Not Made Of Money

We’ve needed a new dining room set for a while now, but were hesitant to spend the $1000 to $2000 we thought it would cost for a new one. Ideally, we also wanted a china cabinet to go with the dining room table but we thought that was out of the question due to the budget. We’ve been looking at Craigslist for a while now but have not found anything that is exactly what we wanted. We browsed some of the main furniture stores (too expensive), surfed around online, and even scanned Ebay without success. Last month the local Rooms To Go store was having an end-of-month sale so we figured we would go just to see what they had.

At the store we were excited to find two dining room sets that we agreed on. They were the size we needed (could fit up to eight chairs using the table leaf) and were made from the right wood color to match our kitchen cabinets. Even with the sale, the set was priced more than we were willing to spend. The table with six chairs was priced around $1200 after tax and delivery. The matching china cabinet with each set brought the price to around $1900 after tax and delivery fees. We wrote down all the information about the two sets including prices, model names and numbers, delivery fees, etc., thanked the sales clerk who had been helping us, and left the store.

After discussing the dining rooms sets a little bit, we got the idea to visit the local Rooms To Go Outlet in a neighboring city. This store sells the same furniture as Rooms to Go but contains only furniture that has scratches, dents and other minor issues. It is not set up as a fancy showroom but as a large open warehouse with furniture arranged by room (i.e. all bedroom sets together, all dining room sets together, etc.) and not by design or style. There are definitely no frills with the accent lighting or decorative accessories but the prices are great. We hadn’t been to the store in years so we weren’t sure what we were going to find, and we also weren’t certain how the kids were going to handle visiting another furniture showroom but we decided to give it a shot.

When we got to the outlet store we were amazed to see no less than fifteen of the exact same table and chair sets we had just seen at the main Rooms To Go store. The price of each set was half of what the same set in the main store was. Now some of the tables had a lot of damage to them (large scratches throughout or gashes on the table edges) but we had so many tables that we could go over with a fine tooth comb that it wasn’t very difficult to find a table that was acceptable to us. With the help of the kids looking over each table and pointing out any flaws, we chose a table that had one or two tiny scratches that were cosmetic only and could easily be fixed. The table looked great and the price was even better. The sales person allowed us to go throughout the showroom and choose the best six chairs to match the table we chose. We were able to find six that were in nearly perfect condition. Now comes the good part. We negotiated the salesperson down to $599 for the table, six side chairs and a matching china hutch/buffet. We had to pay sales tax and a $100 delivery fee, which brought the grand total to $749. That very same table with six chairs and matching buffet/hutch at the main Rooms To Go store would have cost us around $1900 after tax and delivery charges. We saved $1151 which wasn’t bad for a rainy Saturday afternoon.

So here is what we learned: Shop at the main store first to find out what you want, write down the make and model number and any other important details, and then bargain hunt at the outlet store to see if they have the same item for much much less.

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