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Thread: Differences in Furniture

  1. #1
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    Default Differences in Furniture

    The last few days I have been shopping for some wooden furniture (bedroom sets, dining room table/chairs, sofa table, and a Curio Cabinet) and hit almost all the local furniture stores and thought I'd share my impressions and why it pays to shop around.

    First furniture store is low to midlevel quality but decent service, salesperson wasn't pushy but did answer most questions. Overall decent visit and there stuff was put together well except for their dining room sets which were shaky.

    Second furniture store a national chain, some nice looking stuff but horribly put together and pricing seeemed over what it should be for the quality. Can not comment on sales person since we declined to talk to any. Left not wanting to go back.

    Third store a regional super store - Layout is overly confusing and too large, store seems more concerned with selling on how good it looks and low price then selling on the quality of the stuff. Sales people were ok but felt there was no rapport or chance of future business relationship with them. Hard to find any real quality and the setup on some stuff left a lot to be desired.

    Fourth Store a local mid-high end store - Very nice layout with good quality throughout, sales person was friendly and looked everything up. Price wise they could be a bit lower (says me) but they do stand behind what they sell. The wooden goods were all in great condition and performed like the price tag suggested they should.

    Fifth Store a local store that caters to people with money to burn - Some of the brands seem low-mid level yet the pricing was more in line with top level. (Lee was a brand I saw on some upholstered couches going for 2-3 grand). This store seems to sell to people who have big pocket books and want something off the beaten path, interesting to browse though and can see it's charm. I did not interact with sales staff or really check out anything, I think looks/design are the major selling point here.

    Sixth store local low-mid level store that isn't trying to be a superstore. Some nice pieces and seems like a store that puts service first but wish they would get a few brands of higher quality. Salesperson was helpful but did push a bit though he did promise the prices were good for awhile. The quality on everything seemed to be right what it's price tag suggested but good setup.

    One thing I caught myself thinking about was Duane's story of the person who came in to buy a flexsteel recliner but after he sat in H&M he wanted nothing to do with Flexsteel though it took time to understand why the H&M price was worth paying a lot more. While browsing the stores I checked out some of the upholstered stuff at the low-mid end stores, which just left me thinking I am a bit more at peace for what I paid for my last purchase. I paid more but could tell the quality was better and worth it to me, it may not be the best but I could feel/see/tell the difference.

  2. #2
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    Whew! I'm exhausted from all that shopping! Sounds pretty typical of a day at the furniture stores, however. Most salespeople in your typical furniture store are all about SELL-SELL-SELL and little else. It's a job for them, not a passion. They get paid when they sell, and that's all they're interested in.

    I like quality goods, and glad to see you are learning to tell the difference. I'm of the school of thought that if something is worth doing, its worth doing right and tend to personally buy things that way myself. I have Snap-On tools to work on my vehicles, a Nikon camera, a 24" iMac at home, BMW's in my garage, etc. etc....and that same thing carries over to the goods in my store. I tend to do without if I can't have high-quality.

    A little story today. I designed two new pieces of hard case good furniture and had it built by one of my suppliers. The one little table they just nailed it....beautiful! I was really pleased with it (a small hall table that / turned leg / tiger maple / stretcher base / trapezoid shaped) and then a small bookcase they got wrong. Took me a while staring at the bookcase to figure out what I didn't like about it, but after a bit I realized they failed to follow the molding line on the mid-section trim in the top section. A design faux pax. When I called to discuss, it was because this top section was done in a CNC 5-axis router, so they wanted to keep the cost down and not have any handwork in it. I can understand and appreciate that, because today everyone wants PRICE PRICE PRICE and it might add 10 % to the cost of the piece to do it correctly. I'm the guy that says "Do it right" and they are worried about having the cost of the unit go higher in order to make it look the way it should. Now, truth be told, 90% of the customers looking at this piece won't pick up on that design flaw and will like the $ 995 selling price vs the $ 1,095 price if the top is worked by hand the way I want it to be.

    So which way do you make it? Get under the magic $ 1,000 price tag (yes, there is customer resistance to price in four digit numbers), or press to build it so it looks its best and price it where it has to be?
    Duane Collie
    Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
    My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.

  3. #3
    soster Guest

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    I'm a firm believer in charging 10% more in order to give 25% more.

    A trend in the furniture industry is the reclassification of mid-level goods into high end goods due to all the price increases. Lets face it, a $500 nightstand is not a midlevel price, at least in my opinion. But a midlevel quality US or Canadian nightstand that sold for $250 in 2003 now sells for $500 and is made the exact same way.

    What makes a product mid-level or high-end? You can define this by construction, or by price. When the price is at a certain point, you are attempting to appeal to a high-end customer.

    I have seen prices go up dramatically for everything made in the US and Canada. However, I have not seen quality go up. I've told all my suppliers, with each price increase - don't raise the price 10% and give me the SAME product in return. Raise it 15% or 20% and make it BETTER.

    Better to improve the construction, but even if its just stretching the warranty, you have to do something to make the consumer feel really good about their purchase.

  4. #4
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    Yes it was a lot of shopping but worth it to get an idea what is out there and the differences. I could tell the differences in items from store to store but was amazed at the stores who's display models were poorly put together. I am not sure but when you can't open the dresser drawers without major force or the dining room table is ready to fall apart from a slight touch makes you wonder is the item that poorly constructed or are the store employees that bad at their job. Either way it lost them a customer, namely me.

    One of the things I noticed since the advent of super stores with low prices is companies are catering to the low price shoppers and just using their brand name without the quality. Finding mid-high end stuff in any brand/type of product is harder to do because people feel they can buy top quality stuff at bargain stores and don't understand the product is either just a name or the company skimped on the quality to meet a price point the store dictated.

    Regardless of what my budget is I rather stretch it if I can get a better item than save a few bucks and regret it later.

  5. #5
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    Here's photos of the two new pieces I put in the store this morning. Who can pick out the design flaw in the small bookcase?
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    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
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    I had to go over your message again but think I see what you're talking about, the mid section on the top peice the left and right side are plain and don't match the molding as you said. Or am I missing it?

    BTW what are the dimensions on the small trapezoid table?
    Last edited by Briant73; 02-17-2009 at 02:01 PM.

  7. #7
    dwainw Guest

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    Quote Originally Posted by drcollie View Post
    Here's photos of the two new pieces I put in the store this morning. Who can pick out the design flaw in the small bookcase?
    Are you referring to the figuring of the grain not matching all the way across the molding?

  8. #8
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    Look at the top horizontal board edge. Its dead flat, with a slight round-over and radius-ed into the detent corners. Then come down about 3" and look at the surround mold. Its crisp, and 90 degrees. The top horizontal piece edge should match the molding that's below it if its designed correctly. They're going to have to fix that before I order any more. If it adds to the price, so be it.
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    Duane Collie
    Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
    My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Briant73 View Post
    BTW what are the dimensions on the small trapezoid table?
    13.75" D, 36" W (at the back), 26.75" H. $ 489.
    Duane Collie
    Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
    My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by drcollie View Post
    Look at the top horizontal board edge. Its dead flat, with a slight round-over and radius-ed into the detent corners. Then come down about 3" and look at the surround mold. Its crisp, and 90 degrees. The top horizontal piece edge should match the molding that's below it if its designed correctly. They're going to have to fix that before I order any more. If it adds to the price, so be it.
    I see it now what you were going for and can see with your explanation photo what they missed. I probably wouldn't notice it right away but soon as someone would mention it, I'd be bothered by it.

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