Normally if a local store is not competitive, there are one of two reasons: 1) The store owner has not adapted to current market conditions. Quite simply, as the profit margins move downward - and they have - they have not revised their business structure to capture sales that would otherwise go to out-of-area dealers. Some store owners insist on adhering to a margin-based price structure and will not adjust. The smart businessman NEVER lets a customer walk out to do business out-of-area. I know a number of store owners who are hard-headed and won't adapt. Its up to you, their local customer, to bring in a price quote and show them that they need to match it or you'll go elsewhere. If enough customers do that, they'll get the message. But if you never tell them, then they don't know. 2) Some furniture makers have a 2-tier price structure. Small stores don't get as large a discount from the maker as larger ones do. Typically its based on dollar-volume sold, or number of pieces put on the floor. So there is a chance that within a certain brand line that you local dealer is paying more for the goods than a larger, out-of-state discounter. This happens to me with Southwood Furniture as an example. My cost basis is 10 % less than the big store in the next county because they do more volume by accident than I do working hard at it. Still they get the volume price and I don't. Nevertheless, I adapt (being a savvy dealer!) and match price or go under them everyday. It results in thin margins, and it does not exactly make me want to invest in a lot of their product for the floor. Personally, I think it a bad policy from the makers as it tends to keep the little guys small regardless of how hard they work for the brand and limits floor exposure for their dealership network. Walk your best price into your local dealer and tell them in no uncertain terms they need to beat it. See what happens! Keep in mind however, that local sales tax is not something that your hometown store cannot waive and should be factored out when price shopping (the flip side of this is that these taxes do come back into your community infrastructure when you buy locally). Duane Collie

Frankly, for case goods, once you are going high-end you might as well go with a custom wood furniture maker. I've done that several times and obtained gorgeous, well-made (and American-made) pieces styled just as I wanted them and didn't spend as much as I would have had I bought the same kind of pieces from a high-end furniture maker. For example, John Landis Cabinetworks made my dining room table, chairs, and side piece and I was able to slightly shorten the distance between the seat of the chair and the top of table - and double the batting in the seat cushions - in order to address being short-waisted and not wanting to feel like I need to sit on a telephone book when I am at my own dining room table. If you want to see what was made for me go here http://www.johnlandiscabinetworks.com/diningroom.shtml and look under Brigham - the website shuffles through the pictures - when you click on cabinetry, I think mine is the second one - a cherry piece with slightly curved legs and no hutch (these pictures were taken when just built so pieces have darkened) and the table (plus one chair) is the third trestle table that scrolls through when you click on dining tables. This was the first trestle table he made and he used to have it named after me! But no more. Anyway, the furniture is gorgeous, very well-made, unbelievably comfortable (those chairs are what sold me - great, great, great lumbar support - I can never get my guests to leave!) and not as expensive as the "retail" prices on the website suggest.

Over the past 15 years, I have bought from Boyles frequently. I have been extremely pleased with the service I've gotten. Only once was there a problem. I purchased a leather chair and ottoman. When the ottoman was delivered, I was out of town and had a neighbor let the movers in. When I got home, I discovered that the ottoman had scratches in the leather. I called Boyles. they asked me to e-mail them pictures. I e-mailed them a couple of pictures of the damage. They promptly sent me a new ottoman! I would call and ask a salesperson how often they run free shipping. Seems I get e-mails from them fairly often promoting "free shipping."

Thanks, I would appreciate that! It looks black in the pictures -- def. don't want black. I'm also wondering about cable routes. One of the desks would be positioned so that the back faced out toward the rest of the house -- I'm wondering if the cable routing (or ports where the cables come out, if it doesn't have routing) is such that the back of the desk could face outward, and not be an eye sore. (Right now DH's desk hides cables from the front, but not from the back, so I've had to fake it with a fabric drape across the back -- works, but not ideal).