So T-Town folk... where does one get furniture that they'd be proud to own for the rest of their lives?
I'm not looking for flat box particle board crap from China.
We've already been to the usual suspects.. 41st and Sheridan place, Matthis, Snows. Seems like it's all just fake plastic looking crap. I roffled @ a dinning room set @ Matthis for $10k lololol. For that amount of green I'm assuming I could hire a custom carpenter to make up something amazing.
I'm looking for a "L" office desk.. and quite frankly, the best piece I've seen so far is Sams Club of all places! http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=5&item=375112 ~$700 after tax (the 41st and Sheridan Sams carries it even though online they say they don't)
Also looking for a breakfast table, a formal dinning room table, and some living room leather love seats, couches, chairs, recliners, etc.
I've got a HT couch set from Lazyboy and I'm pretty impressed with it so far.
I guess my only choices for some solid furniture are the Amish people and then start scouting out bigger metro places like Dallas?
Oh and some funny related stories.
A saleswoman butted in while my wife and I were talking about a dinning set. I politely told the saleswoman to F off. She chuckled as she left. I just don't get it w/ the vultures, it's just a pet peeve of mine I suppose. If I need help, I'll seek it.
Oh and I tried to get said Lazyboy couch mentioned above price matched @ Matthis (long story, don't ask), they basically laughed at price I was asking, so again, I was all like "F U". I went to a mom an pops place in Sand Springs and got the stuff at cost, saved hundreds. :)
With furniture, the old saying "you get what you pay for" holds true.
If you want cheap furniture, that won't last very long, then buy cheap stuff.
If you want furniture that will last a life time, you will have to pay for it.
If you don't need any help, why even go to a retail location? Just do it online and avoid those pesky salespeople who get paid very little but know more about furniture than you. Those people you told to F-off were the ones who could have helped you since they know what product is available, who the quality manufacturers are, the good values and the rip offs. As a salesperson, when I am treated with respect I reward my customers with all my accumulated knowledge and inside information. I try to eliminate all the chaff that you are now sorting through.
When they treat me badly, I too chortle as they make sophomoric mistakes. It takes some socialization skills to utilize a salesperson effectively and determine what is puffing and what is fact. If you don't have those skills or don't want to learn them, do internet. Then prepare to deal with the distributor directly and with little leverage. You will also need to pay for delivery and deal with the carrier when they leave it on your porch, broken, and you have to have it returned.
Try Castleberry's (are they still around?), the furniture store at the Farm and the folks at 6th and Utica (modern). Any Ethan Allen distributor. Even Penneys Home Store is good (but they have salespeople who may speak to you).
Waterboy, I go to the retail locations cause I need to get my grubby little hands/butt on the furniture. Dimensions on a website only say so much.
And believe me, I'm more than respectful / nice to salespeople that give me my space.
The lady that butted into our conversation didn't even start out w/ the de facto "Hi, how are you doing tonight, is there anything I can help you with?". She just started spouting off info about the piece of furniture we were looking at. That may work with other buyers, but not me. :) I calmly, but with attitude, cut into her spiel and said, "maam, thank you, but if we have any questions, we'll come and find you". As for the price match incident, there was like a $1.5k gap, they weren't willing to come down any at all. I would have thought there would have been more wiggle room at a big box store, oh well. And no, I don't pull the whole "well let me talk to your Manager" round about BS.
All that aside, yeah, I was afraid of venturing down to Utica Square, but I'll take your advice and look around. Thanks!
A good salesperson facilitates a purchase while a bad salesperson is just irritating.
I haven't bought much furniture over the years from retail. I bought a lovely leather sofa from Penneys Home Store and a nice little pine four poster bed from Mathis. Otherwise I have relied on Spacek Antiques, Estate/garage sales, divorce sales, family, friends, etc. There is a great resale/consignment shop over off Peoria and 49th in the old Bellaire shopping center. They have some treasures buried in there and the prices are reasonable. Re-upholstering and refinishing period pieces is quite satisfying for me. Hope that helps.
