I had an earlier post about the best time of the year to get a stove, and couldn't take it any longer. Time to go see what I have been reading about, feel the door handles, talk to the experts, kick the tires......
I read everything here (THANKS TO YOU ALL!) and looked on line at the manufacturer sites. Found the dealers I wanted to see and mapped my road trip. Total milage was nearly 300 miles for this scouting trip.
Dealer #1: The only dealer I had previous experience with - sells and services chain saws, lawn mowers, etc. Good experiences. The stove shop was very nice. As I entered the second (although small) show room, I passed a sales rep talking to a couple and noticed how clearly he was explaining details to them. Also noticed that the couple was glued to his every word. Another sales rep came over to me, asked if I needed help, I explained my needs (replacing an old, small wood stove in the basement for general heating). We were near the Lopi Leyden and he showed me the stove, explained how it worked. A beautiful stove, it was a bit fancy for my needs, so off we went to look at a lower priced Avalon - a burning sample he had in the first room. He also showed me a non burning one so he could tear it apart to show me more details. He ended up showing me three stoves in my size range, with different prices ($1400 to $2100), explained about the Lopi/ Avalon promotion ($300 or $400 off till the end of February), gave me literature, showed me the smokestack outside, etc. "Stoves are in stock, just look things over and see what you think"
Dealer #2: Drove an hour and half to get here. I found this store on the Quadrajet web site, it was the one listed with trained technicians and burning displays. Walked up the the building marked "stove shop", but the door was locked, "go next door". Went in and there was one sales rep, who I think would have rather been in bed on a Saturday morning. They had three stoves, no Quadrajets. Looked at the Bucks, but nothing in my size. Nothing set up to burn. Nothing on sale. Really, nothing set up, very empty store. I noticed the "stove shop" was used for storage as I walked out the door. They did have several outdoor boilers, must have been their specialty.
Dealer #3: Prominent web page. They carry Hearthstone and Jotul, listed on their web sites. Found other references on the web, too. I had a map of the small city, been there several time before. But I could not find this store. The address just didn't work. I went "east", I went "west". Drove around for half hour. It is now 10:00, so I called. No answer. No answering machine. Waited 5minutes, probably stoking the fires. No answer. Waited another 5 minutes. No answer. Time to move on.
Pass by the Lowes I visited last week that had already cleared out all their stoves at 50% off. Nothing left.
Dealer #4. The big one. Carries Vermont Castings, Jotul, Thelin, Buck, Morso. "A display worth seeing". Apparently ships stoves all over the country. Can't wait! Found the place easy enough, nice building, walked up to the front door.... and it was locked. Confused, I backed away to look for another entrance, nothing else, and started to leave - then heard the lock. Walked in to a nice display. Lots of gas fireplaces. Lots of mantels. Due to cleaning, they didn't realize the time. IT WAS ALMOST TWO HOURS PAST THEIR OPENING TIME. Asked about the wood stoves, they were in the back area. I think they had 5. Nothing burning. One was a Pacific Energy, but not the right size (didn't know they handled these, I didn't do any research on them). One was an Alaskan, not bad. Three Summers Heat were there..... hmmm, wonder why that lowes sold out so fast? The little one was $150 more than what I could have bought the similar one for at Home Depot a week ago at their clearance. The person cleaning (sales rep? owner?) did not explain anything, just typical blah, blah the "these are good". Gave me a piece of literature dated from 2005, and I was on my way.
What I learned:
Yes - now is a good time to look for stoves, the good stores will have still burning examples, and have sale prices.
Yes - shop around, you learn more than just stove information, more than you can learn from a phone call.
No - don't believe what you see on the web, no matter how much you cross check it
No - manufacturers apparently don't keep tabs on their dealers or update their dealer lists through the year.
Busines Owners: stick to the basics: greet the customer in a pleasant way, open your door on time, answer your phone (or have a machine), have knowledge about what you sell. I was a potential buyer and only one store treated me that way.
Comfort: my number one dealer above is now really MY NUMBER ONE dealer! I will buy a stove from them, it will be a Lopi or Avalon. If I would have reversed my route, I would have bought a stove yesterday. I thought I was going to buy from Dealer #4, but never gonna happen.
