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Thomasville is now selling Universal furniture

14 years ago

Hi. I was shopping for a dining room table at Thomasville and came across a set that came at a great price point. It was an table with 6 chairs and a sideboard for $4,300. It looked really nice (for the money) and when I inquired further I found out it is actually a Universal Furniture set. It is some sort of Thanksgiving sale and it is only good for the next few weeks and then Thomasville is pulling it from the sales floor. The Universal furniture set is called Villa Cortina and it seems pretty nice.

Does anyone know how Universal's quality compares to Thomasville? It was definitely not a top quality set but it seems pretty good for the money. Thoughts?

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Comment (1)

rockmanor
14 years ago
If you do a search for Universal, both here and on google, I think you'll see a number of references to its quality (pretty much "meh" as my kids would say) and its origin (it appears to be made in China.) I recall that Universal closed a NC factory around 2001-02, laying off hundreds. If it's correct that all of their furniture is now made in the PRC, I would not buy it. YMMV.

FWIW, I recently lucked into a lovely older Thomasville dining table and 8 chairs at a furniture consignment store. About a month later, a craigslist ad led me to a wonderful sideboard. The table came with two leaves and extends to 108", which is what I'd hoped for but didn't expect to find. My total cost was just over $1K. I'd never bought anything from CL before, but have seen the ads here really skyrocket. A neighborhood message board has also become a good source for great quality resale furniture. The items I bought needed less than two hours of work to restore to like-new condition. For the savings, I thought that was well worth the time. Just something to consider.
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Most of the case good furniture sold in the United Sates are manufactured in China. At the popular price point such as what you might buy from Universal and Ashley it would be difficult to find anything not made in China. As far as Ashley goes they are the largest or nearly largest supplier of furniture in the US. They must be dong something right or people would not be buying their product and stores would not be carrying it. I have visited both showrooms at the trade shows in North Carolina and they do have a varied and extensive selection in all catagories. If you want to look at US made bedroom furniture you might have a look at Vaughan Bassett as an alternative. In upholstery there are a lot of imports from China but there also are many US manufacturers. In fact I would say most of the upholstery sold in the US is US made.
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After my furniture fiasco with Stanely Manufacturing in which I was shocked that my furniture arrived so damaged and mismatched in color, and after reading this post and many other posts where companies are now producing their products in China, I will never buy furniture made in China again. Thank you for the warning. Sorry about learning the hard way like I did. I ended up buying solid Maple wood furniture from Durham that only costs a litte bit more since I added an Armoire. I was amazed that the prices were not that different and the Durham Furniture was quality made in Canada. Also I had a great experience with the Flemington Department Store in NJ. I want to not be known for just complaining and have learned to give praise where praise is due but warn others when there are problems to help others like they have helped me.
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I love the design. Bought all the dining room and much living room. Now have a scratch on the table. Was told by the refinisher that the furniture is made "to look at not to use", and "its a reproduction of fine furniture". All the professional refinishers will touch it because they are afraid that the thin veneer will come up with the finish. We paid a lot, and thought we were getting quality. I have 100 year old furniture that will be good forever. This is a one-time-use product. I would not do it again.
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I have a Thomasville cherry bedroom set from the mid 1950's that I love!! But 13 years ago I ordered a sofa, loveseat and 2 ottomans Thomasville leather made in china ( I later discovered)! The leather on the front was puckered and sloppily applied the cushions were crooked, there were puckers on the arms etc. So I sent back all the pieces that had problems....think that left me with a loveseat, one ottoman and an extra cushion from the sofa. The new sofa and ottomans and cushions came about 6 weeks later....puckered...back it went.....repeated a 3rd time....and on the 4th delivery....the trucker knocked on my door and said "maam....you might want to look at these pieces before we unload...I don't think you are going to like them." he was right....and back it all went!!! Can't remember what I ended up with and am too lazy to look....but it cost $2,000 more....and has been worth every penny! I hope Thomasville has regained their quality! Linda C
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