The Chair Place

I cannot recommend The Chair Place and Alan’s help any higher. Over the last 9 years I’ve had to buy a tremendous amount of office equipment: special orders for chairs for people with disabilities, drafting height chairs, back issue chairs, etc. Alan’s professionalism and helpful service has always served me and my office well.
Make no mistake, there are cheaper chairs of every kind available, but when you need a good chair that will have lots of adjustments, want to order in a color or certain fabric, you cannot do anything cheaper or better than Alan’s. One of my chairs had started to fray on the fabric early. To my surprise, Alan had the manufacturer send me an entirely new set of parts. Now I have a 3-​year old chair that’s brand new!
I highly recommend Alan and The Chair Place for any business administrator such as myself that needs to insure that her employees get the right, ergonomically correct, chair (s).
~Ms. Ali

Over the last five years, I have tried a standup desk, putting a treadmill under the standup desk, drafting chair (at the standup desk), a Muvman, a mesh chair for my sit-​down desk from a big-​brand-​name-​that-​every-​startup-​has.
But my back did not agree with any of them. Sometimes it was my lower back — I adjusted my posture, got an ergo evaluation to make sure I was doing it properly… Nothing worked.
This afternoon, I walked into The Chair Place. I explained the issue, and Alan immediately took me to a few upholstered chairs. I asked for something with a mesh back because I have no AC where I work and I needed as much airflow as I could get. No problem. Both of these initial chairs were on the lower end of the price-​spectrum and there was _​zero_​push or upsell. I actually found the chair I wanted, that was similar to the others but felt a bit «heavier» (I associate weight to build quality — dumb, but that’s how I was brought up). It was not the most expensive chair nor was it the cheapest…
…But this evening, Alan delivered the good-​as-​new floor model (seriously — it looks, fells and smells fresh out of the box]) to my home. I’ve only been enjoying it for a short while but this one is already a keeper. My back is happy.
Incidentally — ergoCentric. You’ve probably not heard of them unless you’ve been on the hunt for a chair and done some serious research. What a chair! Who gets excited about a chair? Me. I do.
Thank you Alan!

The owner was fantastic. Alan helped guide me through dozens of chairs to find exactly the right one. Moreover, he managed to cut down delivery time for a custom made chair from 2 – 3 weeks to 3 days (!). This was incredibly useful as I was about to head out on an international trip and I wanted the chair delivered directly to my home.
As a very satisfied and impressed customer, I have a hypothesis regarding the negative reviews below. Perhaps you just need to try to talk to the owner and make your requests respectfully?
BTW, I overhead him giving another customer ahead of me quite a discount because she bought 4 chairs for her start-​up. You can definitely negotiate price and time with the owner.
Thumbs up, for those of us who care to treat our backs well.

I’m another ergo consultant (30+ years) who relies heavily on product being available for my clients to try. Chairs are like shoes — and I love shoes! but you have to try them on to get the right fit. Your spinal curves are like the arch in your foot and we all need good support to feel good! Alan has the best selection in SF for chairs and the best prices as well. He’s one of the most knowledgeable people in the Bay area about ergo chairs and I’m always learning something new when I bring my clients in. He can suggest modifications when I need to get that perfect fit.
I’ll tell clients to go in with their budget in mind, and he’ll be able to meet their needs.
and then there’s Danny, his cocker spaniel, who at 12, is not running around as much, but beloved by all!

I am an ergonomic specialist and I work all over the Bay Area. I frequently take my clients to «The Chair Place» for chair fittings. TCP has a large assortment of ergonomic chairs and brands (Soma, RFM, Office Master, Bodybilt and much much more).
Alan (owner) carries top of the line ergonomic chairs that last. A good ergonomic chair will cost $ 450.00+ depending on the brand and features you are looking for.
TCP also carries lower priced task chairs that should work well for the cost conscious.
Alan knows his products and of all my vendors he rates on top for customer services and delivery. I have had nothing but praise regarding delivery and set up from my clients.
I highly recommend The Chair Place and will continue to send my clients to the showroom to find an excellent ergonomic chair and stellar service.

