I want to support my local store...but...

[Trogdor]

Ugh, Duane is going to hate me for this post:

So my wife and I want to furnish a family/sitting room. I'm actually quite up to speed with quality US made brands and researched who are my local guys who only deal with these quality lines. I'm talking Hickory Chair, Century, Harden, Baker, etc. I'd like to give King Hickory a nod as my wife and I bought a leather sofa/loveseat from them and it is fantastic (kiln dried wood frame, 8-way hand tied strings, wonderful quality and slightly less than say a comparable H&M (nothing against H&M either, they make lovely leather sofas too, my wife just really dug the style of the King Hickory)).

Anyway, we went to one local dealer and they didn't have much in-stock. They are a smaller store and offer free in-room design consultation. We took them up on it and the designer suggested a layout, some pieces, fabrics, you name it. It was all free and the designer was quite nice.

Problem though: Let's just say every price the designer quoted me was higher than what I expected (and what we were initially told by the owner, though in his defense we did not at that point have a brand nor fabric grade selected, but the range he gave us was in line with what I thought the price would be - turns out he was wrong - and no Duane we aren't talking Baker, most of the selections were from HC, Harden, and Century and my wife and I were expecting to spend between 3-4k and yet we were being constantly told each sofa was more like 4.2-5k depending on GRADE of FABRIC (we don't want leather)). What's worse is that because they are a low-inventory store, we can't sit on anything. Literally we would be spending thousands of dollars without ever actually seeing a piece. We just weren't confident of spending this kind of moola without sitting on anything.

To remedy this issue I had to find anther store that actually did have a piece we were interested in so my wife and i could sit on it. Well, I did, and we went there, talked to a very nice sales lady/designer who walked us through her process. Family run store, seemed very nice. However, same friggin thing: The price was still higher than what I expected, but now at least within the range of what I think is fair. (Ugh, if they only printed MAP prices like they do car invoices, this would make the whole process a lot easier.)

Finally, just because a colleague did this, he convinced me to call a very reputable warehouse in Hickory, NC to see what they charge (free delivery too) and lo and behold, the prices they quoted me are all very reasonable and inline with what I expect.

So now I don't know what to do. I want to support my local guys, but none of them seem to want to come down in price - again, I'm not trying to play a shell game per se, but c'mon....if my wife and I buy a couple of pieces, I'd like to at least to think I'm getting fair market price and moreover, if we are buying 6 pieces, they could discount some of this stuff and still feed everyone.

My wife believes that because these places rely on designers, they need to charge a 500+ premium on each piece to recoup their cost. That maybe, but that isn't really fair to us.

Now we are stuck and unsure what is the *right* thing to do: Do we try to politely ask if either of the local stores can accommodate us a bit on price or say "see ya, found it online for thousand dollars cheaper."

For the record, our first purchase was from a local store who offered me a GREAT price on GREAT US based furniture with very little hassle. Of course I would go back to him but he doesn't carry a lot of upholstery. Sigh.

[drcollie]

Not at all...

It's my feeling that you should spend your money at whatever dealer you are comfortable doing business with. Sometimes that will be a local store, other times it will be a distance buy. Your comfort level to purchase should be more than simply price-driven, though that is a significant factor. You want to be sure you have a dealer who will support you if there is an issue with your purchase at time of delivery or in the future.

Every dealer sets their own selling price. Some take larger percentages than others. Overhead is a very real thing in running and operating a retail store and some dealers will have more of that overhead and debt service than others, and some dealers (such as myself in a Wash DC Suburb) have much higher rent and tax basis costs than say a warehouse in North Carolina. To try to determine how much you think a dealer should make profit-wise is going to be an exercise in futility as you don't know their overhead costs. One of the reasons I have a reputation for aggressive pricing is my overhead is tightly controlled. I have no employees - that's right - its just me. My store is not in a fancy part of town. I have no debt service to anyone. That all means I can run a lower markup than many other dealers. On the other hand, my Fairfax Country Tax burden is high as are rents relative to other parts of the country. A store had to make "X" amount of profit on an item in order to remain healthy and profitable, otherwise it will fail. Its a simple concept, actually. If I were to tell you that a retail furniture store needs a 35% to 40% Gross Profit Margin would that make any difference in what you expect to pay for a piece? Probably not.....however in 30 years of doing this I have that percentage pretty well dialed in and whether a customer buys one piece or twenty, the percentage doesn't change.

