Take advantage of 4th of July sales with good furniture companies
Although there are a lot of bad ones too...
Furniture. Something we all need, yet it feels like getting high quality furniture for a decent price is a fever dream. More Perfect Union investigated the causes behind furniture quality decline, but even if all new furniture is bad, there are some places you can shop at without feeling bad. Today I’m reviewing companies with in-store options, but I will have a follow-up post on online-only furniture retailers as well.
Local, Direct, and Non-Shopping Choices: If you have a local furniture store, definitely shop there! The customer service is likely to be better and why not support a local business, especially for more expensive items like furniture.
Direct: If you have a particular brand you like, search online to see if you can buy from them directly on their site, though in the furniture world this can be a bit harder.
Free/No Purchase: USE BUY NOTHING GROUPS for furniture! There are always tons of furniture options on there - both cheap and good quality, and if you need something specific you can always put in a request.
Thrifting/Alternate Options: Estate sales are an amazing way to find vintage furniture that may be higher quality than what’s being made today. You can use EstateSales.net and EstateSales.org to find one near you. Local thrift stores are also a great resource for items like tables, chairs, dressers, and potentially couches/etc depending on wear and tear.
Good Physical Store Options:
Room & Board: 100% employee-owned baby! They did not spend any money on lobbying in 2024 and of the $572K donated by their employees, only $75 went to Republicans and $961 to Independents. Room & Board is a certified B corp and they support DEI through their Belonging and Inclusion roadmap. In general, their designs are focused on modern styles with timeless details to last for years.
What they have: All home furniture, outdoor furniture, lighting, rugs, and home decor
Where to shop: You can shop in-store or online
CB2/Crate and Barrel: Owned by the Otto Group, a German retail conglomerate owned by the Otto family that founded the business in 1949. The Otto Group CEO, Alexander Berkin, reaffirmed the Otto Group’s support for DEI in February 2025. CB2 and Crate & Barrel both focus on modern but timeless design, though I would say CB2 has more funky and interesting options.
What they have: Both brands have home furniture, outdoor furniture, lighting, rugs, and home decor
Where to shop: Online and in-store at Crate & Barrel, CB2
Macy’s: Read the bedding post for a full breakdown.
What they have: Home furniture, outdoor furniture, rugs and mattresses
Where to shop: Online and in-store
Costco: Read the cleaning supplies post for a full breakdown.
What they have: Home furniture, outdoor furniture, rugs and mattresses
Where to shop: Online and in-store. Note: non-members can shop online but will need to pay a 5% surcharge on all listed prices.
Grey Area:
Pottery Barn/West Elm: Owned by Williams-Sonoma, which is publicly traded and its largest shareholders are institutional investors. I can’t find anything on their corporate site or within their open job descriptions related to diversity, they may have scrubbed their site after getting sued for their DEI practices in September 2024 by conservative groups. I can’t find anything reconfirming their commitment to DEI since then, which is particularly frustrating as they had very public support for DEI back in 2021. They also had to pay a record $3.1 million in penalties in April 2024 for falsely advertising products as “Made in the USA” when they were imported.
My thoughts: Why spend money on a company that doesn’t stand up for DEI when you can shop at Room & Board that does, and it’s 100% employee-owned?
0 out of 10, Would Not Recommend:
Wayfair and Ikea: Read the home organization post for a full breakdown.
Ashley Furniture: Family-owned and founded. They technically didn’t spend any money on lobbying in 2024. However, of the $683K donated by owners and emlpoyees, less than 1% was donated to Democrats in 2024. Ashley Furniture has had a ton of lawsuits against them, including class actions for deceptive pricing and a data breach where cybercriminals had access to customers’ driver license and banking information; they were sued when their “Party Time” line of loveseats and couches caught on fire and severely burned a veteran (which they later recalled). They also have had several discrimination based lawsuits based on their employment practices - race-based pay bias claims, paying $75K to settle a disability discrimination suit, settled with the Justice Department for firing an active duty National Guardsman, and others going back into the 2010s. Feels like you could start a whole law firm just based on suing Ashley Furniture for the blatant discrimination they have. The Wanek family, who founded and runs the company also contributed to former Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, so yeah, family owned doesn’t mean they’re good!
On top of all this, their customer service is terrible.
Bob’s Discount Furniture: Owned by private equity firm Bain Capital. Bain Capital is the same firm Mitt Romney founded if you remember or were around for that scandal. Bob’s Discount Furniture did not spend any money on lobbying in 2024, and employee contributions were only $7.5K. They do have a Diversity and Inclusion page on their website, but to be honest their content and commitments are pretty sparse.
In general, their customer service seems sketchy at best - there’s a whole Facebook group with 7.1K members dedicated to “Bob’s Discount Furniture Nightmares” and a class action lawsuit was filed against them for not honoring their “Goof Proof” warranty coverage.
World Market: Owned by private equity firm Kingswood Capital Management. World Market does not have a profile on OpenSecrets but Kingswood Capital Management individuals (owners, management, and employees) donated $8K in the last election, and $4K of that went to Harris’s campaign. Kingswood Capital Management is known for their nefarious deal making tactics, like trying to wring another $109 million out of the Save Mart purchasing deal in 2024. Basically, they agreed to all the numbers Save Mart put together, closed the deal, and then said “Hey wait, actually your accounting numbers don’t match up the way we’d like - we want more money.” World Market itself faces a new class action lawsuit filed in March 2025 accusing them of charging junk fees when consumers shop online. On World Market’s career page it technically says that they support diversity and inclusion, but don’t include any actual information on steps they take to bring that to life.
Pier One Imports: Owned by OMNI Retail Enterprises, which has barely any information on their corporate site beyond the fact that they own Pier 1, Dressbarn, and Bodybuilding.com. They do not have a clear DEI policy listed. While OMNI Retail Enterprises did not have a profile on OpenSecrets. For Pier 1 itself, no money was spent on lobbying and only $2.6K was donated by individuals from the company.
Restoration Hardware: Publicly traded with insiders holding 18% of the stock but majority held by institutional investors. Restoration Hardware did not spend any money on lobbying in 2024 and their individual contributions were only $2.7K. Their corporate site has zero information on any type of diversity and inclusion, and when you click on the “Our Culture” section it goes directly to Letters from the CEO page. I don’t think letters from the CEO really adequately explain an entire organization’s culture or what values you have, considering the last entry was about the wonders of stone versus AI 🙄
My thoughts: The CEO seems like a self-obsessed prick and they are way too expensive for the actual value of the product.
Big Lots: Went out of business in 2024 but was revived in early 2025 by Variety Wholesalers, who now own them. While Variety Wholesalers did not spend any money on lobbying in 2024, individuals from the organization (owners, management, employees) donated over $2.6 million to Republican candidates or organizations, with only $352 going to Democrat or liberal candidates and organizations. I’m guessing the owners/management donated the $1.2 million to Americans for Prosperity Action group, which supports candidates like Bernie Moreno who is trying to nominate Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize for his recent bombing campaign in Iran. Trump needs the shiny prize because he’s still butt-hurt Obama got one and he didn’t.
Raymour and Flanigan: Family-owned and founded from Syracuse, NY. Could not find a profile on OpenSecrets.org. They do not have any mention of DEI on their website. In 2020 the NY Post investigated and found that Raymour & Flanigan stores were re-opening illegally during COVID-19 lockdowns.
Was this helpful for you? Let me know in the comments and what you’d like me to tackle next. Next week I will be taking off for 4th of July, but I’ll be back again the following Friday.
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