When I pay more than $ 500 plus delivery for a custom ergonomic chair, I expect to get a certain level of customer service. Apparently, The Chair Place thinks otherwise.
I bought a chair at said Place in December. I’ve been buying the same ergonomic chair since around 2000, and I know exactly how it should operate. Because I have a back injury, I have stringent requirements for the chair functions.
Let’s skip ahead to Chair Delivery Day. When I answered the door of my San Francisco flat, there stood the store owner, chair in hand, anxious about the lack of street parking in my neighborhood. I told him he could park his vehicle in front of my landlord’s garage and if that didn’t work, I’d be happy to watch his vehicle for him, but he waved me off and rushed up the stairs with my chair. He brought it into my home office, plunked it down, said «mkayhere’syourlevershere’stheseatitgoesupanddownt­heresyourkeyboardtrayeverythingsheregottago» and was practically out the door.
Whoa, Nellie! I asked him to please hold on, I needed to check the chair out myself. I sat in it and the height was fine. Then I noticed the chair did not tilt forward at all — which was No. 1 on the list of special features that I PAID FOR. I pointed this out to Mr. Chair Place, who insisted that YES IT DID tilt. And then he left.
After he left, I compared my new chair to my old chair — they are the same model; I was replacing one with the other — and no, I was not crazy, the new chair DID NOT TILT FORWARD. I left the chair guy a message, saying that I was upset because the chair he delivered was not what I ordered, and that he had completely ignored my concerns during the few minutes he was in my flat.
I resent how much headspace I’ve already given this guy, so I’ll wrap this up. The next morning, The Chair Guy called me back. He argued with me over the chair, insisting that it was absolutely working as I had ordered it. At some point he blamed «the factory,» saying they’d «changed the chair» — curious how this never came up several weeks earlier when he was running my credit card.
But, my favorite: In response to my assertion that he ignored my concerns about the chair when he delivered it, he said IT’S NOT MY FAULT YOU LIVE IN (YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD). He basically blamed me for living in a crowded neighborhood (is there any other kind in SF?), as if it had anything to do with his freakin’ delivery non-​service! And now he was yelling at me! Could this get any more unprofessional?
I will note that Mr. Chair Place finally said he could look at the chair, maybe add some spacers it, but I’d have to bring the chair back to the store. That wasn’t going to happen: Did I mention I have a back injury? He then muttered that maybe he could return to my place to look at it but by this point, I was so disgusted by his anger and defensiveness that I didn’t want him in my house again.
How does this story end? I have a very expensive chair that I cannot use. Thanks, The Chair Place. The only other business that carries the brand of chair I use is in Vallejo or somewhere. Please know that I’ll backstroke across the Bay before I set foot in your store again.

I stopped in this store on lunch break after a long and frustrating search for an appropriate ergonomic chair.
The prices here are excellent.
Alan listens to what you want and gets you to the products you need without a lot of gabbing. The efficiency was much appreciated given the limited time I had.
Also, I found his quiet and unassuming manner refreshing, helpful, and respectful.

Just bought a $ 400 special-​ordered office chair from The Chair Place. When I went to pick it up, I discovered that the armrests were not the cushioned ones advertised on the floor model, but instead were solid and hard. When I pointed this out to the proprietor, he said the cushioned armrests were discontinued at the factory. I told him this was an important feature for me, and he started to replace the armrests on my chair with armrests from the floor model. I said I wanted some kind of discount if my «new» chair was to have used parts from the floor model. He replied, «It’s not MY fault that the factory discontinued them.» He became very impatient with me, cutting me off with, «Please, please!» when I told him I wanted the new chair I paid for with all the features I ordered. After I mentioned his past reviews on Unilocal,and my hope that I would have a good experience with him, he grudgingly gave me $ 20 off on the chair, but it left me soured on this business. A business that makes it the customer’s problem when the factory doesn’t deliver what was ordered is a business that is not prepared to stand behind what it promises. That can only translate to «Buyer, beware.»

