We have made two purchases from Stickley Audi in Natick over the past 10 years and just placed a third order. All in all, we have been very favorably impressed not only with the quality of the furniture but also with the woman we worked with each time (Robin). One of the things we respect most about Robin's approach is that she has never tried to "upsell" us on more expensive material, accessories, protection plans, or anything else. She certainly let us know what the options were, which we appreciated, but she never pushed. When we asked about structuring the timing of our purchase to benefit from what we think will be an upcoming sales tax free weekend in Massachusetts, she told us about a different way we could save even more money, even though we presume it would result in a smaller commission for her.
The first piece we got was a leather sleep sofa (with a super comfy air mattress). The sofa continues to be in amazing shape nearly 10 yrs later. The second piece was a stained oak harvest table and that is a beautifully constructed piece of furniture too, now about 8 yrs old. We just ordered a leather recliner chair to replace a set of very expensive Barcalounger recliners that we purchased at Bloomingdale's, which are now virtually worthless because the "leather" turned out to be "bicast leather," which is not actually real leather. Stickley, by the way, does not sell anything covered with bicast. For those with SAT withdrawal, "bicast" is to "leather" like "particle board" is to "wood." As a result, bicast cracks and peels even when well cared for, and there is absolutely nothing you can do to repair it.
Yes, Stickley does tend to be more expensive than many other furniture lines but as the old saying goes, you get what you pay for. Of course, if you buy a Stickley piece and keep it just for one or two years, you will probably feel like you paid a lot for your purchase. If you keep it for five years, you will still wind up with a top quality piece that holds up far better than the average and you'll know you got good value for money. If you keep it for 10, 20 or even more years (which you can expect assuming you take reasonably good care of your purchase), you will sleep soundly knowing you made a really smart purchase AND got a screaming good deal.
One last word about reading and interpreting Yelp reviews: I tend to look past individual and even average ratings to see what's beneath the surface. I am usually suspicious of (and ignore) restaurants or other establishments when they only have a few ratings and they are all 5-star reviews contributed by people for whom this is their first and only yelp review. It's fairly obvious, after all, when attempts are made to "game" the system - who doesn't have a few relatives, friends or people who owe them favors, or even fake new email addresses? Similarly, when you look at reviews for places like this one, you see a couple of 5-star reviews and a couple of 1-star ones. What's up with that? For an answer, take a look at the other reviews these people contributed. The frequency, pattern, and quality of these reviews can tell you a lot. If the "review pattern" for the two "one-star" people isn't readily apparent, feel free to contact me and I'll share my thoughts.
And BTW, I have zero personal connection with this place or anything else I review on Yelp. I've discovered such amazing restaurants and other places thanks to fellow yelpers, the least I could do is contribute back my share. Cheers and happy yelping to all! read more