Customer Reviews

South Shore Furniture City Life Collection 36-to-40-Inch TV Stand, Honeydew and Charcoal

5 star:		(50)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

For over 2 months my wife and I looked EVERYWHERE to find the perfect unit to house our components since I just mounted the 40" LCD on the wall. We needed certain colors, height and width dimensions and also wanted to hide everything behind glass doors. This unit was PERFECT!

I had 2 concerns with this unit though.

1) My Harmony 880 Universal Remote (Buy one of these!!) wouldn't be able to penetrate the frosted glass.

2) Enclosing my components (most importantly the PS3 and receiver) behind doors would cause overheating.

I'm happy to report that none of my fears came true. The Harmony works through the frosted doors with ease.

I'm also happy to report that my components won't overheat. My last step in the building process was to attach the backing material to the unit. Before doing so I tried to wiggle the unit a little bit and it was rock solid. As a result I left the backing unit off so everything is open in the back.

If I was placing my TV on the stand then I probably would have installed the backing but since I don't have that weight I probably don't need the extra support.

I have nothing bad to say about this unit.

We purchased this stand on Amazon with a little trepidation, having had bad experiences with DIY assembly furniture in the past... especially items made in China. We were very very pleased however with this unit.

The materials used are high quality MDF, and every pre-drilled hole and plug was in exactly the right position. (No off-center or missing holes like many previous items we have assembled). The unit is made in Quebec, Canada, and the company is clearly dedicated to quality! The assembly manual was thorough and understandable. Every illustration in the manual showed each piece precisely as it should be oriented, with every pre-drilled hole shown in the illustration. This is critically important, because it eliminates the potential for assembling any piece the wrong way and having to start over.

Each piece is clearly marked with a code that is referenced in the manual, and the company ships the unit with a few extra small items like plastic dowels... "just in case"!

Assembly was straightforward and timed at exactly one hour... including downing two cups of coffee during assembly!

The description on the Amazon site shows this base as limited to a 40" TV, but we found our 47" Vizio (85lbs) fit without issue and looks great on the stand. (The manual indicates a maximum weight on the top shelf at 185lbs.)

As others here have mentioned, the smoked glass on the cabinet doors does NOT inhibit infrared remote use. We have a DirecTV satellite box in the cabinet, and the remote works perfectly through the door. (See the user picture I have posted on this page with notes)

PRO's:
- Beautiful stand made of High Quality materials
- Every piece fits perfectly, and instructions are clear and complete
- Infrared devices can be used for electronics kept inside the smoked glass doors
- Easy Assembly in about an hour

Neutral's:
- Plastic legs may become worn after repeated moving by sliding the base instead of lifting

CON's:

- None really. This is a very well-made unit

NOTE: This review is for the PRODUCT and if I could, I'd give it SIX stars. It's really that good. HOWEVER, if I was also rating Amazon's handling of this item, I would drop it to THREE stars due to inaccurate shipping info:
- I ordered the unit on 1 December with PRIME 2-day shipping (With the caveat that Amazon stated a 2-5 day processing time on the item's order page)
- On 3 Dec, Amazon's Order Tracking indicated that the item had been shipped and that delivery was scheduled for 4 December
- 4th and 5th December passed without delivery, so I called FedEx to ask about the tracking number. They said they hadn't yet taken possession of the stand, only a pickup order.
- I called South Shore's number in Canada to ask "what's up" and spoke to a VERY NICE lady who advised me that all their products get delayed by CUSTOMS at the border. Understandable BUT Amazon should clearly reflect this possible delay in shipping, and provide more accurate shipping data.
- Stand finally arrived on 8th of December via FedEx. Not bad for the item, but caused some frustration due to Amazon's inaccurate tracking and delivery estimate.

In summary, this is a GREAT stand; easily assembled; functional and esthetically pleasing. And while Amazon dropped the ball a bit on shipping data, this unit is still HIGHLY recommended!!

I bought this TV stand in June 2009 and so far it has been 100% satisfying.

Pros:

1. Holds my 54" Plasma TV with no stress even thought ad says it is for 36" and 40" TVs.
2. Very contemporaryish.
3. Delivery and Price
4. Assembly (Took an hour or so by myself)

Cons:

1. Attracts dust and maybe visible depending on lighting and if you get close enough to the stand. With frequent dusting, shouldn't be a problem.
2. Can't keep electronic components on either side with the doors closed due to overheating.
3. Legs are plastic and not metal as I thought it would be.

My Verdict: Excellent buy as far as I'm concerned. Highly recommend it!

