Customer Reviews

South Shore Axess Collection 5-Shelf Bookcase, Black

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

A little advice for anyone looking to buy a bookcase. Go with a bookcase that is ALL WOOD. I bought this bookcase to replace my $20 Wal-Mart particle board bookcase which fell apart after a year and this bookcase is no better. It's PARTICLE BOARD! It didn't even survive shipping and it's not Fed Ex's fault... the box looks well treated. Opened it up however and the bookcase particle board is broke in half right where they drill for the screws. Bottom line, it's a very cheap bookcase. I'm going to suck it up and buy something which is all wood and will last. Don't forget... books are heavy! Especially when you have lots of them all together. These particle board cases are just not the right solution. You get what you pay for. I do not recommend this item... it will not last!

This book shelf was easy to assemble. Although I had a partner to help, I could have done it myself. It looks fabulous in my living room and is roomy enough to hold books and display pottery intermittently. My only complaint is that one of the side pieces came badly damaged and needed to be replaced. The side piece was not damaged in shipping and was obviously packaged that way from the warehouse. Customer service was lovely and sent a replacement, but I had to wait about 2 wks for it to arrive. Overall - great deal in spite of that.

I spent a few months shopping around for a new tall bookcase before finally settling on this one. It's a pretty good price for it's size and quality (look up a short, folding bookcase and they'll run at the same price). It's a no-brainer that takes no more than 30 mins. to assemble. The only drawback is that it doesn't come with wall anchors. While it's pretty sound, anchors are an especially nice feature when you have crazy whirlwind kids around who like to climb furniture. It's an all-around great buy that is well worth the price.

This product is exactly as I expected as my title states. No surprise with the installation went up in about an hour without any additional help. I did use power tools but made the final adjustments by hand. Would have received the bookcase a day earlier than originally quoted but on UPS's first attempt the driver failed to knock on the door above a mice whisper so the next day I checked out my balcony ever y half hour (second floor apartment) until I saw him pull up and meet him outside. The driver could hardly lift the box leading me to understand why he didn't bother knocking louder.
Anyway back to the bookcase review Amazon is not responsible for UPS so this still gets the 5 start treatment. Yes it is particle board but it's also only $75 with free shipping and blows away Wal Mart's mainstay bookshelf. Packing was done excellent as well, there was a huge indentation on one of the corners where it seems to have been dropped then dragged. However no damage was sustained to the unit.
The bookcase provides plenty of storage and stands just fine on carpet without a wall anchor, included though are some felt pads for tile installs, and cleans up well with a wet rage. I would recommend this to someone that wants a bookcase for the best bang for the buck considering price/quality in balance.

The package arrived dented, dinged and torn, and there was a hairline fracture along one of the tall boards, but when assembled and attached to the three shelf bookcase I ordered with, it seems fine. This is definitely a higher end book case than the ones at the local department stores, but it is still pressed board and will still have a limited life, especially since we move a lot. This type of furniture handles the moves the worst, usually only good for two moves or less before they collapse completely.

Not a bad deal for the price. Assembly was easy, a one man job that took less than an hour for both bookcases. They do put a lot of styrofoam in the box with the bookcases, more than my trashcan was able to handle with a standard week's worth of household trash.

It's a good sized shelf (6 feet tall) and sturdy enough to hold shelves full of hardcover books BUT it's not wood, its particle board, NOT worth the price IMO. It was easy to assemble by myself (directions say two people are needed) but, it doesn't have a wall anchor, so if you have children you may want to do what I did and go to Home Depot and get an anchor to attach it to the wall.

I was disappointed by the quality of the bookshelves. They were inexpensive, but I was really hoping for at least adequate quality. But, they (I purchased two, so double the disappointment) look and feel cheap. One of them even arrived damaged. But by the time you unpackage them to build them, it's not worth trying to repackage and send back. Ah well. I wouldn't purchase this brand again.

I purchased a total of 3 bookshelves. After putting together two of them, the third did not include any hardware or instructions. There was also damage to the wood (which I could have overlooked if the rest of the items were included). I returned this one for a replacement...twice. Both replacement shelves were damaged upon opening the packages; one where the wood was split in half. I finally just returned the shelf for a refund.

For the price, the shelves look cheap --- especially the back section. They are serviceable though and with all the books we have paced in them, the back is hardly noticeable.

I was looking for a relatively inexpensive - but not garbage - bookcase. This is exactly what I needed. I use the unit entirely for books, and the shelves hold up great.

The whole bookshelf was easy to put together, is stable, and is good enough quality that I can comfortably say that this is not a throwaway.

Overall, great product.

I bought two of these. The five shelf unit, and the three shelf unit. All in all I'm happy with my purchase. These are very plain bookshelves. Just planks of wood (Particleboard board) that you screw together. They're nothing fancy, but that's clear from the pictures.
I put the first unit together by myself without any problems. I enlisted my girlfriend's help with the second, which did speed things up. So the assembly was easy even for one person.
I'm giving the item 3 stars instead of 5 for two reasons:

1) Both units I purchased were missing hardware. Specifically they were both missing the safety bracket, and the screw for the bracket, that secures the bookshelf to your wall. This didn't bother me, since I don't have children or pets that will be crawling on the shelves, so I'm not worried about them falling over. I would however recommend counting all the hardware before you start assembling the unit.
2) The backing to the bookshelf arrives folded up to fit in the narrow box, and once the whole unit is assembled, you can very clearly see the creases in the backing where it was folded. It's a bit unsightly, and a disappointment.