I have been in there several times over the past year but have never bought. There is a feeling of arrogance in the sales people. Check out Ambiente Furniture. I have bought from them and they have always been very friendly and will to negotiate on price.

As the manager of Nowell's I can assure Jason that we will always give our customers the very best price - for equal product and services. We always have, always will. That's how one stays in business for over 100 years. Slamming a business to get back at them because we would not match a price found on e-Bay is certainly your prerogative. We will always give our customers the best apples to apples deal.

I'm in the market for some new furniture and found this discussion while researching some businesses on line.
I understand that there are two sides to everything, however, I am pretty shocked that a store could be so rude to anyone. Obviously, Jason won't be shopping at Nowell's. So be it. Mr. Rychel's response was very condescending and just not needed. Even his response came off as arrogant. Being he says he is the manager, I would think it safe to assume that, that is the feeling of his sales staff. I will definetly not be paying a visit to Nowell's, and will try Ambiente as recommened by Andrew. I know that seems a bit ignorant never having stepped into Nowell's. But a response like that from a manager is enough for me to mark them off of my list.

Thank you for your comments, Jason.

Mea culpa. You're right, we do owe you and Holly an apology for our clumsy handling of this situation. I will return to this, below; but first, I must reafirm that I stand solidly behind our manager on questions of fact. It is true that Nowell's offers much more than you'll ever get from a "virtual retailer." Online "stores" may be able to sell at rock bottom prices, but they can only afford to do this because of cost savings asociated with a sharply diminished level of service. This is not to disparage such firms, but simply to acknowledge the truth of how online differs from the traditional modes of furniture distribution. They are distinctly different business models, each with pros and cons.

Local "brick and mortar" stores (Nowell's and its friendly competitors such as Beyond Blue, Ambiente etc.) offer a much higher level of service than out-of-state, online furniture retailers possibly can. And our prices necessarily reflect this fact. As my college economics professor was fond of saying, "there is no such thing as a free lunch."

If price is one's only concern, the internet is hands down the best way to go. But if you want quality goods, exemplary service, the security of buying from an established entity with roots in the community, then you're better off patronizing locally-owned businesses that have an actual physical presence in the Triangle. This is the case not just with furniture, but other goods as well.

True, you will probably pay a slight premium by shopping at local "brick and mortar" stores; anyone who says otherwise is being less than truthful. The question is, do you get sufficient additional value to make it worth the extra expense? Personally, I think the answer is yes, and I put my hard-earned money where my mouth is by shopping with local, independently-owned businesses, whenever possible.

Back to the issue at hand: it is obvious from Lee's e-mail, reprinted above, that he was frustrated. (I must note that the decision to reprint the entire email, rather than excerpting only the passages that you found most bothersome, shows an admirable sense of fairness, Jason, for which I thank you). Lee's frustration is understandable. He and your sales assiciate, Denise, worked long and hard last Sunday to help you determine exactly which bedroom group would best suit your needs. And they evidently succeded in doing so -- their hard work paid off, to everyone's benefit.

So, as you might imagine, asking Lee to reduce our prices on the basis of those offered by a bare-bones, low-price and coorespondingly low-service virtual retailer, was discouraging. Any of us, in his shoes, would have probably felt the same. Nonetheless, I'm sure we can all agree that it was not helpful to let this frustration, no matter how understandable, alter the tone of our communication with you. Lee and I both recognize this, and we regret that it wasn't handled with more aplomb. On the bright side, we offer this as incontrovertable evidence that Nowell's employs actual human beings, capable of making mistakes. We are also ready, willing and able to learn from our mistakes.

On behalf of all of us at Nowell's, Holly and Jason, please accept my sincere apology.

This brings me to the comments from Andrew and Stewart.

In order to learn where we have opportunities for improvement, I spend a great deal of time and energy soliciting feedback from those who shop with us. We serve several thousand customers a year, so I've heard everything you can think of, good and bad, at least once. The observation that our sales staff evokes a "feeling of arrogance" is not even in the top 20 or 30 comments that I've heard from our actual customers. I can't help but wonder if you might be getting us mixed up with some other store, Andrew. You mention the fact that we don't negotiate on price -- which is true, we don't. If that's the crux of the matter, please accept my apology if this makes us seem unfriendly or arrogant. It is actually quite the opposite. We don't believe that artificially inflating prices so that that can then be negotiated back down to what the prices SHOULD have been to begin is being friendly. It is just dishonest.

