DougR

I had never heard of Cheep Antiques, nor had really considered purchasing antiques, until some friends of mine brought home an extraordinary wardrobe that I was sure must have been very expensive! I had never considered buying antiques simply because of price, although I did spend a lot of time browsing. However, they only had paid $250 for their wardrobe, negotiating down from just $300 (which would have been a bargain anyway!) so I had to visit the store. They have an huge selection, and everything seems to be in excellent condition (they do have a restoration service, which I assume they use before putting out for sale.) Not to be outdone by my friends' great wardrobe, I also ended up buying one, for $350. I'm not much of a negotiator, so paid full price, but still a bargain. I have seen similar ones for upward of $700 and some much more! We use it as an entertainment center, with some modification. I stopped back in mostly to thank the owners a few days later, and ended up with another great buy, a high-boy for only $150. It was on sale, I couldn't pass it up. I still don't know where to put it, but will definitely put it to use somewhere. Highly, highly recommend Cheep Antiques, both for the quality, the price and also the service is exceptional. They are all very nice there, helpful without butting in.

With a name like "Soil Service" I would have thought it was more so of a soil treatment, or analysis, company and would not have thought it was a nursery or garden center. But when a friend of mine in the Waldo area requested that I help with some landscaping, I happened to drive by and stop there, and was completely taken by surprise. This is no doubt the best nursery center I have visited, not only for the huge selection or product but particularly for the expertise of the employees there. The quality and health of their wide variety or plants is exceptional, and the staff, from my experience bar none, are all very knowledgeable about what works where, sun or shade, type of soil, etc., and maintenance of the plants. I'm no dummy about taking care of trees, shrubs, plants, etc., but these folks steered me in the best direction for choices I should make given the project I was working on, and certainly knew their stuff. They didn't seem to just want to make a sale for the sake of it, without offering advice on what would be the best choice. Awesome staff, great quality product, and don't forget to visit both sides of the street (Troost), there is additional on the East side than their main site on the West. I would have rated this a "5" for recommending, instead of a "4", excepting the location may not be convenient, and their prices do seem a bit higher than other nurseries, but you get what you pay for. The quality is exceptional, and the people there do know their stuff!

I'm usually very handy diagnosing problems around the house, and have learned how my furnace works (intimately, from previous problems!) and made repairs myself. Over the winter, though, nothing I could figure would make the furnace quit working, and it was cold! So I gave in and called Neal Harris, because they were local to the Waldo neighborhood. I am generally very skeptical and not so very trusting of repair persons. However, the problem turned out to be the motherboard of the furnace (little wonder I didn't figure that out). I was right beside him as he diagnosed the problem, there was no hinky business going on to rip me off, and sure enough when he said the cost (which seemed really high to me) was really reasonable, I did some checking from online and calling parts stores, and in fact he could have charged an extra hundred bucks and still been competitive. No gouging, and when the part was in they were out the next day to install it. Also, the repair persons are obviously supposed to try to up-sell a service contract (very expensive, really) for preventative maintenance and discounts on repairs, etc., which I would never buy, but there was no hard push about it, he basically filled in the amounts on the documents, of what it would cover, and just said I could look at it later, and if I was interested to call. I appreciated that.