We visited the new gigantic Jordan's Furniture in Reading,
Massachusetts. Wow, it's big, but lacking in most of the charm of the
other Jordan's stores.
I've been reasonably impressed with the other Jordan's stores, even
the large ones. They are famous for their low-pressure sales approach
and quirky stores. They'll have free coffee, cookies, and popcorn.
One of them has a motion movie ride. The new store has a 3-d IMAX
theatre, a "trapeze school", a brightly colored illuminated fountain,
a Jelly Bellies store and an ice cream stand. Plus, a great deal more.
Unfortunately, this has the net feeling of making it feel rather
extremely over-commercialized. It's not that the other stores are
non-commercial feeling; they are retail stores. The new one feels crass rather than quirky though.
To top it all off, despite their overwhelming size, their selection is
only somewhat better. We went looking for entertainment centers. If
you want an entertainment center 46" wide and 68" tall, with swing out
doors and drawers underneath, they have a wide range of styles and
appearances. You want a narrower one? Well, mostly not. One without
doors? No. A taller one with cabinets above? No. The uniformity of
choice in a smaller store is unsurprising. In a store this large it's
disappointing.
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