Now that we’ve looked at the top two church seating criterion, cost and comfort (see my previous two articles), we’ll move on to other five.  Each of these five are very important, but normally not given the consideration they deserve.  We’ll start this group of five additional criterion by examining “chair storage“.

When I counsel churches on chair purchases, I always ask them what their storage situation consists of.  If they have more storage than they know what to do with, then the range of their chair choices is broad.  Of course, there are few churches with that much storage.  Most need to maximize every bit of storage they possess.

The reality is that chairs that provide both excellent comfort and efficient storage will cost more than chairs that provide excellent comfort and a low price point.  If there was a chair that provided all three positives, manufacturers could not keep up with the demand.  Because it does not exist, churches have to choose which of these three factors are most critical to them.

Here’s a key point to remember:  When you’re involved in a church construction project there’s a square foot price for the project.  If a church is able to construct less square footage through the purchase of chairs that store efficiently, the savings can be significant.  One of my favorite chairs for churches literally stores in about 25% of the space needed for the most popular church chair style.  Granted it costs about twice as much per chair, but the construction savings realized far exceeds that additional cost.  My counsel in new construction settings is always the “win-win” of saving dollars and obtaining chairs that maximize storage.

What about settings where new construction is not taking place?  I’m still very partial to chairs that store well.  In the long run, the extra dollars paid for the storage attribute will not be missed.  But over the long run, chairs that store well will be appreciated often.  And to help your church afford the advantages of great storing chairs, be sure and check them out at Church Furniture Partner.  They’ll guide you well in your church chair purchase.