Did you successfully complete your main reason for visiting RetailMeNot today? What is your main reason for visiting RetailMeNot today? Thanks for your feedback, we are always working to make RetailMeNot a better site to save you money.Why won't my desk chair recline? May 6, 2008   Subscribe See detailed Costco customer service rankings, employee comments and much more from our sister site.In a win for consumers nationwide and our Mind the Store campaign, Ashley Furniture has announced a timeframe for banning toxic flame retardant chemicals in all of their furniture! This is a big victory as Ashley is the largest manufacturer and retailer of furniture in the country. This will have a huge impact in driving the furniture sector away from these harmful chemicals. The story broke in a terrific Chicago Tribune last Friday, after Ashley sent us this updated statement last week: “Ashley’s upholstered furniture is designed and labeled to comply with California’s TB 117-2013, and we are committed to designing our upholstered furniture with the goal of meeting the requirements of TB-117-2013 without the use of flame retardant chemicals. 

To that end, Ashley is pleased to announce that after working closely with our supply chain, upholstered furniture manufactured by or for us as of January 1, 2015, does not use flame retardant chemicals.    In addition, all our upholstered furniture, no matter where it is shipped in the US, includes a label that complies with the requirements of California’s SB-1019.” The company has told us this policy applies to all of their furniture, where flame retardants are also sometimes lurking.table and chair rental oahu We first wrote to Ashley back in November. table and chair rentals sarasotaIn January the Chicago Tribune revealed that Ashley was taking action on flame retardants, but wouldn’t say by when. wooden chair parts stretcher

So our coalition generated thousands of e-mails from concerned families coast to coast urging them to adopt a public timeframe for eliminating these unnecessary harmful chemicals. We applaud Ashley for doing what’s right for the health of our families and homes. Ashley Furniture is not only the largest manufacturer and retailer of furniture here in the US, but one of the biggest globally as well. They are a top-selling furniture store brand to retail partners in over 120 countries worldwide, and licenses its name to some 500 Ashley Furniture HomeStores. where to get donated wheelchair vanIn 2013, the company reported a whopping $3.85 billion in sales (!).bean bag chairs santa barbara See what this expert had to recently say about the impact their actions will have:herman miller chair sydney

“Bob Luedeka, executive director of the Polyurethane Foam Association, said that if industry leader Ashley follows other companies and stops using flame retardants, the chemicals ‘could be a thing of the past in residential furniture.’” What’s perhaps even more exciting is that Ashley is not alone.  This is a growing trend among the furniture retail sector as many other furniture retailers are also taking action on toxic flame retardants, which I’ve blogged about before.union jack chair cushion In January the Chicago Tribune reported that:chair floor mats costco “ Crate and Barrel, Room & Board, and Williams-Sonoma (Pottery Barn, West Elm) all say they have mostly eliminated the chemicals from their products. chair and ottoman sears

IKEA, La-Z-Boy, The Futon Shop, Scandinavian Designs and Wal-Mart also said they have told vendors to stop adding flame retardants to furniture.” Since the January Tribune story, Ethan Allen, Restoration Hardware, and Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams have all said their furniture is also now free of toxic flame retardant chemicals. They are also big market players. Restoration Hardware is the #13 largest furniture store in the US, with furniture sales of $890 million in 2012. And they are growing – their sales grew by 29% between 2011 and 2012. Ethan Allen is the #15 largest furniture store in the US, with furniture sales of $703.9 million in 2012. Those two retailers alone have combined furniture sales of over $1.5 billion. Big office furniture purchasers, like Facebook, Kaiser Permanente, Dignity Health, and Staples, have also signed a pledge to buy office furniture without toxic flame retardants. This comes at a time when states are taking action on these same chemicals, in the absence of real federal chemical reform.

Just last week legislation to restrict toxic flame retardants and get us off the toxic treadmill passed the Washington State House. So far, three big retailers have been surprisingly silent about their policies related to flame retardant chemicals: Target, Costco and Macy’s. They are also major retailers of furniture, the fifth, sixth and eighth largest nationwide respectively. If Ashley and other furniture retailers can do it, Target, Costco and Macy’s can and should as well. We are hopeful these and other big retailers of furniture will join this growing trend in driving the transition away from these polluting chemicals in furniture and other products. In the meantime, we can all breathe a sigh of relief that safer furniture can now be found at a store near you.Discounted Design: Here's How The Eames Lounger Ended Up At Costco (Image credit: Background image Tooykrub/Shutterstock) Turns out, there's more than just 36-roll packs of toilet paper and giant muffins at your local warehouse store.

We've recently discovered that you can also snag an authentic Eames Lounge chair at Costco, for quite a discount. Earlier this week, we were tipped off to the designer deal via a Facebook group for mid-century modern fans. The photo was of the iconic chair and its ottoman next to Herman Miller boxes stacked on pallets in the warehouse. The price for both pieces? (Image credit: Gil Gomez) Not exactly IKEA prices, but the lounger and ottoman set pictured here, in walnut veneer and black MCL leather, retails for $5,190 on DWR. If you think the mid-century staple ending up at a discount retailer is strange, well, so did we. I reached out to Herman Miller for comment, and here's what they had to say: Herman Miller has determined that Costco obtained the Eames Lounge Chairs and Ottomans in question through a company who misrepresented the intended use of the product. Although these particular chairs are Herman Miller goods produced at our Michigan manufacturing facilities, Costco is not an authorized Herman Miller retailer.

As of Wednesday, these were at the Palm Desert Costco, and could still be in your local store, though the item has since been removed from Costco's website (and is also no longer available on Sam's Club, where it was priced at $3,999). A request for comment from Costco's buyers hasn't been answered as of press time, but we will update if we hear anything. The product does at least appear to be authentic, however. Online reviews noted—before the SKU was removed— that the sets came with certificates of authenticity. And Herman Miller more or less confirmed that "[i]n this specific instance, we are not aware of any changes made to the design or quality of the Eames Lounge Chairs and Ottomans that Costco has obtained." But followed it up with this caveat: "However, Herman Miller cannot guarantee the condition or authenticity of the components used by unauthorized retailers or guarantee coverage for products purchased through Costco." Though we respect the practice of having authorized retailers, if you think about it, the Eameses always meant for their designs to be accessible.