Terrific service. Alan was very professional and easy to work with. His goal was making sure I tried everything I needed to so I could solve my back pain and ergo challenges. I’m really looking forward to my chair being delivered!

I was just here yesterday, and plan on going back to get a chair today,
had to chime in on this, to the previous poster who would like to give zero stars, pull your head out of your …, this store is what it is, note the name: «the chair place», its not called executive chair showroom or something like that. Its a small, personable, used and new chair store. If you can get over yourself for three seconds, you might have found what you needed there, but you, like most overpaid «proffessional» like service with a nose up your arse, he sent you to office max, lol, and with your attitude i would probably have done the same. He’s a small business man, leave him alone, and trot off to you nice big comfy shopping mall. Please note there are no starbuck’s or chevy’s at «The Chair Place», thankfully.

I’ve had the same comfy, $ 400 chair for 6 years and Alan just got me new wheels for it for free. He’s helped me figure out how to fix it, he’s sold superb chairs to my employees, he’s a lovely, soft-​spoken man who has the best selection of chairs for the best prices in town. If you are interested in a good chair, go to the Chair Place. Alan will find the best chair for your body and your budget. If you work at SFGH, or a large company that he does plenty of business with, he may even deliver your chair for free. If you want a hard sell and an elaborate business model, shop elsewhere.

I have spent a fortune recently on seeing the chiropractor to ease a sudden nasty chronic back pain that arrived a few months ago.
Whilst I was away I realised the pain had ebbed significantly and that it was probably down to being hunched over the dining table on a dining table chair! Schoolboy error. I vowed to get a decent chair on my return.
I did not want an IKEA job, I wanted to speak with someone who knew his stuff. I like the Chair Places’ reviews on Unilocal and they are not far from my apartment.
I parked on the street close to their location and shoved a load of quarters in to the meter, I anticipated an hour, I was back 25 minutes later with a great ergonomic chair.
Alan was very helpful and non pushy. He even recommended some chairs which were cheaper than the one I like. A quality salesman who doesnt push and cajole but consults and lets his products do to the talking.
I spent almost 800 bucks… those of you with back pain know that no price is too much if you can stop that awful pain.
I recommend the Chair Place!
Great dog too!!!

Alan is an honest, knowledgeable salesman with an excellent selection. I sent him my ergonomic report via email and showed up 20 minutes later to sit on the chair of my dreams. Done. Who knew it could be so easy? Highly recommended.

I looked at a number of different places to find a range of office chairs and found The Chair Place had by far, the best selection. Prices range from $ 200 — $ 1200. I brought three different employees who have been experiencing discomfort at their work stations. They each found a different chair that fit their individual needs. Alan, the salesperson, was extremely helpful, and very low key. He also gave me an additional 10% off. I highly recommend The Chair Place.

I checked office chairs at Ikea, Office Max and Office Depot first and I also shopped online, before stopping by The Chair Place. Low ceiling, poorly lit, but hundreds of chairs. The salesman was VERY low-​key, not at all pushy and I was surprised that he didn’t make any attempt to sell me the most expensive chairs. He showed me all the various options for sizing, comfort, support, backs, arms, height, colors, etc. and I ended up with my exact combination at a much lower price than I had been expecting, based upon my previous research, so I bought it. It had to be special ordered, 3-​week delay.
So I just picked it up yesterday and I love it. No way to know yet how long it will last, but it feels as sturdy and solid as the others I’d tested.
I liked that the salesman didn’t make me feel like he was «selling».

