Mill Stores — Local services in Dennis

The Mill Store does not want it falling standards known, and strongly denies they have fallen in just the last three years.

Three years ago we bought, and they built 4 36” X 84” beautiful birch bookcases and delivered them in great shape.

We recently ordered two smaller bookcase made from the same birch wood, only now it states it is plywood with a veneer. Also they still show bead board as the backing in the pictures of this product. Several days after ordering them we get a call, which do you want bead board or plywood. Bead board will now cost $100 per bookcase extra. The price was high enough already so we chose plywood.

The bookcases were delivered a few days ago to our GREAT DISMAY they appear to have been made with different woods, the sides of which look grey, not the beautiful birch of the earlier bookcase. I accepted delivery after deciding to call the company to see what went wrong. The sales people were great. It was the owner that called back that was not so great. The salesman asked that I send pictures, which I did, including the side where there is a big knot showing in so called “finish” grade plywood- outrageous!

The owner swore up and down that the bookcases we just bought were made exactly like our earlier ones, which they are not. They look sort of like Frankenstein’s monster, built from whatever odd pieces of wood they could pull together to keep their costs down. He did offer to take them back or, refund the cost of the finish that we chose, just a plain clear finish. We took the refund because we had them built to fit exactly where we need them, and to expect anything better from The Mill Stores is a pipe dream. We will have to paint them ourselves which is pretty sad considering the price we paid for them.

If you don’t mind odd pieces or wood slapped together, making it so that every direction you look at your “birch” furniture, you see different color wood, and that they now use nails to hold the facia, or front pieces on, and used a filler that does not match the color of the wood (so you end up with several light dots all along the front), and don’t mind the owner being a bit rude when you try to explain the differences between the new furniture and the product they built three years earlier, go ahead and buy their products.

I’ve added the photos with one showing the taller bookcases from three years earlier. Quite...

The positive - we got exactly what we were looking for (dressers and the under bed storage unit) delivered quickly by friendly fellows. One of the guys pointed out two splits to me should I not want the unit. The price is very fair for what you are getting. The dressers are kits from Vietnam assembled here. The wood is some unknown hardwood of short pieces glued up to make the components. I intend to paint them so this was fine by me but others may not like the look.nThe under bed unit appears to be constructed here using local pine. The dressers require very little preparation for whatever finish you want to use. The not so positive - I purchased the same type of dresser in 2016 so I could compare to the new version. Materials are about the same but drawer slides have been downgraded (and are a p.i.t.a.), drawer construction has also been downgraded no doubt for speed of assembly in Vietnam. The fit and finish of the underbed unit was not great. I used to make furniture like this and loved pocket screws but you really need to clamp parts together before using the screws. Components did not meet well, the base board was a full 1/8" off from the end pieces on one side. Routed components for the top edges was a bit rough and the boards did not meet well requiring sanding to have them look acceptable. Most people wouldn't notice but I did. The quality of the pine for some components that are not seen is common grade with huge knots. Sanding is required of the pine as this is unfinished product. They have done the basic sanding but you will need to do more if you want it to look good and use a sealer if you want it to look good. So, overall, great service, fair price, quality of locally made product needs some attention but is acceptable. Overall, this is a very affordable alternative which you will need to put some sweat equity into. Don't believe me...go up the road to the nearby furniture store! Back...

We went to mill store in Dennis Ma. to buy unfinished 24 inch stools on tax free weekend. Items marked on sale for $66.99. However we found some marked at $39.99. Guy was nice enough to take 20 percent off. I argued for sticker price. Another worker said you want my job? We found same thing with 30 inch stools as sale price exceeds sticker price. I asked did you mark them up for weekend? He assured me not. Later I checked website and indeed IT IS the lower price. Looked like price gouging...