Green Front Furniture — Local services in Farmville

Over the years I have loved Greenfront, have furnished 4 homes from those massive warehouses, in the past about 30 years. My current home is filled with Theodore Alexander furniture, all purchased from Greenfront at a fraction of the suggested retail prices. I haven't been there in several years, but can say that whenever I went, Greenfront was the same, gorgeous furniture that always had me longing for a larger home and amazing prices. One of my dining tables I saw online for $4,200 from Marie Albert. Greenfront was discontinuing that line and I paid $399. The selection was always mid to high end, and many different styles, Traditional, Moderne , Quirky, French Country, English manor, you name the style, they had it. Well Greenfront has changed and not for the better. In fact the change is shocking. Now it is building after building of contemporary furniture, in fact I would say 90% of what you will see is contemporary with little else mixed in. What I did see of manufacturers like Theodore Alexander, seemed to be pieces left over from years ago. I like traditional furnishings and the "fancy" stuff, most of what I saw just looked like Arhaus or Restoration Hardware. I use to go to Greenfront because it was not those stores. Forgot fantastic fabrics, mainly I saw neutrals. I saw a few interesting pieces, but did they have to do all the building in the same style of furniture ? And what happened to the selection ? For decades that place was packed. Not anymore. I am not the only one who noticed, in fact I had just entered my first building of the day ( I hit them all ) when I heard a couple ask a saleslady about this new look. I believe, if I heard correctly, that someone new has taken over and went through the buildings, giving the place a new look, out with the old. In my opinion , it doesn't work. The variety is gone. Greenfront always had contemporary, now it seems to be all they have. Maybe it's an age thing, I am 63 and while I like some contemporary pieces, I could not furnish my home from the Greenfront of today. About 7 years ago I spent $8,000 in one day there, today I spent $99 on an old Maitland-Smith piece that was still sitting in a building where I last saw it several years ago. Dear Whoever is now running Greenfront, variety is the spice of life, and we all don't have the same tastes. Your new...

I used to love shopping in all the Green Front buildings and picking up small items we could transport home ourselves on the same day (or schedule to come back to pick them up). We finally placed an order for 2 huge, beautiful cabinets made by Gabby for our home office. We ordered on February 7th both an onsite cabinet and one that had to be ordered to match and chose to have both delivered once the new cabinet was available. The onsite cabinet needed paint touchups and fixing a cabinet door that was not opening smoothly, which they assured us would be completed prior to arrival. The new cabinet arrived in about a month and delivery was scheduled for March 14th. When they delivered the cabinets, the floor model still needed additional paint touchup and the doors were still not opening smoothly. The new cabinet arrived with a broken foot and had to be taken back to the warehouse. I heard from Jessica Ginetz, Customer Experience Returns Specialist, the next day on March 15th. She let me know that they would re-order the new cabinet and schedule with a local repairman to fix the floor model that still needed repairs. When the repairman arrived on March 27th, he was not advised of the needs regarding the cabinet doors and was not able to make repairs. It is now April 10th and I am still waiting on a delivery estimate for the new cabinet and a delivery estimate for the hinges that are needed for the floor model cabinet doors - at which time I have to call the repairman and schedule his return. The last I heard from Green Front was that they would contact me on April 1st to give me a delivery estimate. I expect more when spending nearly $10,000 on furniture. It's over 2 months since we ordered and we have a broken cabinet that cannot be used and missing the second cabinet. One positive, the delivery personnel were very courteous and capable. As a comparison, I ordered a couch from Value City Furniture (~$500) that was damaged in delivery on March 25th and I received the replacement today on April 10th - replacement was smooth and easy, despite being a discount...

Let me start by giving context. I am 32 now - was introduced to GFF by my grandmother and parents, maybe 20 years ago. Back then, the salesmen in buildings 8 and 9 knew my grandmother by name. She does A LOT of shopping LOL. You often would find Dickie Crallé (the original owner) walking around and talking to customers. There was that perfect blend of customer service, kindness, and knowing when and how to help customers. It's one BIG thing that kept generations of our family coming back year after year.

As time moves forward, things change, and change is expected. As someone "younger" (or at least I still consider myself to be young), I understand appealing to younger clients (more coastal, bohemian, farmhouse, mid-century modern, and modern furniture offerings). BUT, I am a bit bummed that when my parents and grandmother (though with age she doesn't come as often) come to GFF now, they aren't able to find as many options as they had before. Buildings that were dedicated to traditional, transitional, and craftsman styles are far and few between. GFF strives to sell itself as family business, but by targeting a very specific client (by the shift in limiting the styles of furniture available) you're turning away those older clients that used to come back year after year.

There's also been a shift in the "home town" feel and customer service. Coming from a city area, it's nice to come to a small town and just walk around and enjoy the quaint feel. While I would not say I've had any bad or unfriendly interactions, it does feel like "clients who spend more money get more attention" (but this is NOT across the board and in every building). I personally like being left alone unless I need something, BUT people don't walk around to just say hello and kind of "be kind" like they used too.

You know, I personally could care less about the blog post and seeing Den Crallé on every post. I do have great pieces in my home from GFF with no complaints on the quality or delivery. But this is more of a "cultural" shift I guess, and I miss...