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Buyer Reviews
Average Buyer Rating:
-
Okay shelf, but quite a hassle
First of all, I really thought this shelf was black. It is not black, it is dark brown. Perhaps this is just my own stupidity, since it clearly says "Expresso," but it came up in a search for "black bookcase" and it appeared black in the picture. And then I didn't really want to return it, considering how much of a hassle it was to get it shipped in the first place.
Perhaps the most disappointing part about this shelf was that I was unable to put it together with only the parts included. I had to go to the hardware store and buy some small L brackets because I was afraid it was going to collapse once I put books on it. This was due to the fact that one side of the shelf had been warped a little during shipping. The cam lock and cam bolt method of putting together a shelf therefore was not very effective, resulting in both the middle and bottom shelves not being securely attached to the sides.
Another annoying thing was the backing. It was composed of four different sections of that really crappy particle board stuff that many shelves use for backing. There were two sections for the top, joined together by a piece of black electrical tape, and two sections for the bottom, also joined together by a piece of black electrical tape. This might have been fine, as long as you don't want anyone to see the back of your shelf (UGLY). However, whoever put the tape on didn't do a very good job, as it was peeling off. Even this might not have been a problem, except that the box contained numerous sheets of Styrofoam which had broken in transit. This resulted in little bitty pieces of Styrofoam stuck all over the tape where the panels were folded, rendering the one of the tapes useless and the other rather lumpy. Not to mention the fact that I had to vacuum the shelf for about thirty minutes (No exaggeration) because the little pieces of Styrofoam were stuck all over everything, including all the shelves. In addition, it seemed electrically charged or something, because trying to just wipe it off did nothing except move it around; hence the vacuuming.
That being said, now that I have put the shelf together myself, vacuumed, and found new tape, and despite the fact that it is dark brown instead of black, it is a really nice shelf. Not sure if you really want to go through all this for a shelf, but it actually looks really nice (from the front) once it is finished. One thing I really did like was that the fronts of the shelves are attached to about a two inch panel of wood that makes the shelf look much nicer than if they were just regular shelves. And in my experience, putting together shelves is a pretty big hassle anyway, so maybe this one wasn't so much worse than normal. Now that I went through all the trouble of putting it together, I actually really like it, even better than my other two shelves.
Customer Rating: 
-
You can't beat this bookshelf for the price!
I saw this at Target and really liked the look so I put TWO of them on our wedding registry at Amazon. I read the reviews and thought I'd take a chance, not too worried about the backing being perfect. When they arrived, one corner of the box was beat up and I was afraid that it might be damaged, but it wasn't (can't blame Amazon for UPS anyway). They got here really fast and both boxes were packed VERY well, very neatly with stable styrofoam cushioning. Each piece was clearly labeled exactly as it was in the instruction booklet. Its so simple, a kid can put this together. All you need is a philips screwdriver. There were lots of extra hardware and they were neatly packed as well. It took us 1 1/2 hours to put each book case together (3 hours total) and we took our time because we are not used to assembling things. On one of the bookshelves, I thought we had a piece with the pre-drilled holes missing, but thankfully i turned the bookshelf over I realized I had put that shelf in backwards. It is pretty fool proof. I'm guessing the people who had to drill the holes probably have a shelf with holes on the front because they did it wrong. Check yourself before you start drilling!! All of the pieces fit together perfectly and on the backing, the holes lined up right on. I feel pretty confident that this is a really great product for the price, especially since we took a chance on TWO and they were both easy to assemble and free from defect. This is a beautiful bookshelf and I gave it 5 stars because in its price category, you just can't beat it. It did, however look a little taller in the store than it actually is, but we sure do love them, and they look gorgeous beside our espresso canopy bed!
Customer Rating: 
-
Almost Perfect
After several failed attempts to pick this one up at a local Target, I decided to order it online thru Amazon. I was apprehensive knowing what could happen during shipping and whether it would arrive at all.
As soon as I had received it, I opened it up and glanced at the instructions.
Looking at it, it seems more complicated than it actually is. There are a lot of lines and letters pointing in all sorts of places, but mainly it's just to be sure the bookcase is solid. This isn't an Ikea brand bookcase, with four screws and an L tool.
If you take it step by step, it should only take you about an hour and a half to two to put it together.
I cant give it four and a half stars, but I would. The only problem I had was with the backing. It comes in two seperate pieces, and one of the pieces was an inch short...so I couldn't secure it on one side.
Other than that its a solid, great looking piece of furniture; definitely worth the price.
Customer Rating: 
-
A disappointment
My husband and I purchased this item to go with the smaller two-shelf espresso bookcase from the same line. The five-shelf bookcase was much more difficult to put together: it took several hours to assemble, and the directions weren't especially helpful. The biggest problem was that one of the pieces didn't have any pre-drilled holes where there were SUPPOSED to be holes. My husband drilled the holes himself, but as a result, one of the shelves isn't as sturdy as I'd like it to be. There are a few small nicks in the wood here and there, and most of them aren't very noticeable. However, I noticed a sizeable chip in the wood after the bookcase was assembled. It's not very obvious, but I know it's there and I'm not thrilled about it. For $99, I guess I really can't complain, but the bit about the missing holes really bothers me. I was originally planning to buy several more bookcases from this collection, but now I'm reassessing my options.