There are quite a few very good furniture makers/designers here in Tulsa from contemporary to classical. You can find their stuff in stores all over the US. Ran across a great contemporary designer while perusing a high end store in NY. I cant think of his name or website right off, but I think he is one that the Mayo Hotel is using for some of their new furniture. There are also some fantastic classical furniture and cabinet makers here in Tulsa that will do custom work. You can create something timeless and totally unique to your desires. Mathis Bros. has a wide range of quality and pricing. And yes its good to look at and touch the quality first hand, opening the drawers, seeing how they are made, the type and quality of joints, wood, etc. They have everything from the usual faux, plastic stuff to what I have found to be quite well done pieces. You would be suprised at the number of people in this town that go ahead and just have custom pieces built right here. Might as well since we have some really great craftsmen and companies.
http://www.architecturalmarket.com/#Scene_1
http://www.europeanconceptsllc.com/index.html
http://www.wiemanniron.com/fixtures/fixtures-01_653.htm
I know there are more, for I have worked with several, but you can always check with the higher end decorators in town and they can assist you in finding what you want. Charles Fadre, Cisar Holt, Dindy Foster, etc.
Quote from: Mike 01Hawk on June 28, 2009, 12:34:07 AM
Oh and some funny related stories.
A saleswoman butted in while my wife and I were talking about a dinning set. I politely told the saleswoman to F off. She chuckled as she left. I just don't get it w/ the vultures, it's just a pet peeve of mine I suppose. If I need help, I'll seek it.
Oh and I tried to get said Lazyboy couch mentioned above price matched @ Matthis (long story, don't ask), they basically laughed at price I was asking, so again, I was all like "F U". I went to a mom an pops place in Sand Springs and got the stuff at cost, saved hundreds. :)
Sorry to say this but that was a little rude. I worked at Best Buy for a year and took a position as a CA (customer assistant). It was my JOB to assist customers in finding items and asking them questions as CA's aren't assigned to a departments. We walked the floors and said " Hi how are you today, do you need assistance" or if there looking at a phone...something of like "That's a great phone if your looking at digital phones there is a phone on sale and I can tell you more about this if you like". If a customer says no they didn't need any help then I always told them "well if you need assistance don't hesitate to ask My name is such and such and I'll be glad to help" and then walk off. We had radios and if a manager who walks the floor all time sees a customer not being help they would radio customer looking at Ipods any CA's can assist...etc, etc. So it was REQUIRED to make contact with customers. This also helped with theft (even though internal theft was more prevalent then external).
I'm sorry but I've worked jobs in restaurant (bartender and server), was in the Army and retail and I don't treat restaurant, retail, or military with attitude as these are the positions I have worked. In retail, it is there JOB to ask if you need assistance because little do you know they know whats on sale, what the returns may be for a certain item, and can help you with many items as they see CUSTOMERS and the ITEMS every day. If you don't need help go to Walmart that's a place where NO EMPLOYEE will help you out. So next time go to Wallyworld and then when you need assistance...see how long you have to wait to find out an answer to a simple question.
Quote from: Cherish on June 28, 2009, 08:42:42 PM
Sorry to say this but that was a little rude. I worked at Best Buy for a year and took a position as a CA (customer assistant). It was my JOB to assist customers in finding items and asking them questions as CA's aren't assigned to a departments. We walked the floors and said " Hi how are you today, do you need assistance" or if there looking at a phone...something of like "That's a great phone if your looking at digital phones there is a phone on sale and I can tell you more about this if you like". If a customer says no they didn't need any help then I always told them "well if you need assistance don't hesitate to ask My name is such and such and I'll be glad to help" and then walk off. We had radios and if a manager who walks the floor all time sees a customer not being help they would radio customer looking at Ipods any CA's can assist...etc, etc. So it was REQUIRED to make contact with customers. This also helped with theft (even though internal theft was more prevalent then external).
I'm sorry but I've worked jobs in restaurant (bartender and server), was in the Army and retail and I don't treat restaurant, retail, or military with attitude as these are the positions I have worked. In retail, it is there JOB to ask if you need assistance because little do you know they know whats on sale, what the returns may be for a certain item, and can help you with many items as they see CUSTOMERS and the ITEMS every day. If you don't need help go to Walmart that's a place where NO EMPLOYEE will help you out. So next time go to Wallyworld and then when you need assistance...see how long you have to wait to find out an answer to a simple question.
