Where's All The Furniture?

[brreilly]

I have been lurking about and reading old posts. I’ve also read through the “please read first” posts so I have some understanding of discussion regarding “buying locally” vs. “buying over the internet”. To that end, I cannot seem to find a store that has a broad selection. I live in the Dallas area and I have shopped two major local furniture stores in Plano. Neither had a very large selection of Smith, BY or H&M but rather featured a lot of Bernhardt, Steve Silver and Benchmade (their white label version of USA Premium Leather). I asked for Bradington Young as they were identified as a reseller on the BY site but they had nothing in their huge store.

At one of them, the rep was really trying to get my wife and I to buy a Smith Brothers, level 4 leather sectional for $9500 + $500 Delivery + $500 protection + Tax. We just about fell over. We asked to see other things but he was pushing SB really hard (spiff??). He told me that it wasn't even worth discussing H&M as it would be even more expensive.

We are looking for a 128” x 106” sectional with a wedge or a standard corner. I would really like to see and sit on a BY sectional but I’m struggling to find one. I’ll keep calling around to find what I can find. I was really hoping to find a quality piece in the 5-6k range plus tax plus delivery - am I delusional?

[wisejd]

When we were looking for a new sofa, after reading many threads on the Furniture Forum we visited the Hancock and Moore web site and looked at their Dealer Locater. Then we called each Dealer / Retailer to see how many pieces of H&M they had on the floor. What we learned is that many stores are listed but only a few actually inventory a large number of pieces. It worked out well to only visit the Dealers / Retailers that did have quite a selection. Even then, we couldn't see each style that we had an interest in. We ended up purchasing in Virginia and having our sofa delivered to Ohio. The Delivery Charge was less than the Sales Tax we saved. With regard to Smith Brothers, they do have some very nice furniture. We found H&M Town and Country Program styles were priced very similarly with Smith Brothers comparable sofas. We did like H&M better overall and went with a Sofa and Recliner that we couldn't be happier with. Bradington Young pieces are also very nice, and I would be happy to own some of their offerings, but I think you would see that H&M sets the Benchmark for overall Quality and selection.

[drcollie]

You have a lot of dealers in Dallas for H&M but I don't know their inventory levels. Myself I show about 45 frames on the floor all the time. Many stores just have two or three. Louis Shanks is the big Texas H&M dealer but they are in San Antonio, Austin and Houston, not in your area.

Bernhardt is Chinese. pass.
Smith Bros is a no sag spring build. not ideal

They charge $ 500 for local delivery? Egads.

Never buy Protection...its worthless and can damage your leather.

$ 5K to $ 6K is doable from my store in Bradington Young, plus shipping costs of around $ 350 to $ 400 from North Carolina. H&M sectionals will be in the range of double that, but they are the gold standard in leather furniture.

For example, the 220 series BY Warner using the 220-94 (97") and the 220-93 (122") in GR 1 would be $ 4,811 in GR 1 leather plus delivery fees. That's an L shape 90 degree corner. The 45 wedge unit would be more as you have to have (3) pieces of build vs two in the L sectionals.

Hope that helps.

[brreilly]

You have a lot of dealers in Dallas for H&M but I don't know their inventory levels. Myself I show about 45 frames on the floor all the time. Many stores just have two or three. Louis Shanks is the big Texas H&M dealer but they are in San Antonio, Austin and Houston, not in your area.

I actually bought a sectional at Louis Shanks 7-8 years ago. I didn't realize it at the time but it's a Manwah and it's been absolutely wonderful. Who would have guessed? That said, I called around to a major mid-to-high end furniture chain here in Dallas yesterday - 4 major warehouse size stores in the better areas of the metroplex. None had any Bradington-Young although they are listed as a reseller on the BY site. I did find another store that "might have a sectional or sofa, just come in and look around". I will keep looking around for a BY to actually test drive. It's a harder task than I would have thought in the 4th largest metro in the country.

[brreilly]

I did find another store that "might have a sectional or sofa, just come in and look around". I will keep looking around for a BY to actually test drive.

