Rank these furniture stores

I just bought a new kitchen table. I shopped around and found something that seemed like decent quality and not too expensive. I don't want to say where I purchased it from but can you guys rank these furniture stores in terms of quality.

Please rank from highest to lowest average quality (even if you never purchased from there make a educated guess)

-Rooms to Go
-Ashley furniture
-Havertys
-Macys Furniture
-Basset
-American Signature
-Thomasville

I have never shopped at any of them, but I really like Design Within Reach

C Reed said:

I have never shopped at any of them, but I really like Design Within Reach

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I am sure you probably heard of some of them though. I was hoping that you would rank in order even if you never purchased. Base it on what you perceive of their quality based on word of mouth, advertisements, companies name, companies look, etc

For example. I never been to or shopped at Value City Furniture but I know they are not super high end custom furniture.

You can't compare them because some are retailers who sell many manufacturers and some are manufacturers. Years ago you knew when Thomasville made a piece it was handcrafted in their plant in the U.S. Now the stuff is mostly made in the Philippines or where ever. You just have to look at the furniture and how it is constructed and finished.

-Rooms to Go -5
-Ashley furniture - 4
-Havertys - 3
-Macys Furniture - 6
-Basset - dont have this here from my knowledge
-American Signature - 2
-Thomasville - 1

I just go over to Amish country, and have my furniture made to spec, usually for less money and better quality than any of those mentioned sell the same thing.

I have even taken in photos from the furniture store, and said this is what I want.

millertime150 said:

I am sure you probably heard of some of them though. I was hoping that you would rank in order even if you never purchased. Base it on what you perceive of their quality based on word of mouth, advertisements, companies name, companies look, etc

For example. I never been to or shopped at Value City Furniture but I know they are not super high end custom furniture.

Click to expand...

ok here we go then

-Rooms to Go this sounds like Ikea
-Ashley furniture for midwest types
-Havertys for southern types
-Macys Furniture for long-island/ jersy types
-Basset for dog lovers
-American Signature for midwest times
-Thomasville for Minnesota types

analysis based on the names alone

thecoalition said:

-Rooms to Go -5
-Ashley furniture - 4
-Havertys - 3
-Macys Furniture - 6
-Basset - dont have this here from my knowledge
-American Signature - 2
-Thomasville - 1

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Thank you for your input. So you would put American Signature higher than havertys? From what I hear, Havertys is supposed to be much better than Rooms to go. In my experience it is better but not a whole lot.

airplanedoc said:

I just go over to Amish country, and have my furniture made to spec, usually for less money and better quality than any of those mentioned sell the same thing.

I have even taken in photos from the furniture store, and said this is what I want.

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When I lived in Pennsylvania this would have been easy to do. I haven't seen any Amish where I live now.

C Reed said:

ok here we go then

-Rooms to Go this sounds like Ikea
-Ashley furniture for midwest types
-Havertys for southern types
-Macys Furniture for long-island/ jersy types
-Basset for dog lovers
-American Signature for midwest times
-Thomasville for Minnesota types

analysis based on the names alone

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Good job. I honestly like this answer better than the first. LOL. I always thought of Basset as a dog store before I saw it sold furniture.

Thebigspendur said:

You can't compare them because some are retailers who sell many manufacturers and some are manufacturers. Years ago you knew when Thomasville made a piece it was handcrafted in their plant in the U.S. Now the stuff is mostly made in the Philippines or where ever. You just have to look at the furniture and how it is constructed and finished.

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This one.

Of the brands, Thomasville is the higher end in terms of quality and design.

Thebigspendur said:

You can't compare them because some are retailers who sell many manufacturers and some are manufacturers. Years ago you knew when Thomasville made a piece it was handcrafted in their plant in the U.S. Now the stuff is mostly made in the Philippines or where ever. You just have to look at the furniture and how it is constructed and finished.

Click to expand...

I think that in a way you can compare them if you are looking at average quality. To me it would be the same as comparing a Lexus dealership to Carmax. Yes on average the Lexus dealer has higher quality than carmax, even though carmax can sell Lexus, Infiniti, Porsche, Mercedes, BMW, etc BUT Carmax also carries a lot more lower end cars too.

Rooms to Go
-Ashley furniture
-Havertys
-Macys Furniture
-Basset
-American Signature
-Thomasville

For the most part,,,, None of the above,,, unles it's a Macy's furniture outlet.

We typically shop the non-chain furniture stores,,,,, but then only when they are having a sale on floor models,,,, what can I say,,,, we're cheap,,,, but we have very nice "cheap" furniture.

Basset is pretty good. Probably the best of the larger chains. We used to like Ethan Allen, but they've gone all modern now.

I'm not crazy about any of them.

Back when I was a starving student and had an empty apartment, all I could afford were pieces from junk stores and the shabbier antique stores.

I taught myself how to refinish and do upholstery, then fixed what I found.

Some specialty and custom manufacturers aside, the old stuff is of much higher quality and construction. Not only that, but it usually costs less.

I've also built a few pieces myself. While the tools aren't inexpensive, the total cost is lower than buying new and you get the quality that you put in.

If you're not a DIY type, I recommend scouring antique and junk shops. You'll get the quality and antiques tend to have excellent resale value and often appreciate.

Mainstream stuff tends to be OK and serves its purpose, but its value drops significantly over time and it is usually not worth repairing when the time comes. I paid about $700 for a Mission style solid quartersawn oak table about 13-14 years ago. I see similar tables today going for a least $1,500, sometimes more. I don't foresee it needing anything other than occasional waxing in my lifetime, and I think it'll fetch even more in time. Had I spent $700 for a new table back then, I'd be lucky to get $50 or $100 for it today.

7 -Rooms to Go
3 -Ashley furniture
6 -Havertys
4 -Macys Furniture
1 -Basset
5 -American Signature
2 -Thomasville

I guessed with Havertys as I have never heard of them.

I can tell you that Rooms to Go is cheap crap.

Ashley has some nice stuff, you just have to look at the edges and the underside.

Basset and Thomasville have nice stuff but you will pay for it.

I wouldn't shop any of them. For our living room we went to Tyndall Furniture Galleries in Pineville, NC. All hand built, but very good prices. Dinning room we went to Pennsylvania Wood. All solid cherry, Amish built, very high quality. For the den we went to the old standby La-Z-Boy. Piedmont NC had a lot of furniture plants, Broyhill and Thomasville being two of them. They produced some very high quality pieces, but of course all of those jobs went overseas.

There are several elements that you have to keep in mind, when it comes to selecting a good furniture store, before spending money. Furniture is one of the main aspects in everyone’s house. Furniture stores are not very difficult to select. Before buying or selecting a furniture store, you can do some research on the Internet, about all the stores in your area.

my ranking:

Custom made/Antique

Ethan Allen

Thomasville

Macy's

I haven't purchased from any of the stores listed and have no idea.

As posted earlier, no Amish here but we had a dining set made by the Menonites. Wonderful quality. All oak, cog and chain, self store leaves. They use no electriciy either. The machines are run by belt to a tractor.

Look underneath, feel the weight of the furniture, quality of stitching and frame construction. Go with solid wood when possible, preferably a hard wood.
Sue

I've grown to like Haverty's over the years.

Retail furniture stores are great if you just want to go buy some furniture and get it over with. If you are more patient, try to pick up good used pieces over time.

You don't have to buy antiques, but you'll certainly get sturdier and more "real" furniture if you buy pieces made before 1970, as a rule of thumb.