Finally, Stewart, I very much regret that you've decided to "mark us off your list" because of this situation.

Here's what we have going for us: We're the oldest independently owned furniture store in NC -- among the oldest in the United States; the first all contemporary furniture store in NC; named one of the 100 best small businesses in NC by Business Leader Magizine; recipient of countless "Best in the Triangle" awards, extending from the 1970s when local publications first started giving such awards (before any of our current competitors even existed)up to the present; we have hundreds of thousands of satisfied customers over the course of our 105 years in business; an excellent selection of the finest contemporary furniture available (I would say THE finest in the area, but that might sound arrogant and so is best avoided, I think); a highly skilled staff of sales associates and designers; the very best warehouse and delivery staff a store-owner could hope to assemble; the management team of Joyce, Bob and Lee, with over 35 years of specialized furniture industry experience between them; our 5 year warranty and 100% satisfaction guarantee,(providing you work with one of our designers to make your furniture selections); One of our designers assists in the selection by doing an in-home design consultation, and you are disatisfied with the results, we will replace even custom ordered furniture until you ARE fully satisfied, or we'll give you a full refund if need be.

Cross us off the list if you feel you must.

If you've hung in there with me so far, thanks for allowing me to respond! I invite you, Andrew, Stewart, Holly and Jason, to visit Nowell's and give us (another) chance. If you call ahead, I'll treat you to lunch.

Jerry Nowell

Since I first read the comments comparing our sales staff at Nowell’s, unfavorably, with the sales staff of another local store, I’ve been wrestling with an uneasy feeling. What puzzles me is this: First, even when I actively solicit constructive criticism from our customers (which I do constantly so that I can learn where we have opportunities to improve), “arrogance” is not a complaint that I hear. Second, there’s a fair amount of cross pollination between Nowell’s and Ambiente, and many more similarities than differences between our sales people.

We do approach many things differently, and our mix of merchandise is not the same, but both our stores have well-earned reputations for high quality goods and services. And we are both mainstays of contemporary home furnishings and design in the Triangle (Nowell’s has been at it longer than anyone else, but Ambiente has the second longest tenure in the area). This is a specialty niche, however, and the pool of top quality people who specialize in contemporary design and sales is limited. As a result, over the years, we’ve had sales staff work at one store, and then – when they felt it was time for a change, for whatever reason – the other. Jessica, who is currently at Nowell’s, used to work at Ambiente; Bebhinn, who now works for Ambiente, got her start in the furniture business at Nowell’s 7 or 8 years ago. She was not arrogant when she worked here, and she isn’t arrogant now. By all accounts, she does a great job for Ambiente and its customers. Likewise, Jessica does a great job for Nowell’s and our customers, and she does so without a trace of arrogance. I’m certain she wasn’t arrogant when she worked at Ambiente, either.

When I read these comments from Andrew and Stewart – since they both say something negative about Nowell’s and then immediately suggest that Ambiente is the solution – I cannot help but wonder if they really are legitimate customer comments. To be honest, I’d be willing to bet that both were written either by an overzealous Ambiente employee or someone who is friends with one of their employees and believes (falsely) that he/she is doing the store a favor by posting a fake review of Nowell’s.

Let me be very clear about this: I am NOT accusing Ambiente of posting bogus reviews. I've known Andre, the owner of Ambiente, for decades, and can say without reservation that he is a man of integrity. He and I actually discussed this very topic a few months ago, and I’m confident that he wouldn’t plant a fake review of Nowell’s himself, nor would he condone it if he knew that any of his employees did. But unlike Jason’s post – which is a legitimate review by an actual shopper who has no personal ties to us or, to the best of my knowledge, any other local furniture store – neither Andrew’s nor Stewart’s reviews quite “ring true,” do they?

Which brings me to this broader issue: When I search for Nowell’s online, I find perhaps a dozen reviews in various places. Most are positive, a few are not. But what truly amazes me is this: We’ve served over 15,000 people in the last six years, and during that time, only about a dozen have posted anything about us at all, good, bad or indifferent. Further, online reviews are anonymous: anyone can say anything they want and not be held accountable, making it an excellent venue for someone with a grudge against a business (whether for good reason or not); it is also an easy means for someone with a personal tie to a particular business to plant fake reviews, both positive and negative, as a form of guerilla marketing. Anonymous online reviews are interesting, and sometimes thought-provoking, but I'm not convinced that they really tell us much about the actual quality of a particular business.

