The whole town is buzzin'.......

[sofadoc]

.........about the new Nebraska Furniture Mart opening in the Dallas area.

At the bank where my wife works, all the employees and customers are giddy with excitement.
One girl has already picked out a leather sectional for $700.

They know that my wife is married to an upholsterer. So they ask her opinion. She just keeps her head down and says nothing. What would be the point? Anything she might say would only sound like sour grapes. Besides, they're already bedazzled by the advertised prices, so nothing that she could say would dissuade them.

If they don't buy their junk at NFM, they'll buy it somewhere else.

I've never been to one of those stores. Can some of you tell me anything about it? Do they have some decent stuff as well as the junk?

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

WHO HOO!

NFM, backed by Warren Buffet, is out to see how many Mom & Pop furniture stores they can put out of business in Texas.  I worked for a M&P furniture store as Office Manager/Staff Accountant when we lived in Leavenworth.  NFM opened their first remote store at a strip mall by the Kansas Speedway.  The powers that be at NFM made it no secret that their intent was to put at least 10 M&P's out of business their first year (more if possible).  Their advertising budget is huge.  I believe they put out of business 15 stores their first year.  We went out of business the second year (officially it was because of the store flood but we would not have had $$$ for payroll for another 2 weeks, not to mention payables had we not flooded and had good insurance -- still don't think that is a coincidence but that is another story). 

NFM has everything, from crap to high dollar stuff.  Furniture, appliances, electronic gadgets, etc.  Because they have remote stores, they can buy in quantity, which is the name of the game in furniture.  They are buying in such quantity that they get incredible prices which makes it impossible for the little guys to beat.  Yes, it will make it harder to upholster when you can buy dirt cheap at NFM.

That's my $0.02 worth about NFM.  Not a fan of the place.    We went from 40+ sales a day to less than a dozen from day one of the Mart opening.  I feel for the little guys in the Dallas/Ft Worth area.

Virginia

[SteveA]

Sounds like more repair work coming to the neighborhood !
We have Bob's Stores here and they do have a range of quality furniture but most buy the promotions that are dirt cheap there.
SA

[kodydog]

.........about the new Nebraska Furniture Mart opening in the Dallas area.

At the bank where my wife works, all the employees and customers are giddy with excitement.
One girl has already picked out a leather sectional for $700.

Yep and in 4 years the top layer will start pealing off and she'll come to you to recover it. "I paid a lot of money for it".
And when you give her a quote she'll say, I can buy new for that. Is there really that much disposable income in America.

I repaired a 3 month old LaZBoy incliner sofa yesterday. The foam on the center section was falling through the springs. The fabric that covers the springs was glued to the bottom of the foam but nobody bothered to staple this fabric to the frame.

The store owner told me the factory rep says I should charge about 1/4 what I do. I'd like to meet the rep and tell him, if they would stop building such cheap furniture he wouldn't have to worry about what I charge.  :P

[Darren Henry]

"I paid a lot of money for it".
And when you give her a quote she'll say, I can buy new for that.

I do a lot of warranty work for most of the retail chains in the city. They know the prices and they know my rate---we never have to haggle. Most of the time the manufacturer covers it under their warranty so the retailer doesn't mind paying. It can be mind numbing work, but it keeps the shop viable and me employed.

[baileyuph]

"Often new can be bought for that", we in this business face cheap foreign labor and that has become the new standard for consumers. 

In this country, it is the better manufacturers that have gone out of business and now the low end (whoever they are now), must be struggling to stay in business.  The marketing situation is getting tough for anything made by the US, especially if union wages are paid with benefits.

That sector of industries is not growing (wages/benefits).

How old do you think this furniture is Dennis?  Must be better qualiity made in the past?

Doyle