Spring 2016 Market Hancock and Moore Showroom

[drcollie]

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.