A local store carries Massoud and Temple upholstered furniture. It looks very good and is expensive. However, I have never heard of either. The store is a good store and I have bought other things from them. Why would a store carry these brands in upholstered furniture, and not brands of comparable price such as Sherrill or Baker? What do you know about these brands? Thank you. S.F.

S. F.
This really is a good week for the furniture industry, so far your's is the second letter I've gotten asking about quality furniture. It is encouraging that you are agonizing over which of these fine brands to purchase.

I would put Massoud, Temple and Sherrill all in the same category. They use quality frames, quality spring (support) systems, quality fabrics, cushioning and tailoring. All of which mean a great product. I separate Baker for several reasons. (1) It should be a step up from the others (2) it is going to be a lot more expensive than the others. (3) someone comes in your house and says, "oooo. Beautiful sofa who made it?" You say, "Temple" and they go. "Hmmmm. Nice." But you say, "Baker" and people who know such things will say, "Niiiiiiiice." Now, whether it is worth the extra money to have people say, "Niiiiiiiiice." is up to you. (4) Baker controls their distribution much much tighter than the other four lines. That means you will find fewer dealers and fewer deals. There isn't much incentive to discount or aggressively price their products if the factory is regulating competition between dealers.

As to why your dealer doesn't carry all these lines - there is a significant investment required to be a dealer. It's like playing Monopoly, you can't own everything on the board, so you put your money where you think it will bring the best return