I am happy to be the tie breaking review here. When I was there the help was AOK. I was greeted by an extremely soft spoken man who if you strained could hear to have an Irish accent. There are about 100 plus office chairs there and that is a MUST when trying to make a purchase like this. I tried about 10 candidates.
The guy helped me figure out how to adjust them although I could barely hear him!
I walked out with a 500 $ chair well worth the price. You’ll find a very small selection at Office Max and Office «Despot» so you should go here.
If you are picky about office comfort this is a store for you.
BTW the Irish fellow has a dog named «Danny» (Danny Boy anyone) and was only too happy to break the chair down and load it into my car. Danny is a little cockerspaniel with no tail but rump-​shaking enthusiasm.
Anyway go when the help is there. For more on office chairs see my review of Corner Office downtown…

Seriously overpriced mark-​up of shoddy chairs. I so wish I could give 0 stars — or better yet, negative stars.
Topping off the lack of quality selection was the horrible service, if I can even call it service.
A couple co-​workers and I are in search of some new desk chairs for our office and we decided to walk down to The Chair Place before lunch.
Dumb idea.
The salesperson didn’t even look at us or bother to say, «Hi — I’ll be with you in a moment» — to be perfectly honest, he didn’t even care that we were there or acknowledge our presence. Maybe because we’re young professionals? Who knows.
Good sales tactic.
Then, after looking through the minimal selection — I say minimal because we were looking for nicer desk chairs — not the kinda they have there — we began to notice a trend; ridiculously marked up prices.
Keep in mind, we’ve been to a few other places and have done a bunch of Internet research on desk chairs, so we’re not idiots about chair buying. It’s just hard to buy a chair online because, typically, you want to sit in it before you commit — right?
Once the salesman finally came up to see how we were doing, my co-​worker told him we were looking at buying 9 chairs for a smaller office. He mentioned nothing about a discount on bulk orders — discounts and free-​shipping other stores and online sites offer on orders over 5.
That aside, we showed him the chair we were interested in and asked if we could talk prices, his was tagged at 2K — we’re business people, it’s in our nature to negotiate. Plus, the chair didn’t ‘feel’ like 2K quality — you know how as a chair goes up in price, your buns and back can really tell the difference? Yeah, the arm rests on this 2K chair were rickety as a methhead’s front teeth.
So, the salesman, after looking us up and down, he seriously did, shows us these piece of crap chairs for like $ 49.00. We try not to take offense to the fact that he termed that our price range (what I’m dying to know: what made him think that he was going to make a sale by treating us so poorly?) So, my co-​worker goes on to tell the guy, «Yeah, we want an upgrade on chairs, the ones we have now are nicer than those and they still kill our backs.»
Then, and this was dick, my co-​worker tells the guy that we say chairs much less expensive than this (one he was pointing to) at Office Max. Which we really did, but we didn’t want to buy from Office Max for fear of bad quality and ya know, overall cheapness. So the salesman interrupts my coworker in the middle of his sentence and tell us, and I quote, «Well then, you should go to Office Max.»
Okay, thanks for the advice dude.
At least at Office Max they don’t rip you off, they’re chairs were cheap for a reason, they are cheap — no pretenses.
Yeah, so a word to the wise, don’t judge people by their appearance and if you want to prove your company’s worth, represent it with pride in your products, not mimicry.
Will not go back and I sincerely hope this review will make others go elsewhere.

Great selection of chairs, but the salesmen there couldn’t sell a bone to a dog. I went looking for a chair, and the little pamphlet I asked about had more information than the salesman, who didn’t seem to have any clue what made a chair «ergonomic».
Very disappointing, because I ended up getting an ergo chair online that I’m not happy with. I would have happily spent $ 500+ when I was there if I had gotten any help finding the right chair, but he had more concerns with his dog than with me.

Rows upon rows of office chairs.
Cheap to expensive, even this crazy chair that looks like some sort of crustacean.
Prices seem pretty good but I haven’t shopped around much.
They do carry those fancy Freedom chairs which seemed the best there, but to each their own. The guy working there was pretty helpful, they can order most anything in whatever color you want, but it takes a while to get it.
Check it out, its kinda fun just to sit in a bunch of chairs.