Furniture Buying (Plum, Penn: sales, how much, home) - Pittsburgh - Pennsylvania (PA) - City-Data Forum

tracyy · 06-07-2010, 07:39 AM

How's the quality of furniture comparing Roomful express, Levin, Value City and JCPenny? Our budget are <$500 for a small dinning table in the dinnet area, < $2000 for a leather sofa and < $2000 for a master bd room set. We are not spending that much but definitely don't want to have something will be broke within one or two years.

robrobrob · 06-07-2010, 08:24 AM

We bought a bedroom set from Levin and it was over 2000. Frankly, it was the cheapest that Levin had. We got a bed, couple of dressers and two nightstands. It is pretty crappy. Most of the drawers don't work the greatest.

greg42 · 06-07-2010, 10:51 AM

They all have some cheaper stuff and some better stuff. Well, the furniture stores do. I'm not as familiar with JCPenney. I don't think of them for furniture!

When I shopped for bedroom stuff a few years back, the only one I liked was at Levin. That was the most money I ever spent on furniture at once, bed, two nightstands, a big dresser, was over $2000 back then I think, actually might have been closer to $2500. It's decently made although maybe not top top stuff. In shopping for a sofa more recently, we found things to like in Value City and in Levin, but we got one from Levin. That piece is definitely good stuff, but it's not leather so I don't know how much that would be.

I don't think there's a big generalization about which store for quality, though. If you go to Robinson/N. Fayette area, you can hit all three of the big chains with extra-large Levin and large Roomful, plus the closest Value City to the city. Here's the thing about furniture: you never buy without a "sale", because nobody should pay what they list as the full price. You should be able to get free financing, as in 0%, often with 2 or 3 years to pay it off. And so on. It's rather gimmicky pricing, in other words. The "regular" price on furniture has a huge markup. That's why they can have things like 50% off sales. I think Levin is usually seen as more expensive, but Value City can get pricey in a hurry too. I think they all can.

Also I've liked my Levin sales reps better than the ones I've ever met in Value City or Roomful. Seemed more into being really helpful. The one I dealt with recently at Levin in N. Fayette is Toni Petraglia. They'll fetch a specific rep if you ask for one; otherwise you just get whoever is up next or happens to be free. I don't stand to gain anything from this, just recommending someone I thought was helpful.

Good luck, happy shopping.

Honest Bob · 06-07-2010, 12:49 PM

It sounds like you need to go to Trader Horn!

Honest Bob · 06-07-2010, 12:50 PM

How about Good Will

hempfield mania · 06-07-2010, 01:09 PM

Another tactic to use is to find the exact piece of furniture you like at the store online and then take that sure to be lower price into the store and have them beat it by 10% or at least match it.

That is what we did for our bedroom set at now closed Matt's furniture on Rte. 30. They had a set a beautiful cherry bedroom set made in North Carolina for a little over 5k and we could order the same set online, factory direct for a little more than 3500, which included the shipping but it would take over a week. We got it at Matts for 3600 out the door and got it delivered the next day by taking the internet print out with us. It is a quality set, solid cherry, dovetail joints, etc....

You will find better furniture at the smaller, independent dealers.

wpipkins · 06-07-2010, 01:43 PM

The best option for you would be the downtown Macy's furniture clearance center. You can get high end furniture steeply discounted. My wife and I paid $480.00 for an overstuffed valore chocolate brown sofa. It retailed for $899.00. They have everything from dinning room furniture to area rugs. Also do not forget about local retailers and custom design centers. I got a white camel backed sofa years ago for about $1000.00. It was custom made to someones specifiaction and for some reason or another, they did not purchase it. It would have retailed for $3000.00. Try Perlora Leathers in the Strip and asked to be added to the contact list. They have anual blowout sales every spring at the warehouse on Carson Street.

From a design standpoint..... DO NOT BUY MATCHING SETS. TAKE YOUR TIME AND PEICE SIMILAR BUT NOT IDENTICAL PEICES. It took my wife and I five years to fully furnish our home and you can tell the difference........

caroline2 · 06-07-2010, 01:52 PM

Quote:

The best option for you would be the downtown Macy's furniture clearance center.

Completely agree. The Macy's clearance stuff is fantastic.

xtant64 · 06-07-2010, 02:32 PM

Does the clearance center in Macy's deliver? Most clearance places do not, and I don't relish the thought of loading a couch on my truck downtown. If they do, is it pricey to get them to deliver? I'm out in Plum and I can't picture that being a cheap delivery for them...

wpipkins · 06-08-2010, 07:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xtant64

Does the clearance center in Macy's deliver? Most clearance places do not, and I don't relish the thought of loading a couch on my truck downtown. If they do, is it pricey to get them to deliver? I'm out in Plum and I can't picture that being a cheap delivery for them...

Yes, they do deliver. It is not expensive either. I believe it is in the $80.00 range. The deliver in a 50 mile radius. Even if the delivery cost are high, the merchandise is worth it.