuck and told him what I was thinking about doing. He said he would work with me. I also went up to see John and Katharine at SIS Covers and they believed in me too," he said. Bello also had some personal credit and together with his vendors and a small bank loan opened his doors in 1995 and has been growing his business ever since.

Da Store

As a journalist, covering the futon furniture industry for the past fifteen years, I have seen nothing that even remotely compares with the visual experience of walking into Right-On Futon. Bello has taken his creativity, his art education and his personal contacts and has produced a truly unique retail environment. Unique being the key word.

Merchandising at most good futon specialty stores is reminiscent of what you might see at any large, national retail outlet. Things like room group vignettes, home accents and accessories, and color coordinated fabric treatments are the typical fare, and they usually work well for most. To put it simply Mark Bello has his own ideas about merchandising and they seem to work well too. His marketing tour de force, though traditional in its "where" factor, are his incredible window displays.

Bello, Gregory Brackens & Dan Robbins

Bello picks up a star shaped pillow from one of the sofa displays. "This is part of our Lucky Charms (that's right the cereal) pillow collection," said Bello. "We saw Omni's star pillows and said, ‘Ah ha! Why not see if they will make us a heart, a moon, and a clover,' and they did. We used them in a window display and people would come in just to see them," he said. Bello related how many of them would look at the display, reminisce about their love of Lucky Charms as a child and then buy something else. "We have two kinds of customers," says Bello. One kind come in and look at the displays and buy the more traditional products. Others "get it," says Bello. "We have a home-boy, home-girl club. They are customers who buy the really cool stuff like shag futon covers, lava lamps, and ‘paint by numbers' vinyl covered chairs." These folks get their picture on the Frigidaire of fame and just love it when they come in again to see the snapshot. And they do come back looking for Bello's latest creative burst or unusual find.

Bello understands the power of strong visual displays and his entire store is a playground of sights and sounds all focused on showing his customers the versatility of the futon concept via his uncanny ability to stimulate the senses and the imagination.

Gregory Brackens in his window

Da Windows

The first time I actually met Mark Bello was at the recent Las Vegas Futon EXPO and Specialty Sleep Show. He was at the show with Liz Hegel, his fabric and cover "guru." He began by introducing himself and then opened his book of window display pictures. He is unabashedly proud of his windows and the local and national recognition they have brought him and his colleagues and friends, who just happen to share his vision and enthusiasm for art and the exploration of new ground.

The window displays have taken on a life of their own and in several instances have gotten mention in the local media (The Chicago Tribune Magazine and WGN Channel 9 Chicago) and in one case even recognition in a book about the history of the paint by numbers phenomenon of the fifties. Dan Robbins, the author, and the creator of the paint by numbers concept, reprinted an article that featured Bello's story in the Chicago Tribune Magazine.

Bello's windows feature sculpture and characters of his own design with themes that run from traditional, like the Valentine window, to outrageous Halloween windows (Bello's favorite window subject) that feature eyeball spheres and other scary stuff surrounding futon furniture. And finally our featured window where Bello and friends displayed a collection of paint by number paintings.

"We had a great opening night party for the paint by numbers window on May seventh," said Bello. Dan Robbins, the author of the book What Ever Happened To Paint By Numbers, attended and Gregory Brackens the collector who first introduced Bello to paint by numbers collecting, and who had over fifty of his best selections on display for the window and the opening was also on hand.

Bello and his colleagues are not slowing down and they have several new ideas on the back burner. When I was there a few weeks ago the latest window display was a tribute to Star Wars—Episode One, with Darth Maul center stage. All things being equal Bello offers his customers great products, great service, and the opportunity to be engaged both visually and intellectually, all in the context of a town that obviously suits Bello and company to a tee.

	From Darth Maul to Chuck Hasse Right-On Futon's window displays capture the attention and the imagination of passers by and the local media alike. With little traditional expertise Bello and company have carved themselves out a place in futon merchandising history.

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