DeVries

Two five-​star shopping experiences in one day, both with new retailers that I never even knew existed!
One of the great unsolved mysteries of the universe is why good quality patio furniture costs so goddamn much. Oh sure, you can go to Wal-​Mart or Home Depot and pick up a fairly decent set that might last a summer or two before it starts to fall apart. That’s basically what I’ve always owned and I was never any worse off for it. After a few beers, you don’t even see the rust and the chips and the dings and scratches. But truth be told, my wife and I wanted to upgrade to something nice, and had been toying with investing in a good set of patio furniture for the last two years.
This week we finally pulled the trigger.
Now this of course did not mean I wasn’t going in search of a good deal. Places like Restoration Hardware are still way too out of reach for my budget, even though I do love everything they sell. Looking for something a little more in the middle of the price range, we first explored the Fortunoff Outdoor Store in Menlo Park and Patio World in Lawrenceville. We ruled out Fortunoff after talking to people who dropped big coin there only to have their patio furniture fall apart after one summer. The Patio World experience was much better. We spoke to a nice woman who didn’t give us any high pressure sales treatment, and who priced out a nice dining table set with umbrella and fire pit that was currently on sale.
However, seeing my check-​in there, Jeff B. told me I’d be smart to comparison shop over at DeVries in Somerset, having purchased from there before and having had a less than ideal experience shopping at Patio World in the past. And this, of course, is the magic of Unilocal in action. DeVries didn’t even exist in the Unilocal database, but lo and behold I found it on Google Maps and immediately headed north to check it out.
We arrived about 25 minutes later and immediately began touring two showrooms worth of outdoor patio furniture, all on sale, with really excellent deals on items taken right off the floor. Even with the discounts, the pricing was still comparable to other furniture we saw at Patio World. Among the complaints I had read about Patio World were people angry that their furniture took weeks, if not months, to deliver. Thus, there was a real advantage to purchasing at DeVries since I’d be buying merchandise right off the floor which was ready to go.
So happy were we that we got such a good deal on a new 11′ umbrella and table and chairs set for the deck that we even sprung for an outdoor couch for our lower patio. No, it wasn’t cheap. But everything we bought is backed by an 11-​year warranty, and came out to almost 60% off the original retail price. And given how many decades DeVries has apparently been in business, we felt it was worth the investment to take our backyard to the next level.
Note that DeVries offers 6 months of 0% financing through GE Capital if you don’t want to plunk down all your money at once — something that Patio World did not offer. And to boot, DeVries offered to hold on to all of our furniture until we are ready for delivery. Asked if they could hold it all long enough to ensure that the long winter and snow was definitely past us, they told us «no problem, just give us 5 days notice and you can have it whenever you want.» That’s really awesome.
Whether or not our investment pays off and the furniture truly holds up against the elements will remain to be seen. But if you are looking to upgrade your patio and walk away feeling like you got good value for your money, definitely take a ride over to DeVries and check them out.