There is no 'right' thing to do per se, its just whom you are comfortable doing business with. Its your money and you can spend it with whomever you wish. There is no harm in asking your local dealer to match-price a quote you were able to get from a distance buy, the worst they can do is decline to do so. One thing you can do however, is ask for a cash/check discount instead of using a credit card. Every merchant pays a fee to use a credit card, and they are so wildly variable that its pretty close to impossible to say what that fee is. Last time I looked, Visa/Mastercard had close to 54 price categories depending on what card the consumer hand you...but safe bet is 2 %. So offer to pay cash if they will give you a discount. Most merchants should....

Good luck in your search!

[Trogdor]

Not at all...

It's my feeling that you should spend your money at whatever dealer you are comfortable doing business with. Sometimes that will be a local store, other times it will be a distance buy. Your comfort level to purchase should be more than simply price-driven, though that is a significant factor. You want to be sure you have a dealer who will support you if there is an issue with your purchase at time of delivery or in the future.

Every dealer sets their own selling price. Some take larger percentages than others. Overhead is a very real thing in running and operating a retail store and some dealers will have more of that overhead and debt service than others, and some dealers (such as myself in a Wash DC Suburb) have much higher rent and tax basis costs than say a warehouse in North Carolina. To try to determine how much you think a dealer should make profit-wise is going to be an exercise in futility as you don't know their overhead costs. One of the reasons I have a reputation for aggressive pricing is my overhead is tightly controlled. I have no employees - that's right - its just me. My store is not in a fancy part of town. I have no debt service to anyone. That all means I can run a lower markup than many other dealers. On the other hand, my Fairfax Country Tax burden is high as are rents relative to other parts of the country. A store had to make "X" amount of profit on an item in order to remain healthy and profitable, otherwise it will fail. Its a simple concept, actually. If I were to tell you that a retail furniture store needs a 35% to 40% Gross Profit Margin would that make any difference in what you expect to pay for a piece? Probably not.....however in 30 years of doing this I have that percentage pretty well dialed in and whether a customer buys one piece or twenty, the percentage doesn't change.

There is no 'right' thing to do per se, its just whom you are comfortable doing business with. Its your money and you can spend it with whomever you wish. There is no harm in asking your local dealer to match-price a quote you were able to get from a distance buy, the worst they can do is decline to do so. One thing you can do however, is ask for a cash/check discount instead of using a credit card. Every merchant pays a fee to use a credit card, and they are so wildly variable that its pretty close to impossible to say what that fee is. Last time I looked, Visa/Mastercard had close to 54 price categories depending on what card the consumer hand you...but safe bet is 2 %. So offer to pay cash if they will give you a discount. Most merchants should....

Good luck in your search!

Duane, as usual great advice. One vendor I believe has 5% cash/check discount which we may take them up on.

The problem we have is that my wife wants a sofa with an inner seat depth of no greater than 21". That seems to be a lot harder to find these days (most manufacturers seem to want to cater to professional basketball players at this point).

[drcollie]

That's odd, I would say 90% of all the sofas I carry hit that 21" or less mark, only a few are deeper. The industry standard is generally 20" Seat Height and 20" Seat Depth, though you can increase or decrease one ad the expense of the other. Women have shorter legs (below the knees) than men, as a result most women like 18" to 19" Seat height and 19" to 20" seat depth. But then the man of the house feels a bit cramped on it. So 20 / 20 becomes the good compromise for most. Of the units I sell, the # 9840 City and # 4701 Member seem to work best for the ladies, and the men will tolerate them well, too! Note the lower seat height on the 4701 unit....

[Trogdor]

That's odd, I would say 90% of all the sofas I carry hit that 21" or less mark, only a few are deeper. The industry standard is generally 20" Seat Height and 20" Seat Depth, though you can increase or decrease one ad the expense of the other. Women have shorter legs (below the knees) than men, as a result most women like 18" to 19" Seat height and 19" to 20" seat depth. But then the man of the house feels a bit cramped on it. So 20 / 20 becomes the good compromise for most. Of the units I sell, the # 9840 City and # 4701 Member seem to work best for the ladies, and the men will tolerate them well, too! Note the lower seat height on the 4701 unit....

The ones you quoted me have both a 22" inner seat depth.

Go on H&M Fabric line of sofas. How many do you see with an INSIDE seat depth of 21" or less? I'm having a hard time finding one.

[drcollie]

http://www.hancockandmoore.com/produ...productid=1334
http://www.hancockandmoore.com/produ...productid=1886
http://www.hancockandmoore.com/produ...productid=1024