H&M at Scully & Scully in NYC...

[Asomer]

So, my mom gets the very fancy, shmancy Scully & Scully catalogs & I was flipping thru it over lunch today & began to notice that some of the leather seating featured in it looked familiar. I'd never paid much attention to it before, but now that I've learned about H&M, I noticed it & decided I'd go onto their site to see if could get more detailed descriptions on the seating...

Well, low & behold they ARE H&M pieces!! They've alerted the names, but all the leather pieces' SKU numbers begin with HM & a few even listed H&M named leathers. But, look at these prices for Document & Cavalier: is that full, 100% MSRP, or even higher?! I can't believe only a chair, in a leather like Document would warrant a price that high!!

[drcollie]

I have the H&M Retail price list available here if you feel like sleuthing through it. It is not unusual for dealers to do this, and I will never critique pricing as overhead costs can vary significantly from dealer to dealer. With a Park Avenue address in Manhattan, they are having to pay more rent exponentially than a store like mine, so they must charge more to have a healthy business. Nothing wrong with that, and I suspect most their clientele prefers the convenience to spending hours price shopping for less from out-of-area dealers.

This is an issue I have struggled with for three decades. Do you as a retail store move to the high traffic corridor (in my case Tysons Corner VA - 20 miles away) and pay 7 to 10x the rent every month? Or, stay in a less desirable location (quite a bit less!) and offer the product for less because you don't have the overhead and hope your customers will find you. The better location will yield more business, no doubt about that - but then when another 09/11 comes along or a Beltway Sniper or a Recession and the business ceases for months at a time, your rent is still due. That has killed off more furniture stores than I can count. The lower overhead guy (like me) can hunker down and survive those periods - and they surely will come. My hat is off to Scully and Scully, they have been around for a long time and prosper, so what they do is working for them and the people of NYC and I won't fault their business model.

[Asomer]

I have the H&M Retail price list available here if you feel like sleuthing through it. It is not unusual for dealers to do this, and I will never critique pricing as overhead costs can vary significantly from dealer to dealer. With a Park Avenue address in Manhattan, they are having to pay more rent exponentially than a store like mine, so they must charge more to have a healthy business. Nothing wrong with that, and I suspect most their clientele prefers the convenience to spending hours price shopping for less from out-of-area dealers.

This is an issue I have struggled with for three decades. Do you as a retail store move to the high traffic corridor (in my case Tysons Corner VA - 20 miles away) and pay 7 to 10x the rent every month? Or, stay in a less desirable location (quite a bit less!) and offer the product for less because you don't have the overhead and hope your customers will find you. The better location will yield more business, no doubt about that - but then when another 09/11 comes along or a Beltway Sniper or a Recession and the business ceases for months at a time, your rent is still due. That has killed off more furniture stores than I can count. The lower overhead guy (like me) can hunker down and survive those periods - and they surely will come. My hat is off to Scully and Scully, they have been around for a long time and prosper, so what they do is working for them and the people of NYC and I won't fault their business model.

I've only ever bought a few Halcyon Days porcelain boxes from Scully & Scully when I was living in the city. And yep, they've been around since the 30s & still going strong. They remind me a lot of Gump's in San Francisco(they carry the same type of items,) just a tad more posh. When Iwas living in NYC, I Iearned about them when a friend told me "that's where all the old money, Upper East Siders go for classic, traditional home decor." They cater to their clientele & I completely agree, they're probably not so much concerned with the price as they are with the convenience & knowing they're buying from a very reputable store. Convenience & peace of mind will always be worth whatever someone's willing to pay for it.

From reading many of the posts on the forum, I've seen several times you mention nearly every dealer doesn't sell at full MSRP, despite the fact they're free to charge whatever they like. So, today when I saw this, it peaked my curiosity a bit & I wanted to get your take on it. I admit, I was a little flabbergasted at seeing those prices listed on their site, especially for not even the best leathers in those Classes.

I don't know if they're a full H&M dealer(where you can order anything in H&M's line & customize it, etc) since I only saw a dozen or so H&M pieces available on their site & those were only offered in 3-4 colors? However, I found it interesting to see how much higher they were selling these items & now that you've explained it like that, it does make much more sense. Like you said, a lot of furniture stores have struggled to stay afloat, & some decided to aggressively price their stock, while others, such as Scully & Scully decided not to. And, that formula's been working fine for them. Thanks for the behind the scenes look...Lol, now it's not so jaw dropping

[Asomer]

I have the H&M Retail price list available here if you feel like sleuthing through it. It is not unusual for dealers to do this, and I will never critique pricing as overhead costs can vary significantly from dealer to dealer. With a Park Avenue address in Manhattan, they are having to pay more rent exponentially than a store like mine, so they must charge more to have a healthy business. Nothing wrong with that, and I suspect most their clientele prefers the convenience to spending hours price shopping for less from out-of-area dealers.

This is an issue I have struggled with for three decades. Do you as a retail store move to the high traffic corridor (in my case Tysons Corner VA - 20 miles away) and pay 7 to 10x the rent every month? Or, stay in a less desirable location (quite a bit less!) and offer the product for less because you don't have the overhead and hope your customers will find you. The better location will yield more business, no doubt about that - but then when another 09/11 comes along or a Beltway Sniper or a Recession and the business ceases for months at a time, your rent is still due. That has killed off more furniture stores than I can count. The lower overhead guy (like me) can hunker down and survive those periods - and they surely will come. My hat is off to Scully and Scully, they have been around for a long time and prosper, so what they do is working for them and the people of NYC and I won't fault their business model.

Duane, the Beltway Sniper affected your business THAT much?? Wow, I didn't realize how big of an impact that had in that area. I've got family in Annapolis that work in D.C., but they never made it seem like it was all that scary of a time. That's crazy...& yea, you NEVER know when those kinda things will pop up next!

[sstarrx2]

Duane, the Beltway Sniper affected your business THAT much?? Wow, I didn't realize how big of an impact that had in that area. I've got family in Annapolis that work in D.C., but they never made it seem like it was all that scary of a time. That's crazy...& yea, you NEVER know when those kinda things will pop up next!

That was scary. My in-laws are from the area and this occurred when we were living in Oregon. Just happened this occurred when we were coming back to visit them. He had already shot a few victims and was still on the loose. So here we were driving around DC with our babies and a sniper on the loose. I can tell you that was a nerve racking trip that I did not enjoy at all. I was nervous every time we left the house.