I Need Living Room Furniture

Hi folks,
wish I found this site before I purchased. are there any store chains or brands left in the usa anymore? I ask that, because recently purchased a living room set from a store here in FLA. don't know if we are allowed to mention names, but when I bought it I was a little tired ,a little rushed,but it seemed like good stuff. not until I received the furniture an started to actually sit on it I realized I did not like it. the fine print ALL SALES FINAL! I assumed i would have at least a day of buyers remorse. NO!! so I canceled the other pieces(only have a chair /love seat , canceled sofa ottoman. but have not been able to sell it. so am stuck with an extremely uncomfortable(for me anyway) small sofa and chair. it feels like too much fiberfill or something. when you sit on it briefly you don't notice. I am not very learned of brands. years ago in NY there was Levitz,Macy's, sears. never had furniture as uncomfortable as I am finding now, and unfortunately moving and making this purchase has ruined my budget. are there any places to buy furniture made the old way or refurbished properly? you guys all seem so knowlegable here. thanks.

Oh sure, there are lots of quality USA-made pieces and stores to buy them from. There are no inexpensively USA-made quality pieces, however. To make something right costs because you need skilled labor and decent materials to work with.

If absolutely on a budget, you should shop Craigslist for used pieces. Pre-owned furniture takes a real thrashing on price, so if you're patient and don't mind chasing down pieces, you can find high-quality goods from time to time at a fraction of the new price. Here's one example I just found, but of course the seller didn't put up any photos:

http://miami.craigslist.org/pbc/fuo/1534602196.html

Never buy from a place where ALL SALES ARE FINAL if they inventory the product. That means they don't have confidence in their pieces and have zero interest in customer service.

I will do that. I wish I had more knowledge of brands. appliances are easier than furniture. when I lived in Va. I wished I would have shopped then, but did not have a way to store knew or what I needed until I moved. down here in FLA, seems the quality is gone in anything remotely affordable. I just have a hard time trusting Craigslist anymore, down here, anyway, seems to have gone to the dark side. how can you learn about good furniture without being in the business??I mean there is not much turnover when you have good furniture so you never learn good from bad. this stuff was from Ashley. Is there any stores you may be able to recommend in this area that has a decent reputation for quality??

Ashley is terrible, not worth much more than the cardboard it comes in. Robb and Stucky has locations throughout Florida and is one of the better dealers. Other than that, keep reading forums and you'll learn what makes a good piece.

I wish I new that 3 mos. ago. LOL! is there a forum here with archives I should review? I definitely need to educate myself, it is a new world out here. years ago it seems most furniture was quality it was just a matter of who had the best price. now it is not only price but who sell crap and who doesn't. I never had to learn much, it was usually all name brand ,now, I am lost, so I will attempt to read and learn from you guys. are there still good stores in NC?
I heard those are gone also.

There's not a specific forum to review, sorry. You just have to browse this site and others like it, post by post. In the 80's and 90's there was a massive move to China for most all US Furniture companies, because customers demanded lower prices. By doing so, manufacturers gave the US buying public exactly what they wanted - lower prices. None of the people running these businesses wanted to go to China and fire their hometown workers, nor shut down their USA factories....they had to do it because the consumer demanded it. The thing is, they kept their old USA styles and names. I remember back about 1992 when the Hooker Furniture people came into my store and proudly announced they would be the first USA company to be 100 % made in China - how much did I want to order? I could rock the world with cheap prices in my area. I ordered nothing. Nada. When people come in my store and say "Oh, your stuff is too expensive" I remind them I am a USA-made store, and if they want Chinese made inexpensive there are 20 stores in the area they can go to (now there's about five left!)

That's what has happened. You can't have cheap and Made in USA. You have to decide if you want the inexpensive (like Ashley from China) or the well made (like the Hancock and Moore from Hickory NC). There's really no in-between by more than a few percentage points. The Ashley Recliner is $ 500, the H&M $ 1,500. You really DO get something for your money in the mix, its not all fluff. The average worker in a furniture plant in China makes .50 an hour. His American counterpart makes about $ 20.00 per hour, and has FICA, Medicare, OSHA requirements, Health Insurance, a 401K plan and Worker's Comp. There is no way a manufacturer can be competitive with the Chinese workforce and maintain a similar pricing structure. And do we really want them to? No....we want our fellow Americans to have a decent standard of living, and these men and women that work in the factories in North Carolina are by no means wealthy at those wages, but they are mainstream America.

