What do YOU want to see on the Hancock and Moore Website?

[barbja]

H&M - is not going to install regional product showrooms around the country because they are prohibitively expensive to do so.

Shoot, just ONE showroom right next to their factory would do it for me! I'd invest the price of a ticket to NC for the opportunity to try out a sofa that I'm planning on spending >$5K on. It could also prompt me to purchase a chair or two...

I don't know about anyone else, but I'd even pay admission!

[drcollie]

There's a solution to that as well. I can set it up for you to have a factory tour, hosted by Jimmy Moore himself, when the sofa model you are thinking of buying is going through production. Then you can try out that model before it gets shipped, plus really see how they are made through and through.

[kperregaux]

As for stock in the stores, that's going to be determined by how well you - the local store customer - supports that store. One can't expect a store to load up on inventory when shoppers are using the resources in that store to sample the goods then go on-line to order from someone else. Its expensive to inventory goods, they do become 'shop-worn' and if the retailer is not getting the return on investment why would he want to load up on the brand? If people support their local dealer through purchases made at that store, then the floor presence will increase naturally with in the line.

Supporting local stores is a bit of a catch 22. I love local independent retailers and don't mind paying a premium for their service. But if the local stores don't have floor samples or add value (knowledge, advice, service) to my purchase I won't pay their prices. At the point I am ordering on-line...So when is the factory tour???

[drcollie]

Supporting local stores is a bit of a catch 22. I love local independent retailers and don't mind paying a premium for their service. But if the local stores don't have floor samples or add value (knowledge, advice, service) to my purchase I won't pay their prices. At the point I am ordering on-line...So when is the factory tour???

Agreed! It is a catch-22! I think you have to let the management know..if they stock it you will come. I listen to my customers and went from having three or four H&M items on the floor to now having twenty pieces displayed (my store is not that large or I'd have even more).

Factory tour? Tell you what, if we get enough interest from everyone on this list and can get half a dozen or more to want to do it, I'll set up a special group tour and meet everyone at H&M in Hickory NC, we can all do it together. Would be a lot of fun, and you'd learn lots with Jimmy Moore as our guide. Plus, I know an excellent place for BBQ in town. Let me know, and we can toss out some dates to do this. Would have to be on a weekday.

[jf2215]

Believe it or not, largely as a result of the comments here on this subject, H&M called today and told me that they decided to put the leather swatches on their website! So you see, a little grassroots effort now and then does pay off. It will be a bit of an undertaking, so don't expect to see them right away - and certainly don't expect the on-line samples to be dead-on accurate. The smart shopper will use the web photos as a way to narrow choices, and then request actual samples from the dealer of their choice.

Hi Duane,

That is great news! Thanks for spearheading the effort. Well done.
I look forward to seeing the updates.

-JF

[artielange]

I concur that finding local H&M dealers is next to impossible. I first became interested in H&M because of what I was reading on Gardenweb. Of course Duane was a big part of the H&M discussion. I then called H&M to find my local (Pittsburgh) dealer and I was given the name of ONE store which is a high end, rarely discounting store that was not at all easy to deal with. During this time I began emailing Duane for quotes to compare with my local quotes. Since Duane's prices were so much lower, it was worth my time to drive to Alexandria, VA (TWICE!) to order pieces. Meeting Duane was great and the entire experience was painless, even when my sister and I stayed for four hours laboring over leather samples to compliment a prior order. In the mean time, I found two or three local vendors that carried H&M that I wasn't told about by H&M. However, none of them were offering great prices either. Now, for my purchase made this past week from Duane, we emailed a bit and he arranged for H&M to send me leather samples in a color that I needed. This transaction was very easy. Now all we have to do is settle on a wood finish so at this point the lack of H&M support is a moot point because I wouldn't buy H&M from anyone but Duane.

[leilani]

Fantastic news that H&M has decided to put their leather options online. As others have stated upthread, no one in their right mind would ever actually trust their monitors to accurately display cowhides & spec them on that basis alone, but it would certainly equip us with some objective descriptive criteria to help narrow down our choices to manageable numbers before going to our local dealers and confronting that gargantuan ring of swatches!

