Nebraska Furniture Mart operates as a massive home furnishings superstore, offering an enormous selection of furniture, appliances, electronics, and flooring across a wide range of styles and prices. In contrast, Rooms to Go provides a more curated experience, specializing in modern, coordinated room packages that simplify the decorating process for shoppers who prioritize convenience and a cohesive aesthetic.
Let's break down everything you need to know to choose the right furniture retailer for your home.
Nebraska Furniture Mart: The One-Stop Superstore
Founded in 1937, Nebraska Furniture Mart (NFM) is a retail giant known for its massive warehouse-style showrooms and an almost overwhelming inventory. It's a true one-stop-shop where you can furnish an entire home from top to bottom, including buying new kitchen appliances, electronics, and flooring all in one trip. The brand targets budget-conscious shoppers and families who prioritize selection, value, and competitive pricing.
- Product mix: A vast selection of furniture for every room, plus major categories like large home appliances, televisions, mattresses, and flooring. NFM is a full-service home outfitter.
- Style/vibe: Highly diverse and eclectic. NFM carries thousands of items spanning traditional, rustic, modern, and transitional styles, catering to a broad range of tastes without committing to a single aesthetic.
- Price point: Extremely wide-ranging. You can find sofas for as low as $300 during a sale, while premium leather sectionals can exceed $2,000. Their frequent promotions and clearance deals are a major draw for bargain hunters.
- Quality: Quality is just as varied as the selection. Lower-priced items may use engineered wood and basic fabrics, while their higher-end offerings feature solid wood frames and more durable upholstery. You'll need to assess the quality of each individual piece.
- Delivery & Assembly: Offers full-service in-house delivery and setup for furniture and professional installation for appliances and flooring, providing a complete solution for home projects.
- Sales: Sales are very frequent. You can nearly always find a promotion, holiday sale, or clearance event happening, offering significant discounts across all categories.
- Shopping Experience: Known for enormous, warehouse-style physical showrooms where customers can see, touch, and test thousands of products firsthand. The online store is comprehensive but can be less guided than competitors'.
Nebraska Furniture Mart is the ideal destination for anyone planning a major home renovation or furnishing project who wants maximum choice and competitive pricing in one location.
Shop Nebraska Furniture Mart: nfm.com
Rooms to Go: The Convenient Room Package Expert
Rooms to Go built its reputation on a simple, brilliant concept: selling perfectly matched, complete room packages at an affordable price. Founded in 1990, the brand caters to customers - especially first-time homeowners and busy families - who want a stylish, cohesive look without the hassle of matching individual furniture pieces. Their aesthetic is primarily modern and contemporary, with an emphasis on convenience from browsing to delivery.
- Product mix: A curated selection of furniture sold as individual items or, more famously, as complete room sets. The focus is on living room, bedroom, and dining room furniture.
- Style/vibe: Predominantly modern and contemporary. Expect clean lines, neutral colors, and trend-conscious designs that create a fresh, updated feel in a home.
- Price point: Mid-range and predictable, with a strong value proposition in their bundles. Sofas typically begin around $399, and entire five-piece bedroom sets are often available for under $1,500.
- Quality: The quality is consistent and reliable for the price point. Most pieces feature solid or engineered wood frames, durable, stain-resistant fabrics, and finishes designed for everyday use in a family home.
- Delivery & Assembly: A streamlined process with quick delivery is a key part of their appeal. Many items ship quickly, and assembly is often simplified for the customer.
- Return policy: The brand features a straightforward return policy, adding to its hassle-free shopping mission.
- Shopping Experience: Showrooms are cleanly arranged to display their room packages, helping customers easily visualize a complete space. The website is user-friendly and highlights these bundle deals prominently.
Rooms to Go excels by removing the friction from furniture shopping, offering stylish, ready-made solutions that look great and fit a modern lifestyle and budget.
Shop Rooms to Go: roomstogo.com
Nebraska Furniture Mart vs. Rooms to Go Comparison
Price Comparison
In a direct price fight, Nebraska Furniture Mart offers a much broader pricing spectrum. Because they carry so many different brands and product lines, you can find entry-level furniture right alongside high-end investment pieces. Their powerful negotiating power and constant sales mean dedicated bargain hunters can often find incredible deals on individual items.
Rooms to Go, on the other hand, wins on value through its package deals. While their individual item prices are competitive and fall in the mid-range category, the real savings come when you purchase an entire coordinated room set. This predictable, bundled pricing makes it easier to budget for furnishing a whole room.
Style & Aesthetic
The style difference is one of the clearest differentiators. Nebraska Furniture Mart doesn’t have a single defined aesthetic, it's a marketplace of styles. Whether you're looking for a traditional leather chesterfield sofa, a rustic farmhouse dining table, or a sleek modern media console, you're likely to find it there.
