About Us

We first conceived of the idea for National Bar Stool in 2004, when we (three childhood friends) had just opened our first custom furniture store in Deptford, NJ. Since then, that little 1,800 square foot showroom has grown into three much larger locations in the greater Philadelphia area. Today, our brick-and-mortar company (Creative Dinettes & Bar Stools), is well known for having the best selection of bar stools, counter stools and dining sets in the entire Delaware Valley and the absolute best service in the furniture industry, period.

As we focused on building our brick-and-mortar company, Nationalbarstool.com sat on the back burner. We made several attempts to build the site through the years, but we were never able to find a web developer who shared our vision to build the best bar stool store on the web. Each of them just wanted to throw up a cookie cutter site and see what happened. That wasn't an option for us. Our company's core focus has always been to be the very best at what we do. We saw no reason to deviate from that philosophy with our web store. And so the site laid dormant...

Fast forward to 2018. One of our customers asked us why our website didn't allow customers to buy online, so we explained our long list of development woes. As luck would have it, she worked for Magento (the leading eCommerce platform in the world). After hearing our goals and vision for the site, she referred us to a group of "really sharp guys and gals in Canada" who make up one of the finest Magento web development companies in the world. Finally! We found a company that shared our best-or-bust philosophy and had the capabilities to deliver what we believe is the best bar stool buying experience on the Internet. We hope you'll agree!

Honesty - Our Core Value

As we said above, our goal is to the be the best bar stool store on the Internet. We don't believe you can be the best in any kind of retail business if you're not honest. That's why we only sell products that are made with quality standards we can stand behind. Unlike most online web stores who are selling disposable furniture without harm to their conscience, we like to go to bed knowing that we sold our customers quality products they can be proud of. To this end, we hand select our products, based on YEARS of experience with the manufacturers who make them.

We'd rather lose a sale than sell a "good-looking" but low-quality bar stool that will ultimately disappoint our customers. (The Internet is already chock-full of that kind of bar stool anyway!)

A Commitment to Five Star Service

The furniture business is a microcosm of life. It's filled with good players and bad, highs and lows, impressive stuff and disappointing junk. That's why where you buy your furniture is as important as what you're buying. When you deal with us, you can expect the absolute highest level of service from our staff throughout your buying AND OWNING experience. Instead of hiding behind senseless "policies" and hard-to-reach customer service departments, we run our business by the Golden Rule – treat each customer as we expect to be treated ourselves. We think it's a good way to live life and the only way to do business.

Never ASSume.

Any fly-by-night retailer can handle a problem-free order. But what about when there's an issue? Based on our own experience as business owners (and as consumers), most companies, even those with good intentions, seem to place orders and just assume their vendor is going to process it as promised. They also seem to assume that any snags or delays will be communicated promptly and remedied ASAP by their vendors. LOL! We wish! We know that repeated follow-up is an unfortunate necessity in order to minimize mistakes and issues in our industry.

From the moment you place your order, we have several staff members who are tasked with making sure your order is processed smoothly. We start by following up with our vendors to make sure the PO didn't get lost in a sea of paperwork or accidentally deleted from their inbox. (This happens more often than you can even imagine.) We pester our vendors daily until we receive an acknowledgement of your order, in writing. Then we check it for accuracy. (One minuscule data entry error can ruin an entire order.) Once your order is in production, we follow up with our vendor multiple times to make sure it will ship within the normal time frame. (If we find out there is an unexpected delay, we'll let you know right away.) After it ships, we're standing by to answer any questions or concerns you might have. Sure this system increases our operating expenses, but it's worth it when the result is a long list of happy customers.

More about the owners:

George Kull and Robert & Tim Higginson first met at Kingsway Junior High school in 1992, and they have been friends ever since. George attended James Madison University, where he earned a BA in Business Administration in 2001. Tim earned a BA in Economics from Rutgers University in 2003 and Robert attended Rutgers for Business Administration, both while working in a furniture store in Philadelphia, PA. There were lots of furniture stores in the area at that time (before the Great Recession), but even then, most of them ignored the casual dining and bar stool categories. Furthermore, most of these stores had repuations for lousy service and poor quality! Seeing this void in selection, quality and service led to the creation of Creative Dinettes & Bar Stools. By staying true to the Golden Rule, George, Tim and Robert have built that company into a successful business while remaining great friends in the process. This, in turn, afforded them the ability to create Nationalbarstool.com, where their commitment to selection, quality and service remains unchanged. This dedication keeps the owners well occupied, and for that reason, special thanks has to be given to George's wife Eileen and Tim's wife, Jessica. Without their love and support, National Bar Stool wouldn't exist.