10 years ago I ordered a new contemporary br & dr set from Furnitureland South and saved about 7K over local price. Also ordered sunroom furniture from another place and saved over 1K. Everything came in ontime and perfect.

2 years ago we built a new home and ordered almost a whole house of new furniture from NC & SC. Ordered the majority from Elite in SC.. excellent service.. but also used Boyles, and Beachers. The only problem I had was a major backorder on a vanity from Ambella.. not the distributors fault.

As a small business owner I would rather buy local, even if I had to pay a little more.. I would.. but on this last major purchase(2 BR sets, 2 leather FR couches, Marge Carson Dining room, Kitchen table, chairs, barstools, desk for office, bath vanity.. ++ misc other) I saved easily 15K over buying local...

I have never heard of Grindstaff.. but I haven't been looking for furniture lately.. Boyles has been around forever.. also check Elite in SC prices.. my last round of shopping they had the best prices over Boyles and FLS.

Good Luck!

I don't know about the companies mentioned above, but:

15 years ago I bought a fantastic Frederic Edwards sofa through a company called Turner Tolson. I paid half price. Today, I don't think FE is even around any more, but when I told a designer I was thinking of buying new sofas, she said that, with fabric, a sofa of equivalent quality today would come in around $10,000. I paid $1500, originally.

Great deal, right?

Well, then I wanted an ottoman, and put down a deposit. After cashing our check, Turner Tolson declared bankruptcy, and we never got our money back. We had to pay full retail for the ottoman, plus the cost of our deposit.

So personally, I'd never do it again.

The companies you're dealing with may be different, but that's my experience.

I don't know about the companies mentioned above, but:

15 years ago I bought a fantastic Frederic Edwards sofa through a company called Turner Tolson. I paid half price. Today, I don't think FE is even around any more, but when I told a designer I was thinking of buying new sofas, she said that, with fabric, a sofa of equivalent quality today would come in around $10,000. I paid $1500, originally.

Great deal, right?

Well, then I wanted an ottoman, and put down a deposit. After cashing our check, Turner Tolson declared bankruptcy, and we never got our money back. We had to pay full retail for the ottoman, plus the cost of our deposit.

So personally, I'd never do it again.

The companies you're dealing with may be different, but that's my experience.

I am a retailer that also ships nationwide and the one thing that I would tell you is to make sure they have a showroom. You want to make sure they have an investment in their community and will not be gone after you give them your deposit. There are a lot of companies out there that will setup a website and rent office space. They never touch the furniture and most of their employees no little more than what you are able to let by looking at the websites. I would rather everyone buy locally; however not all retailers are willing to be competitive and they will lose sales because of that. We will meet or beat any price that is brought to us by or local customers or otherwise. If the local store is not willing to meet the delivered price that you are getting then take your business to some one who is not so interested in making all their profits from one customer.