I don't mind people asking for my assistance. My experience at a local furniture store though kinda irked me. I was asked if I needed help on something and said no, but I'd come looking if I did. So this guy hovers over me the ENTIRE time I'm there.
So I leave.
So, don't act like you're hard up for the commission. If you come across as pushy it will tend to have negative effects.
Quote from: Hoss on June 28, 2009, 10:18:49 PM
I don't mind people asking for my assistance. My experience at a local furniture store though kinda irked me. I was asked if I needed help on something and said no, but I'd come looking if I did. So this guy hovers over me the ENTIRE time I'm there.
So I leave.
So, don't act like you're hard up for the commission. If you come across as pushy it will tend to have negative effects.
Understandable for a commission job, that does sound pretty desperate. Best Buy doesn't pay employee's commission actually A LOT of retail places stopped paying employee's commission and now give higher hourly rates. In fact I had customers come back to the store and request to see me just because I was so helpful and they knew I wasn't getting paid commission (that's if they asked), and I get paid the same exact amount of money if you buy an item or not since I was hourly and there were no incentives. I'm a people person and just like to help people. Guess that's why I'm becoming a nurse LOL :)
But yea someone hovering over you can be pretty annoying so I understand leaving so you wouldn't be bothered.
I have had really good luck at this Furniture Row place @ 17th & Sheridan. It is like four stores combined into this little strip mall thing. I was shopping for a couch for my new house for quite a while. I tried all the common places Mathis, South Carolina(I also highly recommend this place by the way), Sunshine(absolutely terrible), Snows. I would have gotten my couch at NC if I had the extra cash at the time to spend, I may still get it in the future.
Furniture Row: Good quality, low prices.
http://www.furniturerow.com/
North Carolina Furniture: Really high quality, really high prices(but not as much as Mathis), best customization.
http://www.ncfmtulsa.com/home.html
The sales people did ask you if you needed help, but it was much easier to wave them off than a Mathis Brothers experience.
I'm still a fan of sunshine furniture. Like Mathis brothers but half the price and half the attitude.
The sales people at sunshine furniture are really nice, but they tell you up front that all the furniture there is disposable. Something like a three to five year life, and I could definitely tell that when just about everything there creaked when you wiggle it.
The markup on furniture is ridiculous. Like clothing it is often over a 100% markup. Unlike clothing, furniture isn't seasonal and doesn't go out of style every year and for clothing, you can skip the fashion crap and get real nice "solid" clothing for a reasonable price (Levies, Dickies, Carhart). But furniture, for decent furniture you're pretty well screwed. I don't get it.
Mathis Brothers owns several stores around town under other names as well as the exclusive rights to some lines (as I learned while shopping and/or trying to haggle prices). It would have been cheaper for me to rent a truck and drive to Wichita and buy the item I wanted and drive home . . . but the pain in the butt factor convinced me it wasn't worth it (Mathis wouldn't negotiate a dime and after expenses I would have only saved $200 or so). They delivered the furniture and as I was setting it up I noticed it had nicks on the footing. New furniture should be perfect, so I called them and was informed I could bring in the furniture and they would exchange it. When I said I didn't have a vehicle to do so with they said they would pick it up for $65 and exchange it. I still have my dents and refuse to do business with them any longer.
I hate furniture shopping.
I'm presently collecting mid-century furniture, it's been a fun quest. I can't stand shopping in new furniture stores and have almost always decorated using antiques or lightly used stuff from stores on 15th. Craigslist has become an interesting resource to find things as well. I found a beautiful Heywood-Wakefield dining set last week on there for an excellent price. Of course you never know when you might show up at some gorgeous woman's place and wake up a week later as her personal sex slave. Small sacrifice for the pursuit of fine furniture, I tell you.
For fairly decent, affordable stuff, you might try "Furniture Row" on 17th (?) and Sheridan. (I went to "Sofa Mart" but looked around at the other stores, which are all connected.)
I bought a leather couch there that I've been really pleased with so far. (Two years and counting...). I liked that the showroom was much smaller than the big stores, the selections were closer to my taste than Mathis Brothers ("Bubba got a raise!"), and the sales people didn't act like desperate used-car salesmen.
I wasn't really shopping for tables, etc at the time, but I remember that they had solid wood furniture.