I drove to the place mentioned above and just as I suspected they did not have any BY. It was a total bait and switch. But they told me what everyone has told me - "we can order it for you!" Why wouldn't I just order it off the internet if I can't even sit in it? This afternoon I reached out to BY and shared my frustration in an email. They responded and told me a dealer would reach out to me. Not sure who that would be or how they would show me something that doesn't seem to exist in the DFW metro.

The bait and switch guy I saw today tried to sell me into a Flexsteel Dylan and told me it was all made in the US. I suspected another lie. The internet seems to confirm it's all Chinese made.

[drcollie]

Flexsteel is USA-made, Flexsteel Latitudes is made in China.

The problem with distribution channels in the furniture business is that our industry is so competitive, with so many players at the manufacturing level, that sales reps are loathe to close accounts for lack of floor distribution. That's why you see a dealer with (1) unit from a maker, or none on the floor. In the 80's and 90's (last century!) that would have never happened, but it's a different time now. The Recession of 2007/08 killed off about half of the retail furniture stores and about 1/4 of all domestic manufacturers. As a result, there is huge competition to get into retail space. It used to be a dealer had to buy $ 20K or $ 30K worth of product to get a line, now we just have to buy one piece and we are a dealer. As long as we pay our bills on time, that dealership remains active. This does a gross disservice to the consumer, as they can drive to several stores and only see a frame or two, or none. I have long championed for suppliers to designate their best stocking dealers as Master Dealers on the maker's website, so that a customer knows they have plenty to look at. That gets no traction however, because the small stores howl with indignation if they are not labeled as a Master Dealer, so my pitch falls on deaf ears.

I choose at my store to not carry too many lines because I believe in selling a few lines and really supporting them. So when you come into my store, you will see (45) pieces of Hancock and Moore (25) of Bradington Young, (12) of Jessica Charles and (12) of Taylor King. I prefer to do that than have (50) lines with one piece each.

I bought McKinley Leather as a line 15 months ago, with a (10) Piece order for stock. I have let that drift down to just (1) remaining sofa and when that's gone, will probably not re-order. Why did I not get behind the line? Well, three reasons...their website is MISERABLE, and in spite of promises they would revamp it, its stagnant and not a poor sales tool. I need good supplier websites because that is how folks shop these days. Secondly, they are dreadfully slow in production, taking too long to get an order made. Third, I see a few workmanship details on pieces I do not care for. Add it all up and I just can't get excited about the product, and if you are passionate about selling it, then why would you expect someone to buy it? Yet I am still an active dealer and they will not close me out, but they should because there is just one sofa left on my floor.

What B-Y is going to do in response to your email is contact the DFW sales rep for the territory and that rep is going to hand it off to a dealer in your area. A better way would be to ask for the name or phone of the B-Y Sales Rep and call him/her personally, then ask what dealer in the within "X" miles of your has the most showing on the floor. Then you will know which way to travel!

[wisejd]

The fastest way to find out which Retailer has inventory is by calling the store...

http://www.bradington-young.com/FindADealer.inc

[brreilly]

The fastest way to find out which Retailer has inventory is by calling the store...

http://www.bradington-young.com/FindADealer.inc

I called every retailer in the DFW metro on that site. I just found a Hooker sectional at a retailer that BY directed me to. Pretty nice piece and in my price range. Any differences between Hooker and BY?

This is the piece: http://www.hookerfurniture.com/Hooke...formation.aspx

Any thoughts?

[drcollie]

Hooker is 100% made in China. Bradington Young is all USA made (except for their Seven Seas collection). It is not the same product, not even close.

[wisejd]

My experience would say that there is a substantial difference between a Hooker sectional and one from Bradington-Young. Typically the Hooker item would carry a much lower retail price. I believe that all Hooker furniture is now Chinese-sourced, but that isn't necessarily saying their products wouldn't be a good value. I think you would be looking at a much lower quality leather cover in a Hooker product. The link indicates leather / vinyl match but doesn't say all that much beyond that in the description.