Spring 2016 Market Hancock and Moore Showroom

One of my goals this Market was to explore less costly leather furniture lines, to see if I could find a supplier who could make a leather upholstery product line that could meet my standards and come in more price-friendly. With that mission in mind, I spent half of my Market time going into new showrooms and investigating, and then the other half meeting with my current suppliers. I have to honestly say - there's a lotta junk out there! I watch other buyers from other stores in these showrooms, and they don't do what I do. They chat, look at colors, listen to profit margins and distribution but they never really get hands on the pieces - they don't analyze the build. Do they even know what makes a good piece of furniture? I'm not really even sure if they do or not.

Perhaps I'm the odd man out because I don't wear a $ 1,000 suit to Market. and this place is the biggest fashion show in the Carolinas. I'm in Khakis, a Polo shirt and running shoes and usually hot and sweaty because I move fast. I get down on the ground, i flip chairs on their backs, I poke and prod and push and pull....and garner odd looks from everyone in the showroom, both other furniture store buyers and the supplier reps both. But you know what? I don't really care. If I am going to buy into a product line then I have to know how well its made. This shocks a lot of supplier reps, who sometimes make the mistake of asking "So, does it meet with your approval?". HA! Then they get a lesson in furniture construction...

When you sell the finest leather product line in America - Hancock and Moore - it's easy to know what measures up as I already have the gold standard. And I'll come right out and say that not one single piece of leather furniture that I saw that was made in China is worth bringing home, from any maker. The faults are obvious to me, and should be to anyone that will train themselves how to look and determine quality in a build. And these sales reps know one line and one line only "You can make a lot of money with this brand"....OY. That's how they sell...profit margins. Truth be told, the guy that aims to gets rich in the business cares exactly about that - Margins. And perhaps that's why I'll never be as successful as some of the big stores. I care more about customer satisfaction than margins. I can't sell, or represent, poorly made furniture, or even mediocre product. Believe me when I tell you mediocre makes up most of what is at the Market. I have to believe in the product to be enthusiast in selling it. If I see sloppy workmanship, arms that are not tight to the frame, so little padding than I can feel the corners of the wood under the leather, and mushy suspension systems with flexing frames - how can I support that brand? I can't. So I came away empty-handed with respect to picking up any new lines, and that disappointed me.

You have to spend more and get a superior product. That's all there really is to it. For those that want cheaper there is plenty out there, but you won't be buying it from The Keeping Room. My standard will continue to be "If I wouldn't own it for my own home, then why would I expect my customers to?". All that Chinese import product is nothing more than future landfill material. And it will be there sooner rather than later.

One of the most interesting discussions I had was with Jimmy Moore and Chief Designer Alan Price concerning recliners, specifically manual vs power. The myth that consumers have is that Power recliners are more troublesome with more things to break and go wrong. So I asked them both how true that myth is, and what they said was that the Power recliners are MUCH less problematic as they age, and don't get the impact shocks that manual ones do (which leads to mechanism failure). Both believe power is the way to go, and I tend to agree as well. So now you have that little tidbit to think about when recliner shopping. I know next one I buy for myself will be a power unit.

Here are some of the Market Showroom pieces from Hancock and Moore.

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and another:

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More from Market - New items from H&M

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Top chair is an existing frame with a great new look, bottom chair is brand new.

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Sofas....

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More new chairs from Hancock and Moore.

A shout out to Fuji Film, who makes the X100T camera I used to take these shots. As you can see, it does a fantastic job and is a true one-handed camera. My big and clunky Nikon 7100 stays home in the bag with all its lenses....my Fuji X100T goes with me everywhere.

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Two new sofas H&M

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This chair is as purple as a popsicle off the Good Humor truck.

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Two new Alan Price designs

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Also by Alan Price, this new chair and sofa sit "like budd-ah". Perfect, and I mean PERFECT, pitch angles and dimensions for your average man. The best sofa and chair I sat on at the whole Market for comfort (and the style ain't bad either). Absolutely I ordered them for stock, my struggle was on the hand lacing. it's expensive to do, because it really is done one hole at time by hand (there is a machine that can do it, but Jimmy Moore insists it be done by hand). That makes the price considerably higher, but adds a distinctive style to the pieces. So I compromised and ordered the chair with the lacing, the sofa without it. Note to the complex joint at the end of the arm on the chair in the detail photo, you don't often see that in most upholstery. Just one more way to show how H&M sweats the details.

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The Saddle Arm Sofa, another new design from Alan Price. This one sits very well for a tight back sofa. Style detail on the side adds a nice flair.

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No one can button tuft like Hancock and Moore. When you want to show off, you build something like this George the Third wing chair. Lesser companies wouldn't even attempt this!

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There are very few office chairs I get excited about. However, these two are exceptional. The Mentor is a new introduction and address the gap for a high quality, smaller office chair that is stylish and very comfortable. Too many office chairs are designed for big men and folks that are not large feel 'lost' in them. This one is perfect for those just not quite so big (if you have wide hips, this is not your chair) I see this as the perfect office chair for ladies who have athletic builds.

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And this is the new Garrett. Quite simply, the most comfortable office chair I have ever sat in. If you come to The Keeping Room in person, this will be what you will most likely see behind my desk.

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New items I have ordered for stock from the High Point Market (these will have additional discounts when they land on my showroom floor probably in June/July)

* 6277-1-L Monaco Chair in Hyde Park Earth Burnished GR 3, Denmark Finish, R/S nail, Ultra Down Seat and Back
* 6267-3 Cologne Sofa in Wade Chestnut GR 3, Florence finish, Ultra Down Seats and Back, (2) pillows in JC Fiesta Azul
* 7152 Manning Recliner in Hutton Birch GR 1, Java finish, Ultra Down Seat
* 2062 / 2062-O Westwood Tilt Back Chair and Ottoman, Document Claret GR2, Mahog Distress, A/AA nail Ultra Down Seat and Back
* 5895ST-PL Garrett Pneumatic Lift Office Chair with Polished Aluminum Base, Piazza Ebony, Hand Laced. < ordered for myself, but if someone has to have it - I can part with it!

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Here are two classic H&M Recliners side by side that are often confused. They are the same style, the difference is the size. The 1021 Woodbridge is the average mid-size recliner, the Royal is the big man's chair. Rarely do you see them together in a photo, so this shows you the size difference. I am 5' 11" and 250 lb and I would pick the 1021 to fit me.

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