So, if you are a friend of mine (or fan of Nowell's -- and who isn't?), and you want to help out, please feel free to say nice things about us to others, post a glowing review online, join our Facebook Fan Page, buy something from us, or all of the above, but -- while we appreciate the sentiment -- please don't try to do us a favor by posting untrue things about other stores. It hurts everyone with an interest in local business and consumer advocacy. Such fake reviews only weaken the credibility of sites like this, sharply reducing their value to anyone who might want to use them as intended.

Jerry,

Thank you very much for the apology.

It concerns me though that even after numerous emails back and fourth with you, you refused to apologize for your manager's actions. In fact, you actually sounded like you were condoning it and in what we feel was a similar tone to your manager's. Only until this was posted publicly did you decided to apologize.

I don't know who Andrew and Stewart are but based off of what you said, I doubt they have anything to do with Ambiente. I also think this because I have personally heard from a number of people that they have experienced the same type of attitude from your store (and no, it's not confused with some other store). In fact, when telling this story to others I think we've pretty much just gotten the following types of responses: A. I'm never going there. -or- B. They've been that way to me too.

The bottom line is that you're now being told a lot of people have been mistreated in your store. Please don't ignore this. It doesn't matter what you think about it or how you want to defend yourself or play it off or act like we're all from some other competing camp that's doing guerilla marketing against you. We were just average, impartial customers that went furniture shopping one day and were very mistreated.

I recommend you have a good talk with your staff about how ALL of you are treating your customers.

You guys have very nice furniture and I would love to see you always remain in business. Thank you again for the apology but unfortunately we will no longer be shopping at your store.

My wife and I moved to Raleigh about 3 weeks ago and needed to get a new bed. I wanted to look at all of options (Latex, foam, etc.) and had a hard time finding a dealer in raleigh who sold and eco friendly latex bed to try. I found Nowell's furniture and we wnet over there to try the mattresses. Michael heloed us and spent a good deal f time explaining the latex products as well as offering us other options to look at and try. He also got us some quotes on a new dining room table aftr looking through their catalogs when we found some things we liked. We looked at 9 furniture stores in 1 day and Nowells was 1 of the best. they gave us accurate information and their prices on a latex mattress were comparable to what you get online. I got home today and my wife had me read the post that started this whole thing. We thought the mnagers post was funny and showed sense of humor abou the issue. I am sorry as I am sure he was that it was recieved so badly by Jason and some other people. We went back over there fter reading the post and review. I understand that they are not the least expensive furniture place in town. You are getting what you pay for however which to me (an amature furnitre shopper) seems reasonable. Knowlwdgeable sales people who were patient and not overwhelming and encouraged to stay and lay on the mattresesas long as possible and even to walk on them to see how the supported us with your weight concentrated and there were differences in how they felt which did help us male up our minds. Spending $3000+ on a mattress is a new experience for me but I am comfortable that I got a good value for my hard earned money. I did speak with the manager Leland while we were there and he was very helpful and nice and concerned that we made the right choice for us. He was understanding that we needed to make sure we got a mattress that ould last 15 - 20 years. It was reassuring that we bought from a business that has been a local fixture for over 100 years and says that it can't compete with ebay prices and warns you that you don't know what you are getting. I believe supporting a local busines that helps provide jobs to local people is a good thing, and i understand the busness that they need to make money at their job from the owner to the delivery guys and they all have bills to pay just like we do. I am not affiliated with any furniture business nor a friend / fmil member or paid "blogger", this is the first time I have ever posted review online. I found Nowells to be a good value. I would recommend it to people even if you don't ant "modern" furniture which is mostly what they sell the and the Latex matress there is sooooo comfy, m wife and I lov it. You should check it out.

I had a pretty bad experience with Nowell, too. I bought some furniture, but it was not the right fit with my layout. I assumed I could just return it, but Leland (the owner) said they don't offer returns. He picked it up, and tried to force it back into my car. My kids were traumatized, and I was humiliated. When I locked the doors of my car, Leland used the furniture to block me from backing up my vehicle, and then he stood there taking pictures of the whole thing.

I think the response from Mr. Nowell is reasonable and responsible. That does not deminish the damage Mr. Rychel's initial response to the Nowell's Furniture reputation. Customer service is the edge local businesses need to compete with larger discounters which rely on price-point strategy. Customer service begins with professionalism. Professionalism begins with training employees and establishing expectations prior to situations Jason experienced.
Salespeople worry about sales, sales managers worry about customers. Which does Mr. Rychel worry about?