Virginia Sterling. Has anybody taken a hard look at this brand of furniture?
Duane,
I read in an earlier posting that you sell Canal Dover and I was wondering if you have ever had any dealings with Sterling Virginia. I'm an Ohio boy at heart so I am biased at doing business with both Canal Dover and Sterling Virginia, both Ohio based companies.
Billy
Virginia Sterling bought Canal Dover. I have discontinued Canal Dover in my store, I tried it based on my smooth-talking rep, but its really just ordinary factory-made furniture. OK, but nothing to write home about. I still have a table/chair/buffet and sideboard in the store in white/cherry. Its too boring for me, I like to sell something better than utility grade furniture!
Duane Collie
Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.
Duane,
Is the style the utility part or the construction? What brands do you recommend for case goods and also USA made? Since I really don't know much about it and I have a friend who has some older Ethan Allen furniture, how does Ethan Allen measure up on your scale? This can give me a base point to start from.
I guess what I liked about the Canal Dover and Virginia Sterling lines were they are American made (especially in Ohio), used traditional time-tested jointery, hardwood construction, and the style is not too ornate. I like craftsman and mission styles. Anything more ornate gets to busy for me.
Billy
I have a pretty critical eye, and I've been selling and carrying benchmade furniture for over 25 years, so it takes a lot to make me like a piece. Imagine working around Ferraris for over two decades and then a Chevy Malibu shows up. That Chevy is not going to impress me much, no matter what!
I don't like production furniture very much because I see the shortcuts instantly - and the vast majority of all of it has design issues as well so that becomes a glaring fault to my eye as well. Therefore I tend to lump most of that into a category I call "Utility Grade" furniture because there is no art in design, and no art in craftsmanship to it. Its not that its bad furniture - because its not - its just totally boring and without much artistic merit.
Ethan Allen, even the older USA-made stuff, was solid back in its day but equally devoid of style and grace. I'm the wrong guy to ask about modern brands in case goods because I really haven't seen anything out there I like enough to buy. I'd rather commission a cabinentmaker to build a design tweaked to where I like it instead. Now you really have something when you do that. But that's just me... and it gives my store a very unique look from run-of-the-mill furniture operations.
Duane Collie
Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.
Ok, I got it. It's kind of like a custom built '32 Ford hotrod versus a restored '70 Dodge Challenger. The hotrod is a one-off hand-built piece of art, while the Challenger is a cool factory built ride. Both are nice and it just depends what you are into.
Thanks,
Billy