We needed a new stand for our new 42" TV. We looked everywhere!! Walmart, Sears, Kmart, Amazon, etc. When we found something we liked in our price range, the delivery costs were outrageous! $50 - $80, and that wasn't always even home delivery, Walmart's Site to Store too. Well, my husband isn't very patient with putting things together. But this wasn't bad at all. Took about an hour or so. And it looks great!! Not cheap looking at all. Very low profile. We're very happy with our purchase and would recommend this to anyone! :)

When this product came, i noticed a few scratches here and there. Also, the screws and nails are very fragile and isn't sturdy. The whole product isn't very sturdy or stable. The two doors at the bottom scratches the bottom layer when you open and close it. It's not what I imagined/expected. A tad bit disappointed.

This products gets 5 stars for 2 main reasons. 1) it's not 100% wood. let me explain. Wood is beautiful. I can appreciate the time, work and quality the a piece of 100% natural wood furniture reflects. The thing I don't love is the $700+ price tag of those pieces of furniture. I don't have that kind of money to drop for a TV stand but for those of you that do...more power to ya.

2) it's not glass. Glass TV stands look tacky and are not "modern" as they may have been in 1995. they are extemely hard to keep clean and are too expensive for what you're getting. I have a glass desk and...yeah.

This TV stand is made of dense fiberboard with a venere on it. It looks nice, is at the right height and if put together properly, is very stable and solid. The colors and style are very modern. People complain about the plastic legs that support the stand; I'd say don't worry about it. It's not as bad as people say.

The instructions for assembly are easy enough to understand if you're somewhat handy. It took me about 1 hour with the help of a couple friends to put it together.

I have a plethora of equipment and other stuff on it. It holds a 46 in Samsung comfortably, along with an Onkyo reciever, 2 polk audio bookshelf speakers, a PS3, a 360, a Wii, (plus their accessories) and boat load of games and blu-rays. The only problem I had was that there was no room for a larger center speaker (which was remedied by a shelf above the TV).

It's at the right price and what I would expect for the price. Highly recommended!

I bought the 50" version of this to use with my Sharp Aquos 65" LCD HDTV. Even though it says it is for TVs upto 50", my 65" Aquos fits perfectly on top of it and this i had validated by comparing the measurements of the stand and TV before purchasing this stand. It was easy to assemble though be warned that the drawers uses flimsy cardboard base instead of wood/particle board so they can hold few remotes/game controllers but can't be filled with your DVD collection. It looks OK - not upscale like the ones having glass shelves but at its price point, it deliver most bang for your buck. I boarded up the back of the stand with the supplied screen and it definitely made the setup look very clean but i had issues with ventilation/equipment heating up too much in confined space. I had to move my Playstation 3 out and remove all components from the half that houses my Harman Kardon AVR and now its fine. If you can live without covering the back side of the stand, it will be better for your equipment - as a bonus you will get very easy access to all the wiring at the back of your components which was an absolute nightmare for me.

We're really satisfied with the TV stand. I spent many many hours searching for a stand that would fit my slightly larger than average center channel speaker in a compartment in the center of the TV stand, and this fit the bill. The shelf in the middle has several positions which is great because I had to move it to the upper position to fit my speaker below it (in the lower position it would not fit above it) It did show up looking like it had been through some sort of war and we did have two pieces that were damaged and we called the customer service number for the manufacturer and they happily sent us out replacement pieces and said to discard the damaged ones. I can see why though, imagine the shipping guys trying to handle one of these on their own, it's really heavy (100lbs) and awkward... would def. be best to have to people move it around. You do have to be at least a little handy to get it together, but it's not that bad. I thought the hardware was typical at this price point and it's quite sturdy when it's all together... One reviewer mentioned the feet were a little cheesy and I would tend to agree, but they do get the job done just fine. One modification I would make is to open up the back panel wherever you mount your stereo or surround receiver, because with the cabinet door closed there is very little ventilation and things will run quite warm. I placed our surge strip in one of cabinets on the upper shelf and routed the power cables in through the back which allows me to place the unit up closer to the wall which was nice. With the different levels and shelves and cabinets it's a very versatile unit and meets our needs perfectly.

We will be in town for a year and need an inexpensive TV stand. We ordered the South Shore City Life 50" TV Stand in Honeydew - 4257-662. If you notice that there are two models, this one is the one with the two drawers at the base and no glass doors. Assembly was easy enough, especially if you've assembled things before. The boards are heavy, but the finish scratches easily, so you want to be careful when assembling. The final product was relatively sturdy considering that there are no interlocking parts (only screws/bolts), and the last little bit of wobbling was resolved when we nailed the thin backing board to the back, which was surprising. It looks more suitable for a college dorm, but I think it will serve its purpose for the next year.

Fairly easy to assemble (about 2 1/2 hours). Saw reviews of it coming damaged, so I was a little worried that it might come damaged, but it came in perfect condition.
It was packaged from the factory inside a box, and outside the factory packaging, Amazon had it in another box that was very sturdy.
Looks great.