"Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware, Williams Sonoma, Room and Board, etc. "

I don't have any of those within 50 miles of me!

There has been a clear trend for consumers to shop at big box stores like Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware, Williams Sonoma, Room and Board, etc. For those who like to shop such stores, what are the characteristics of those stores which draw you there?

Do you feel that the selection, quality and service is better than your local store?

These stores offer buying comfort.

Meaning, when you buy from one of these stores you don't feel like there might be some nasty surprise with the look or the quality.

Also a "no-pressure" buying experience. You don't get help unless you ask for it.

They don't have better prices. In fact their prices are often quite high. But because of their marketing the customer is often sold before even walking in the door (even if the customer doesn't realize it themselves.)

Pottery Barn was one of those stores featured on Inside Edition for false advertising of a 'mahogany table'. Read the story here: http://www.insideedition.com/ourstories/print/story.aspx?storyid=618

I've done alot of comparision shopping & always thought their prices were higher and the look a little too masculine.

Supposedly, crate & barrel prides themselves on very good qualtiy at good prices. I still thought they were expensive.

I think the success is in their marketing w/ tons of catalogs. Also people who do not want to bring in a decorator & don't have the time nor inclination to DIY surrender to the Pottery Barn!

"If it looks good in magazine then it'll look good for me"

A lot of people are drawn to these stores because of the look of their furniture. Their style is considered "in", and the traditional style is "out" (not by me). Besides, these stores all carry large amount of accessories to make home decoration easier and more consistent in style. Although I have shopped these big box stores for small accessories, I have never bought any major furniture pieces from them. I am afraid that if I get one piece, it wonÂt look right with the rest of the furnishing. If I buy all the matching pieces, my house will look like everybody elseÂs house with that typical pottery barn look.

I've looked but have never purchased furniture from these stores. My taste tends to me a bit more traditional than what they offer and I love mahogany.

However, I do understand the attraction to their whole "lifestyle" marketing plan. Shopping is convenient, the style is clean and contemporary (without being extreme), and putting pieces together is easy because it all kind of looks the same. A furniture version of Garanimals, if you will.

And I'm not knocking it. If I happen to be near one of these stores I'll often go in thinking I might find something great. But I'm alway disappointed in comparison to furniture I've purchased locally. I don't just mean the higher-end pieces we own, but some low-end furniture that's basically no different in quality than Pottery Barn but a lot less expensive. Overall, I think their furniture is terribly overpriced for what it is.

I will say that functionality of many of their designs is very good. For example, Pottery Barn has a secretary that I've admired for months. It's a great size and is an interesting mix of a traditional secretary and storage aimed at more modern, home office use. But by the time you add it all up, it's pushing 2k and I can't even see it in a store (it's catalog only) to know what I'm getting, which according to the description is kiln-dried poplar wood and moldings, panels and shelves made of birch-wood veneer over MDF.

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In the end, I much prefer having a relationship with a local furniture store that represents a large number of manufacturere and will pay a little more for that service.

I think PB has great martketing. I like going into the stores to browse since they change the store weekly. The same items looks different somewhere else in the store. I will always wait to buy on sale there.

There is no pressure. Their funiture is not my style although I did buy the Evan's bed there (floor sample). It's designed by Mitchell Gold and I felt the quality is very good.

I live in South Jersey. Most of the local dealers in my area do not display well and their displays are very goudy.

I like that those stores are not just furniture stores. You can get everything from furniture to lamps to cabinet hardware to paint to bedsheets to picture frames. I'm not often in need of a new sofa, but I always need a bday present or wedding gift. Also, I'm not a matchy-match sort of person, but it's nice to see furniture in a completed space, not a warehouse size showroom.
Also, most local furniture stores have to offer are pushy salespeople, limited merchandise on the floor, and innumerable catalogs. At least at RH et al, you get to see most items in person.

I am not sure I would classify these stores as Big Box retailers, but more of a chain of specialty stores that offer a mix of furniture and accessories pulled together for popular style or look, where as the big box stores like Walmart/SamsClub, Target, Ikea, J.C. Penny etc. are trying to mass merchandise furniture and accessories at a low price point. Then their is the larger furniture retailers/manufacturers/importers like Ashley, RTG, Ethan Allen, Wicks, etc. that offer a much wider selection of styles. Also the internet that offers a convenient shopping experience for the well informed consumer.
I think where consumers buy their furniture tends to be along the same type of stores they buy other items like cloths, electronics or even where they shop for food or eat out. I think successful marketing has much to do about how a store can draw customers and keep that customer which normally wouldnt go into their store.