I read everything here (THANKS TO YOU ALL!) and looked on line at the manufacturer sites. Found the dealers I wanted to see and mapped my road trip. Total milage was nearly 300 miles for this scouting trip.
Dealer #1: The only dealer I had previous experience with - sells and services chain saws, lawn mowers, etc. Good experiences. The stove shop was very nice. As I entered the second (although small) show room, I passed a sales rep talking to a couple and noticed how clearly he was explaining details to them. Also noticed that the couple was glued to his every word. Another sales rep came over to me, asked if I needed help, I explained my needs (replacing an old, small wood stove in the basement for general heating). We were near the Lopi Leyden and he showed me the stove, explained how it worked. A beautiful stove, it was a bit fancy for my needs, so off we went to look at a lower priced Avalon - a burning sample he had in the first room. He also showed me a non burning one so he could tear it apart to show me more details. He ended up showing me three stoves in my size range, with different prices ($1400 to $2100), explained about the Lopi/ Avalon promotion ($300 or $400 off till the end of February), gave me literature, showed me the smokestack outside, etc. "Stoves are in stock, just look things over and see what you think"
Dealer #2: Drove an hour and half to get here. I found this store on the Quadrajet web site, it was the one listed with trained technicians and burning displays. Walked up the the building marked "stove shop", but the door was locked, "go next door". Went in and there was one sales rep, who I think would have rather been in bed on a Saturday morning. They had three stoves, no Quadrajets. Looked at the Bucks, but nothing in my size. Nothing set up to burn. Nothing on sale. Really, nothing set up, very empty store. I noticed the "stove shop" was used for storage as I walked out the door. They did have several outdoor boilers, must have been their specialty.
Dealer #3: Prominent web page. They carry Hearthstone and Jotul, listed on their web sites. Found other references on the web, too. I had a map of the small city, been there several time before. But I could not find this store. The address just didn't work. I went "east", I went "west". Drove around for half hour. It is now 10:00, so I called. No answer. No answering machine. Waited 5minutes, probably stoking the fires. No answer. Waited another 5 minutes. No answer. Time to move on.
Pass by the Lowes I visited last week that had already cleared out all their stoves at 50% off. Nothing left.
Dealer #4. The big one. Carries Vermont Castings, Jotul, Thelin, Buck, Morso. "A display worth seeing". Apparently ships stoves all over the country. Can't wait! Found the place easy enough, nice building, walked up to the front door.... and it was locked. Confused, I backed away to look for another entrance, nothing else, and started to leave - then heard the lock. Walked in to a nice display. Lots of gas fireplaces. Lots of mantels. Due to cleaning, they didn't realize the time. IT WAS ALMOST TWO HOURS PAST THEIR OPENING TIME. Asked about the wood stoves, they were in the back area. I think they had 5. Nothing burning. One was a Pacific Energy, but not the right size (didn't know they handled these, I didn't do any research on them). One was an Alaskan, not bad. Three Summers Heat were there..... hmmm, wonder why that lowes sold out so fast? The little one was $150 more than what I could have bought the similar one for at Home Depot a week ago at their clearance. The person cleaning (sales rep? owner?) did not explain anything, just typical blah, blah the "these are good". Gave me a piece of literature dated from 2005, and I was on my way.
What I learned:
Yes - now is a good time to look for stoves, the good stores will have still burning examples, and have sale prices.
Yes - shop around, you learn more than just stove information, more than you can learn from a phone call.
No - don't believe what you see on the web, no matter how much you cross check it
No - manufacturers apparently don't keep tabs on their dealers or update their dealer lists through the year.
Busines Owners: stick to the basics: greet the customer in a pleasant way, open your door on time, answer your phone (or have a machine), have knowledge about what you sell. I was a potential buyer and only one store treated me that way.
Comfort: my number one dealer above is now really MY NUMBER ONE dealer! I will buy a stove from them, it will be a Lopi or Avalon. If I would have reversed my route, I would have bought a stove yesterday. I thought I was going to buy from Dealer #4, but never gonna happen.
