Hickory, NC

We are on our way back from Hickory NC. We drove up there with Steve and Leo to purchase some furniture. The word on the street is that the furniture is extremely affordable.

Here is what my thoughts are on the subject:

- We got everything we wanted and just went a little over our budget. The prices were lower than some retailers, but not as low as I thought they would be given the reputation the place has.

- We bought all of our furniture at the Catawba Mall vs. the Furniture Mart. The Furniture Mart was very overpriced! I take that back, we did buy one piece in the clearance store of Boyles, but it has scratches which was the only reason it was affordable.

- The people in the stores appear to be paid an hourly salary vs. commission. Which is normally a good thing because you don't get high pressure salesmen. However, in this instance we found that we got mediocre service... There were some exceptions, and we bought our furniture from those exceptions, but I didn't get the feeling that the malls really wanted or needed our business. Let me give you some examples:

• The Catawba Mall is owned all by one company, except for Ashley Furniture. Steve and Leo purchased a bedroom suite from one lady at Flexsteel, and she was very sweet. She told them that if they bought any other piece in the mall they could just add it to the account they had set up. The went to the Kathy Ireland Store, owned by the same company, and wanted a mirror. The store manager called the lady at Flexsteel (I was sitting at Flexsteel making a purchase) and had a fit because the mirror wasn't enough money and she was mad because she had to write up a ticket on it. The mirror cost over $250... I mean come on, it's 1/2 a sheet of paper.
  
• I had a problem with the same lady at Kathy Ireland. Yesterday she was super sweet because I was looking at several pieces. However, I found some more I liked better. Thus, today when I went to make the purchase I only purchased the entertainment center and the dining room set. A purchase of over $2,000. The minute she found out I wasn't buying all the pieces she showed me, which only included 2 additional items, she got pissy. Then when I informed her we would let Ashley Furniture's 3rd party handle the shipping she really go bitchy. Keep in mind that this is a 3rd party shipper, they all use 3rd party shippers, and nothing off her bottom line. Instead of saying thank you for your business I was almost upset I gave her my money.
• Yesterday we went to Ashley Furniture and Jack was taking a picture of a chair. We took pictures in all the stores because we were seeing so much that it is hard to remember from one to the next. Some little shitty salesman came over and got on to him and we left. We came very close to not coming back. The only reason we did is because they were open earlier than the other stores today and because we reasoned that it was just him. Granted today we got excellent service in that store... better than the other stores combined. I made sure to tell the manager about my service yesterday and to tell her what a good job the lady did today. But it's just one more issue that we had...
• We went to the Furniture Mart yesterday and walked thru the entire thing. I went upstairs and was looking at a trundle bed and asked the price. At these malls you can haggle a bit and get the pricing down. I told her that JC Penny had a bed very similar that was less and asked her if she could meet the price. JC Penny did have a bed we really liked - she got bitchy with me for telling her that her pricing wasn't low enough. COME ON its your job. WTF!

Overall though we are very happy with our purchases and the cost. I got most of my stuff at the Ashley Store and I believe we are going to love it. Glad we went back in.

We stayed at The Jamison hotel and the price was reasonable and it was clean. However, we booked it thru Expedia. When we first got there the stupid woman, who was apparently the assistant manager, and she couldn't figure out why we only had two reservations vs. three. It was extremely annoying. Glad Leo handled it vs. me = Super Bitch would have emerged.

Then this morning, check out was at 11. We get a call at 10:15 wanting to know if we had checked out yet. It was almost like we wer getting chased out of the room... I felt it to be very rude and I won't go back. So if you go to Hickory don't go to the Jamison

Just wanted to give you guys a review in case you want to go get some furniture. Have a good night guy!