Office Chairs Inc. was founded about four decades ago.  From the beginning, their goal was to manufacturer quality products of great value with low lead times.  Over those decades,their business has grown and they now have over 60,000 square feet of manufacturing space in Santa Fe Springs, CA.  And like all Church Furniture Guy endorsed manufacturers, they stand behind all their products with the goal of 100% customer satisfaction.

Office Chair Inc.’s product line consists of Executive, Conference, Task, Reception, Guest and Soft Seating.  They have relationships with some of leading fabric manufacturers such as Momentum Textiles, C.F. Stinson, and Culp .  These relationships result in some of the shortest lead times in the industry for custom upholstered seating.

For today’s churches, Office Chair Inc. has positioned itself well as a mid-market manufacturer.  Their entire line is available at great savings to churches through Save Your Church Money.  Please be sure and contact SYCM for all of your church seating needs.

Churches will inevitably purchase one of four categories or “levels” of furnishings.  Most of the time, the primary determiner of which  level they will purchase is budget.  Churches need to be good stewards of their resources.  Overspending for church furniture is NOT good stewardship.  Understanding the different levels of church furnishings can assist the practice of good stewardship.

• Church Furniture Category #1 is JUNK! I know “Junk” is not a very sophisticated term, but it accurately describes a level of church furnishings unfortunately.  There’s a lot of furniture on the market that simply does not belong in any sort of church/commercial setting.  But as stated above, low pricing can be especially attractive to churches.   While I cannot list here all the church furniture that I place in this first category, I’m always glad to entertain your questions about what you’re considering.  Just contact me with your questions.
• Church Furniture Category #2 is VALUE! This is the most purchased level of church furniture.  By “Value” I mean furniture that is well built, but its construction is pretty basic.  Comparably inexpensive materials like steel, poly and wood are used in the manufacturing process.  The design and lines of the furnishings are somewhat simple and plain.  And the number of options and amount of customization that can be added is minimal.
• Church Furniture Category #3 is Mid-Market! I use the term “Mid-Market” to describe church furniture that does not use high-end exotic construction materials, but offers a substantial ranges of upgrades, options and customization.  In addition, the level of styling moves from somewhat simple and basic to classy and stylish.  I have identified several mid-market manufacturers over the years that I especially love to tell churches about.
• Church Furniture Category #4 is Design! I use the term “Design” to describe a level of furnishings that only a few churches are able to consider because of cost.  With this level you may pay extra because of who the furniture was designed by.  Materials that have only recently been invented may be used in the construction which will add to the cost.  And almost every fabric or option on the market is available on this level.

Please note that Save Your Church Money takes great satisfaction in being able to generally move churches one step higher in category, for essentially the same dollars you would pay for the next level down.  As you consider church furnishings, they are consistently a source for great product at great prices.

Several years ago we started Save Your Church Money.com with a very similar set of core operating principles. The result has been the opportunity to save churches a tremendous amount of dollars on church furniture that has then been able to be funneled into ministry. As I dialogued with Derrick, and then later read through his entire website, I can easily envision him doing the same for the Kingdom in the years ahead. I’m looking forward to watching Housetop Media’s ministry develop!

Over the years that followed, I had the opportunity to attend several all-day conferences at this center.  I would sit in the main auditorium for hours at a time in the chairs they had purchased.  When I first sat down in one of these chairs, I immediately noticed how comfortable it was.  But what surprised me was how comfortable it was even after sitting in it all day.  I remember commenting on several occasions to staff members of the conference center how much I appreciated their choice of seating.  Like each of you, I had experienced many times at other venues discomfort after being seated for less than an hour.  Being comfortable on a chair after several hours of sitting certainly enhanced my experience at their events.

Several years ago we needed several hundred chairs for a similar environment at our church.  I decided early on we should purchase the same chair the conference center had purchased, one that was perfectly suited to the desired application.  I made the necessary inquiries and discovered the ELAN Series from Comfortek Seating.  My decision was confirmed early on when I learned the nickname for the ELAN is “The Eight Hour Chair”. That was seven years ago now, and we could not be more pleased with our decision. Several other churches have now made the decision to purchase this same chair after visiting New Hope and enjoying ours.

Since our purchase I have discovered several other manufacturers produce similar chairs to the ELAN from Comfortek Seating.  However, none carry the attractive pricing that Comfortek offers to the church community.  So from years of personal experience as a consumer, and now for the past few years as the Church Furniture Guy, the ELAN has been and continues to be my favorite church chair!  You can read about its attributes here.  And as always, feel free to contact me with questions and comments.

One more quick suggestion:  Be sure and connect with Save Your Church Money if you have interest in the ELAN or any other type of church seating.  Their expertise and pricing strategy is of great value to churches across our country.

What do I mean by a “Hybrid Approach”? As you might suspect, this is a strategy where the manufacturer both sells direct and markets their products through a dealer network.  But how are they able to motivate dealers to distribute their products when they’re in a sense competing with these dealers by selling direct?  It would seem that no dealer would advance the products of a manufacturer doing so.

Well, the reason dealers are willing to do so is summed up in one phrase, “two-tiered pricing”.  Suppose our manufacturer makes church seating that they sell for $75 a chair to churches direct.  The church believes they’re getting the best price possible on their worship seating because they’re purchasing direct from the manufacturer.  But what the church does not realize is dealers for our manufacturer can purchase the same chair for $65 a chair which leaves room for the dealer to mark the chairs up a few dollars and still save churches some money.  The idea that a third party (our dealer) could be added to the sale of the chairs from the manufacturer to the church and still produce savings defies logic, yet it happens every day.

I encourage you to always check with low overhead dealers such as Save Your Church Money before purchasing.  You may be surprised at the savings your church may realize!

Our church furnishing manufacturer can decide they’re going to utilize a “Dealer Network”.  In other words, churches across the country can still call the manufacturer and even learn about their products, but when it comes time to purchase those products, the church will be referred to a “dealer” who distributes that manufacturer’s products.  How does this approach impact churches?  Here are some thoughts:

• Dealers will represent several or even dozens of manufacturers.  The ability to be as well-informed about each manufacturer’s products as a manufacturer is about their own, is certainly more difficult.  Some dealers do this well, many do not, but most of the time can obtain the information the church needs.  However, remember that you can still call the manufacturer for specific information.
• Most dealers do not “stock” many products.  When an order is placed with a dealer, the dealer in turn places an order with the manufacturer and the items are shipped from the manufacturer to the end church user.   The dealer becomes the portal for the products, even though they may have never seen them first-hand.
• The above reasons may sound like “negatives” for the dealer approach, and they are in some cases.  But the great advantage that a dealer network offers churches across the country is the possibility of substantial dollar savings!  Manufacturers with dealer networks do not invest great dollars into the marketing of their products.  They count on their dealer network to market their products.  So if the manufacturer operates with lower overhead costs, and they have dealers who stress low overhead and efficient operations, the savings for churches can be substantial.  The key is to determine which dealers can really Save Your Church Money!  Some will, and some will not.  I encourage you to be sure and check out Save Your Church Money as they’re a dealer who will definitely do just that, save your church money.