Let's Go Sofa Shopping

Residence is introducing a new series all about shopping, featuring the plethora of retail opportunities here on the East End. Each month, a different topic or item will be highlighted. And with this year’s harsh winter providing more than a handful of days simply ripe for a good snooze on the sofa, what better place to start?

Several East End home furnishing stores offer couch options for practically every taste and budget, including Hildreth’s Home Goods and Nancy Corzine in Southampton, Sylvester & Co. At Home in Amagansett and Fisher’s in Sag Harbor.

Hildreth’s offers a wide selection of sofas, including sleeper sofas, sectionals and love seats. Plus, customers are offered the option to customize their furniture fabric choices on many styles.

“We also have more than 1,000 different fabrics to choose from,” said store manager Ann Barry on Friday, “You can opt for a custom upholstery order or a custom slipcover.”

Of these two options, Ms. Barry and store owner Henry Hildreth noted that custom slipcovered sofas make up the largest percentage of their furniture-related sales.

“Slipcovers are much easier to deal with,” Ms. Barry added.

Removable slipcovers are user-friendly, washable and convenient for homes that undergo a costume change or two over the year, she said. Slipcovered sofas are also a smart choice for families that put a lot of wear and tear on their seating.

“It’s also a better choice for folks who rent properties fully furnished and would like to maintain the integrity of their furniture,” said Ms. Barry.

All of Hildreth’s sofas are manufactured in the United States and range in price from $800 to $3,500. Nearly all varieties and styles of sofas are available on site—Hildreth’s has three locations, the 20,000-square-foot Hildreth’s Home Goods store on Main Street in Southampton, the 7,000-square-foot Hildreth’s Patio on West Main Street in Southampton and the 12,000-square-foot Hildreth’s Home East location on Montauk Highway in East Hampton—or through customized orders, which Ms. Barry reported take six to eight weeks for delivery.

Some of the most popular styles at Hildreth’s are the Country Cottage-style, the Hartford-style and the Coastal Living line of furniture, according to Ms. Barry.

Down the street from Hildreth’s in Southampton is Nancy Corzine’s East End furniture store. Ms. Corzine has locations in both the Hamptons and Manhattan, and as a result, the variety of sofas on view in Southampton is rather limited since the Manhattan store is the brand’s flagship. However, there are two classically popular options on display: contemporary and traditional.

“The great thing about our sofas is that they are designed in a way that makes acclimation to the theme of your home really easy,” said store manager Jerry Eleyet on Friday.

The more contemporary of two designs on display featured a sectional, which Ms. Eleyet dubbed as “sophisticated neutral” in shade with chenille piping and contrast welt fabric which highlight the shape and structure of the sofa.

Sofas at Nancy Corzine are made of kiln-dried wood and cushions are Dacron wrapped and often made of a down feather blend. As seen in the Southampton showroom, the sectional sofa comes with a $11,960 price tag. The more traditionally designed skirted, stand-alone sofa on display is $7,690. As far as customized orders go, prices vary depending on style and fabric selection and delivery takes roughly eight to 12 weeks.

At Sylvester & Co. At Home on Main Street in Amagansett, it’s all about chic comfort, according to store manager Beth Parks.

“A lot of our sofas feature super-deep, comfortable cushions that look and feel great,” said Ms. Parks on Friday of the selection at the 3,000-square-foot Amagansett flagship store. Another branch on Main Street in Sag Harbor focuses primarily on smaller home furnishings and the like.

The Thibaut is one of Sylvester’s more popular styles. The sofas with slipcovered upholstery and most other pieces on display range from $4,000 to $6,000. Hundreds of fabric swatches are also on site for perusal. Designing with a budget in mind will be made all the easier as the store is offering 30-percent off on all sofas—including sectionals, love seats and custom orders—through Monday, January 31.

On Main Street in Sag Harbor sits Fisher’s, which carries sofas of all sizes. According to business manager Jill Markowski, Fisher’s is also one of only a few local sofa distributors in the area that offers sustainable green products.

“For the last four years, we’ve steadily increased the number of sofas made available that have soy-based foam cushions, which are very comfortable, and 100-percent organic cotton fabric available for custom orders,” she said.

Fisher’s sofas come in many styles, including some that feature single cushion seating versus multiple cushions.

“It’s definitely a personal preference but for some, the cushion seam is uncomfortable and when it’s custom, most of the time, we can turn a two-seat cushion into a single cushioned seat or vice versa,” said Ms. Markowski. “Some people just prefer the single cushion because it’s a cleaner line.”

One sectional at Fisher’s is particularly useful for those who entertain houseguests or who have large families. The Spicer Blue—boldly patterned with cream and navy designs, a tobacco hue finish and sand-colored armrests and back—has cushions which are the same size as any standard twin-size mattress.

“It doubles as a really generous sleeper so it’s perfect for summer homes,” Ms. Markowski said. “You just pull the back cushions off and you instantly have two individual beds.” The roomy Spicer Blue sofa is priced per section at $2,629 and $2,428 respectively.

Featuring two walls of fabrics to choose from and a heady selection of throw pillows and accessories, Fisher’s also offers quick custom order turnover, which is four weeks on average. Sofa prices range from $1,695 to about $6,200. In March, Fisher’s will offer 20 percent off all upholstery orders.

Ms. Markowski offered a piece of advice for those looking to buy a couch.

“Sofas are an investment and a worthy one,” she said. “After all, this is your comfort we’re talking about!”