Furniture is not rocket science. It requires "X" amount of skilled labor and "X" amount of materials to do it correctly. Everyone knows how to make it correctly, its not a trade secret. So if you know that to make that sofa right its going to be $ 3,000 at retail - and the dealers say "no! we want a $ 2,000 sofa because our customers want to pay only that much", then the maker has to do what? He has to either cut down the labor, or cut out some materials - no other way. That's exactly what has occurred. Cheap Chinese labor and Cheap Chinese materials. Did you know profit margins are actually HIGHER on the crap from China then the pieces built in the USA? Most Chinese stuff is so poorly made that it cost as much to ship it as it does to produce it. I can buy a Chinese leather sofa for $ 399 at dealer cost...and sell it at $ 899 and folks think they are getting a bargain, because the Hancock and Moore I sell for $ 2,799 is 3x as expensive (and there is no way I can double my cost on an H&M piece).

This is why I started this forum, and participated in other ones as well. Its not a 'viral marketing' program (I'm not clever enough for that), it was to help educate folks so when they went to buy products for their home, they could learn how to tell a good piece from a bad one. You can no longer rely on brand names, you have to judge for yourself on each piece you see. You have to put on blinders to the SALE TAG that is on the piece and learn what to look for, and then determine if there is value for the price being asked or offered. That's the real trick of it all.

Hope that helps to explain it some and maybe give you a new perspective of what happened to the US furniture industry.

see, I was not aware of the exodus!!I thought the familiar names were still USA. WOW! and since I did not buy furniture that often. left that to the women,I am clue less. I really never though much about the problems of the furniture people until you need them!! everybody thinks of high end items cars and boats. appliances seem easier to gauge what you are getting, but furniture has always had a bit of mystery. I hope by reading and searching I will be able to buy a REAL sofa!!! this think is killing me!! i hate fiber fill!!!

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Originally Posted by tcseacliff

see, I was not aware of the exodus!!I thought the familiar names were still USA. WOW! and since I did not buy furniture that often. left that to the women,I am clue less. I really never though much about the problems of the furniture people until you need them!! everybody thinks of high end items cars and boats. appliances seem easier to gauge what you are getting, but furniture has always had a bit of mystery. I hope by reading and searching I will be able to buy a REAL sofa!!! this think is killing me!! i hate fiber fill!!!

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I wish you luck finding good furniture that fits your tastes and budget. Though you will pay more for good quality furniture made domestically there are some brands that are more modestly priced compared to H&M though you won't be getting H&M quality/design. Some of these brands you have to be careful since a lot of times they have two lines one made domestic and the other off shore. FlexSteel I believe still makes most of it's regular furniture domestically but they have lines like Latitudes they make overseas and from what I have read the quality difference between them is very pronounced.

Things to look for if you want good quality furniture that should last some time -

Hardwood frame
Quality Cushion cores
Springs that are made to last even if they aren't true 8 way hand tied
When you test the pieces in the store do most of them seem right without any major imperfections or do you come across issues on most pieces? Stores can be rough but good pieces usually stand up better.
Duane say's quality leather usually gives a longer life if you are still deciding between fabric/leather.
Strong warranty - though not always an indication of quality most well made furniture is built to last and the manufacturer will warrant it as such.

If you are looking at new furniture still, some brands I would check out are FlexSteel, Hancock and Moore, Bradington Young, and Smith Brothers. Hopefully others in this forum can chime in on other brands they like.

Feel free to post if you are looking used/craigslist and have questions, somebody here can help you.

thank you for the reply. all that you said regarding construction and materials are the areas that I need to familiarize myself with. when we were kids, mom bought furniture,it was comfy and we didn't know what was inside until we had nasty fights and rip something open. now, I don't what I am sitting on still,but know it is not the stuff I grew up on. so, I have a lot to learn. my love seat is 4 mos old and mishapen already. I am going to learn the brands and actually ask to see how it is made and pay attention to what it is is in there. I hope to be back to work soon, and then will get my furniture fund growing and buy one good piece at a time if I have to. I bought this stuff in a rush and did not do enough homework. live and learn!!(Hey kids,stay in school and don't try this at home!)

yes, you are right that is the best way, but my budget will not allow for a purchase of all the pieces at once. So, I am going to learn about quality, I have an idea of my likes so by the time I am ready (or able)to make a purchase ,even If I buy one piece at a time , it will be a pre-determined atmosphere, and hopefully comfortable.

I love buying furniture and the difficult thing is finding quality furniture that doesn't cost a lot of money and that will last for a long time. I have actually found cheap Ashley living room furniture while searching different furniture companies online.

HI !
If you go back a page you mised the whole conversation. Ashley is crap! and their policy is strict. I bought a couch and chair and was very disappointed, but could not return it . there was no buyers remorse or even a 24 hr try out. I am stuck with a very uncomfortable chair and love seat . never again!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tcseacliff

HI !
If you go back a page you mised the whole conversation. Ashley is crap! and their policy is strict. I bought a couch and chair and was very disappointed, but could not return it . there was no buyers remorse or even a 24 hr try out. I am stuck with a very uncomfortable chair and love seat . never again!

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Don't worry about it, he didn't miss anything, it is good ole SPAM..lol