(I've also got a couch from Norwalk. Damned expensive, but I will own it for the rest of my life. Amazingly well built with a lifetime guarantee, and you get to pick the cushion firmness and fabric. One of my house guests spilled red wine on it, and they sent out professional cleaners to take care of it for me b/c I bought the $75 fabric protection package. Only downside is that it weighs a frickin' ton!)
In my experience, the stuff at any of the standard local furniture places ranges from unmitigated junk to half-assed; all of it is overpriced. The best new stuff I've seen in a while was at a place south of Pryor that sources from Amish-staffed factories in Illinois (mainly).
Maybe the best bet is second-hand, a la Conan71's quest for mid-century stuff. My wife inherited some furniture from her grandmother. While it's unremarkable in design, the build quality is fantastic.
My taste has changed over the years from traditional to more modern contempory design. I absolutely detest Mathis Bros. Nothing I bought from them over the years have lasted, and I am not talking their cheap stuff. I bought a dining room set about three years ago from them, their higher end stuff, and within 6 weeks, the chairs were wobbly and the finish on the table was coming off. They tried to fix chairs and table and made a bigger mess so I asked them to kindly remove their junk, and I did say junk! They did and gave a refund, so that was the positive experience with them. The furniture from North Carolina lasted fairly well, but I'm so over those designs that I am ready to sell these and get something modern...think Italian made leather living and dining room furniture. I ordered Italian leather bar stools (made in Italy), and they are amazing. No shaky, wobbly junk from China!! Bought my barstools online from a company in California.
I don't want "Italian" design, but made in China. Does such a thing exist in T-town, or must I go to Dallas or shop online?
This is the brand I've been drooling over:
http://international.calligaris.it/company.asp
Honey, I think you should try Hawley Design at 6th & Utica or IO at the Farm I think.
CF, there is a lot of markup on furniture but there is also a lot of expense in that industry. Transportation is one. Warehousing is another. The manufacturing is centered in North Carolina and they rely heavily on rail and trucking. Then folks want it delivered to their home but don't like paying for that delivery.
As a retailer, it is expensive to stock and your business depends on smart buying choices. It also depends heavily on new construction because furniture is a durable good that lasts a long time. Or it should. Miss a trend and you're dead. It is a heavily labor oriented business. Those skills are diminishing.
In short, after you analyze the costs specific to this industry, it is no more or less profitable than any other retail business. The margin makes it look attractive, but unless you are good at managing those costs and carving out a niche of customers willing to pay for quality furniture you will flounder.
Go back a decade and see how many furniture stores survived. Usually just the family ones that were high end.
BC BC across Sheridan from the Farm is a good place for modern and contemporary, as is Urban Furnishings at 3636 S. Peoria. I believe UF is Hawley's ex-wife. I'm trying to think of the name of the one at 35th & Peoria... SR Hughes, I believe.
http://www.hawleyco.com/About%20Hawley%20Company.html#
http://www.srhughes.com/
http://www.bcbcmodern.com/
http://www.urbanfurnishings.com/
Here's your Italian stuff:
http://www.natuzzi.com/
I like SunShine Furniture on Memorial & 71st. I never bought anything there but they do seem to have nice stuff. If was going to buy anything I'd want to check out that place. http://www.sunshineok.com/ :D
I think that the best bet is second-hand, a la Conan71's adventure for mid-century stuff. That's what I guess...
_________________
Patio furniture (http://www.familyleisure.com/casual-patio-furniture)
Quote from: sauerkraut on July 06, 2009, 10:13:08 AM
I like SunShine Furniture on Memorial & 71st. I never bought anything there but they do seem to have nice stuff. If was going to buy anything I'd want to check out that place. http://www.sunshineok.com/ :D
That information is not correct according to my tests. The sales people at this location told me the furniture is disposable, and they only expected it to last 3-5 years. An average sized Oklahoman sitting on the furniture makes it creak loudly. I still recommend sofa mart.
Quote from: brianh on August 05, 2009, 08:22:32 AM
An average sized Oklahoman sitting on the furniture makes it creak loudly.
Us Tubby Okies sitting on the furniture makes it creak loudly.
S.R. Hughes...Family owned and operated.....