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.