Rooms to Go is style-specific. Their collections are almost exclusively modern and contemporary. This focus allows them to create beautifully cohesive room packages where every piece is designed to work together, appealing strongly to shoppers who prefer current trends and clean lines.
Quality & Construction
The quality at NFM is a discovery process. It ranges from budget-friendly items made with particleboard and synthetic fabrics to premium furniture built with solid hardwood frames and genuine leather. The responsibility falls on the shopper to inspect tags and materials to understand the quality of what they are buying.
Rooms to Go provides more consistency in its quality. As a mid-range retailer, their furniture is designed to offer good durability for the price. They often use engineered woods, reliable fabrics (including performance options), and sturdy construction techniques appropriate for everyday family life. You're unlikely to find luxury quality, but you’re also unlikely to find options that won't hold up reasonably well.
Product Selection
There is no contest here: Nebraska Furniture Mart has a far larger and broader product selection. It is a true home superstore where furniture is just one of many departments. The ability to shop for a new sofa, refrigerator, mattress, and carpet in one visit is their unique advantage.
Rooms to Go is a furniture specialist. Their selection is intentionally curated and focused on making it easy to furnish the main rooms of a home. What they lack in sheer volume, they make up for in purpose-built collections that work seamlessly together.
Shopping Experience
Visiting a Nebraska Furniture Mart store is an event. The showrooms are massive, physical spaces that can take hours to explore. It's a hands-on, traditional retail model for customers who want to personally test dozens of options before making a decision. Their website is equally vast and full of products.
The Rooms to Go experience, both in-store and online, is designed for simplicity and speed. Showrooms are laid out in vignettes, showcasing how their bundled furniture looks in a real room. Their website is easy to navigate, with a mobile-friendly interface and a focus on getting the customer to a stylish solution quickly.
Sustainability & Ethics
Neither brand markets itself as a leader in sustainability, and information on their ethical or environmental practices is limited. As a large retailer, NFM offers some products from brands that may use sustainably sourced materials, but it's not a core part of their brand message. Similarly, Rooms to Go has made some efforts towards eco-friendly materials and operations, but it is not a primary selling point for customers.
Which One Should You Choose?
The right choice depends on your project, priorities, and personal shopping style. Both retailers serve their target customers well but offer very different pathways to a furnished home.
Choose Nebraska Furniture Mart if:
- You're undertaking a large home project and also need appliances, flooring, or electronics.
- You enjoy the treasure hunt of sifting through thousands of options to find the perfect piece or the best deal.
- Your style is undefined, and you want to see traditional, modern, and eclectic options all in one place.
- You prefer the experience of a huge, in-person showroom and rely on frequent sales to make a purchase.
Choose Rooms to Go if:
- You want a stylish, coordinated room without the stress of matching furniture yourself.
- Convenience and fast delivery are more important to you than endless selection.
- You firmly prefer modern and contemporary furniture styles and a clean aesthetic.
- You're a first-time homebuyer or are furnishing a space from scratch on a clear budget.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Nebraska Furniture Mart or Rooms to Go cheaper?
Nebraska Furniture Mart generally has a lower entry price point, with some sofas and chairs available for under $300, especially during clearance sales. However, Rooms to Go often provides better overall value when you buy its coordinated room packages, making it an affordable way to furnish an entire room at once.
Which brand offers better quality furniture?
Quality at Nebraska Furniture Mart varies greatly - you can find both low-end and high-end furniture there. Rooms to Go offers more consistent quality, reliably built for its mid-range price point and designed for everyday use by families.
Does Rooms to Go only sell room packages?
No, you can purchase all of their furniture items individually. However, the store is designed around the concept of room packages, and they are promoted heavily as the best value for customers.
Does Rooms to Go furniture use real wood?
Rooms to Go uses a mix of materials, including solid wood, engineered wood composites, and veneers, which is typical for furniture in its price range. Their construction is designed to balance affordability with durability.
Can I shop at Nebraska Furniture Mart if I don't live near a store?
Yes, Nebraska Furniture Mart has a comprehensive website that allows customers across the country to order products for delivery.
Does NFM sell more than just furniture?
Absolutely. This is their main differentiator. NFM is a one-stop-shop for almost everything for the home, including major appliances, televisions and audio equipment, computers, mattresses, and a full assortment of flooring like carpet, tile, and hardwood.
Which store is better for families with kids?
Rooms to Go often builds its collections with families in mind, frequently using durable, stain-resistant fabrics. While NFM certainly sells family-friendly furniture, you'll need to spend more time weeding through options to find pieces that are specifically designed for durability.
How fast is delivery from Rooms to Go?
One of Rooms to Go's main selling points is quick and efficient delivery. While times can vary by location and stock levels, they are well-known for getting furniture to customers faster than many traditional retailers that have long lead times.
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