I can tell you that in my case, my sales rep was not only unhelpfully distracting when I was perusing the leather options, she was actually a hindrance. She told me that the higher the servicability rating the easier it was to wipe up stains! I had to show her, thanks to what I've read from Duane here that her 'advice' would mean that Nubuck was more stain-resistant than Cavalier. She was not able to competently explain to me any of the ratings as a matter of fact. Sigh. Not every H&M salesperson out there is as well-versed in the product as Duane Collie and consumers need all the help we can get BEFORE we go in to get well meaning yet often distressingly unhelpful 'help' from our local salesmen.

I second the comment upthread that I would be more than happy to pay a premium to a good brick & mortar dealer if they were actually going to provide any other assistance to me other than collecting their fee as a useless middleman. When consumers have to do most of their own research for the product online, and when floor samples are not available anywhere for testing, it's pretty irritating to pay the upcharge for essentially no service rendered.

On the other hand, I do most heartily agree that it's quite unethical - even dishonest - for those of us who go into furniture stores and avail ourselves of their salespersons expertise & thumb through their leather rings & lounge on the floor samples we're interested in but turn around and actually buy the item at a cutrate price from an online dealer who doesn't incur any marketing expenses.

If everybody did that, there would be no incentive whatsoever for dealers to stay in business and keep any models for us to conveniently sample locally at all. Shopkeepers not only have to pay to stock the item, they have to pay rent, utilities, insurance & a million other piddling expenses which do add up just to keep those models on the floor. They should be compensated not only for those direct outlays but for the time it takes for them to manage & operate their businesses.

I am interested in a custom order for a sofa model which no one seems to have in stock, my nearest salesperson is incapable of telling me whether I can spec contrast stitching or decorative lacing or even nail trim for this model and seems singularly uninterested in helping me find out from the manufacturer. And now that I'm slightly more up to speed, thanks to my own research, on the actual meaning of some of those ratings, I'm going to have to start all over on swatch selection. Most of the ones I checked out to try in the light at home aren't going to work. I have completely wasted my time up til now.

Aargh! This reminds me of the time I wanted to buy a Cannondale road bike. I had the 2k in hand to spend, but for the life of me I couldn't get anybody in that company to take the money & actually sell me the darn thing. I eventually went with a Specialized bike in frustration. As it turns out I'm glad I did - best bike I've ever owned.

But I'm a committed H&M fan, and I have my heart absolutely set on that particular model, so I guess I'm just gonna have to keep jumping through all these crazy hoops til I get what I want.

[drcollie]

I can tell you that in my case, my sales rep was not only unhelpfully distracting when I was perusing the leather options, she was actually a hindrance. She told me that the higher the servicability rating the easier it was to wipe up stains! I had to show her, thanks to what I've read from Duane here that her 'advice' would mean that Nubuck was more stain-resistant than Cavalier. She was not able to competently explain to me any of the ratings as a matter of fact.

That's ironic, because its all right in her Price Book! All she had to do was look it up if she didn't know. I love it when you can show the 'pro' they don't know what the product is they're selling. Hopefully it turns on the light bulb and they'll invest a bit of time studying so as not to get tagged short again.



I am interested in a custom order for a sofa model which no one seems to have in stock, my nearest salesperson is incapable of telling me whether I can spec contrast stitching or decorative lacing or even nail trim for this model and seems singularly uninterested in helping me find out from the manufacturer.

Again, they just don't know and are too lazy to pick up the phone and make some calls. You can put the contrast stitching and decorative lacing on virtually any piece in the line. They also do full embroidery on leather such as a University Seal on a leather office chair, etc. The range of what they can do at H&M is quite extensive. I think a lot of dealers are probably uncomfortable working up these custom features as they have no experience with them. It does take a bit more time to make sure its done correctly and everyone is on the same page (do-overs are no fun for anyone), but that's part of being the dealer - know the line, and what you can do with it. And if you don't know, pick up the phone and call H&M!

[eft]

I love road trips! I was just about to see if I could get a private tour but if you could arrange a group tour count me in!

[artielange]

Count me in as well in the possible group tour to H&M!

Judy