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Thread: Junk with a high price tag

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Alexandria VA
    Posts
    15,890

    Thumbs down Junk with a high price tag

    I don't get out much. Working at the store six days a week, sometimes seven means the LAST PLACE I want to go into when I get some free time is another place that sells furniture. Today however, my wife and I were out and about at Reston Town Center (VA) and she wanted to go into a store called Anthropologie. Very trendy, very much 'in' with the younger crowd.

    OK.

    I started looking at their furniture while she was shopping clothing. What I saw just blew me away. I literally was stunned by how poorly made the very EXPENSIVE pieces were. The tags had all the correct buzzwords on them, "made in USA", "Down Cushions", "Hardwood and veneer woods", but the quality was dismal.

    The leather sofa I saw there was $ 4,495. A fabric one $ 3,598. My mind was hurting from looking at the flaws and poor workmanship on these. I watched several people come in and remark 'Oooh! I love that leather sofa!" and try it out, all the time remarking how wonderful it was. I bit my tongue - 'twas not my place nor my store to make any comments.

    Obviously they sell this to someone. Their furniture line is pretty extensive and priced 3x what its actually worth. I get jaded working with high-quality builders and its good for me to see what else is in the marketplace.

    And I have to wonder, is this where so many sales are going? Get a hot, trendy store, professional store designers to create a 'look' and then put huge price tags on what is essentially junk furniture, and assume you customers equate high prices with quality? Must work.....

    Anyways, I've said it before and i'll say it again.

    1) LEARN what makes a good piece of furniture a good piece.
    2) DON'T assume that its quality because its a trendy store.
    3) BUY with your head.
    Duane Collie
    Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
    My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.

  2. #2
    puhmuckel Guest

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    People I work with are constantly on that store's website and buy everything from clothing to furniture at this store. They also like to shop at Restoration Hardware and Crate and Barrel. Last weekend, I went to the Anthropology store and could not believe the prices on everything. People here in Berkeley have plenty of money and this is the style that sells. Everyone always tells me about the quality at those places.

    I have always been frugal, and that is why I have made an attempt to do lots of research on quality before I lay $ 4000 down for a sofa.

  3. #3
    soster Guest

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    Yes, its amazing.

    I think Crate and Barrel started this whole trend. They didn't start out selling furniture. They sold housewares. In that business they started by understanding and catering to their customers' wants. Later, they grew into dictating their customers' wants, setting trends, etc.

    Furniture was an easy add-on for them. How much money can you make selling selling plates, pots, and glassware? Plunk down a sofa, and if you only sell two a month its profitable. They quickly learned which styles would sell two a month, and two a day. And they grew the business from there, and now furniture is a major money maker for them.

    Duane, do you remember fifteen years ago when Eddie Bauer stores started selling furniture? Back then it seemed like everyone was trying to do the C&B thing, put a few well selected furniture pieces in a non-furniture store and instantly add 10-15% to the bottom line. It was called "alternative channels of distribution" and in Chicago the publisher of FurnitureToday gave a speech to a packed house about this. And this was BEFORE THE INTERNET!

    So Anthropologie is doing the same thing. They are very sophisticated operators, and know their customers well. They don't have to sell a lot of furniture, just enough. And they have learned what I have learned. People feel very stressed for time.

    Ten years ago people looked forward to shopping as an adventure. Especially for furniture. Now they see it as a chore. Put a sofa in front of where someone already is and its like bait in the water - if its nice enough they'll bite.

  4. #4
    Couch Potato Guest

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    I have a quality-driven business myself (not furniture), and I see this kind of thing all the time... fancy packaging, whether box or showroom, is as important as the product itself. Applies to any consumer-targeted industry; take restaurants as an example, 90% of what you're paying for is "atmosphere".

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Alexandria VA
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    I hear you, Steve. And yes, I remember back when Eddie Bauer was 'it' (and before they went to cheap Chinese clothing) they were hot, and everything they had was hot.

    I have to tell you, I came back into my store today and after looking at the junk at Anthropologie it makes me wonder if my prices are too low! I'm thinking its all about location-location-location. These trendy stores are in the most posh mall locations and you may very well be right about the time-management of it all for the consumer. I've thought many times about moving my operation into such an environment but the rent costs alone are 4x what I pay now. That's a lot of expense to have to make up in margin!

    Still, I was just shocked at what I saw. Not only the poor quality of the pieces in every aspect (content, structure, foam, fit, padding, welt trim application, finish) but they charge $ 300 to deliver a sofa and $ 50 per chair! That means a local delivery of a sofa and two chairs is $ 400. Makes my local delivery charge of $ 67 seem pretty paltry by comparison.
    Duane Collie
    Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
    My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Lakewood Ranch, Florida
    Posts
    243

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    Duane

    Next time you think about moving to a fancy mall location remember Mastercraft. For those of you not in the greater DC/MD/VA area this was a high end store featuring a number of outstanding brands. One of their premier stores was in a large mall in Fairfax Co. VA. I still remember the going out of business sale. That's not to say they did not have other issues but certainly the high overhead business they had did not fare well when the market softened. Besides I think you have a great store. Not pretentious and delivers a message of both quality and value to your customers.

  7. #7
    soster Guest

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    Duane,

    Location is everything, but so is a deep pocketbook. Those hot mall locations are not for the faint of heart, and never have been. I know someone who had an independent retail store (furniture and gifts) in a hot mall here back in the early 80's. There was no good old days for mall based independent retailers.

    Never forget why people are coming to you. And never forget those fancy operations all GOB at some point.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    NW Pennsylvania
    Posts
    216

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    I would actually find it hard to buy furniture from a mall store. To me Malls and their stores are where NAMES not quality sell, and those names sell for a lot more than they are worth. Also I always feel Mall stores you pay a premium for their location and I rather not pay more because of their high rent bill.

  9. #9
    McCall Guest

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    Duane,
    what is sad here is that the consumer who wants to be educated comes to a site like this or the "other" site and asks for advice. You give them good advise, look for, [all the buzz words] that you mentioned. so they go into that store see those words and figure that is quality and what they are supposed to buy. They think they have done thier homework and are "informed".


  10. #10
    soster Guest

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    Quality means different things to different people. To me it means the product will last until YOU are done with it - not the other way around.

    We used to sell a TON of Formica furniture until it went out of style. We continue to sell it still, in fact. This furniture would be laughed at here and in most other places but that fact is that basically all of Formica furniture we sold 20 years ago is still going strong today. No dovetails, no dustproofing... none of that stuff. All particleboard too. But built with the proper fasteners, glues, material thicknesses, hardware, etc.

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