Gallery Furniture proudly delivers all across the great United States - and the world. From the shores of Hawaii to penthouses overlooking New York's Central Park. From USO centers in Baghdad to the farthest north tips of Michigan, Gallery Furniture always delivers.
So when some local Houstonians with vacation homes in Colorado asked Gallery Furniture to deliver their new Drexel Heritage, Mayo, and solid mango wood furniture to the rocky mountain state of Colorado, Gallery Furniture responded "no problem!"
Selecting two of Gallery Furniture's most experienced drivers - Roy Ortega and Ricky Tello (with a combined 23 years of Gallery Furniture delivery experience), they headed out this past Monday on three deliveries in Colorado.
"We left on Monday, and the best part is we got to the first stop a bit early - we drove in shifts, did not encounter any major traffic or anything, and we made it to the first Gallery Furniture customer outside of Divide, Colorado around 4 a.m."
They took a short four-hour power nap and made it to the first stop promptly at 8 a.m. The challenge that Roy and Ricky came to face turned out to have nothing to do with the weight of the furniture. "You know, you come up here knowing the elevation is gonna affect you in some way, little do you know how much until you get involved in a simple living room set delivery."
They felt it as soon as they had to move the old furniture out "We had to move out the old pieces, and nothing weighed that much, but even I was coughing on just moving the old sofa, it was something else." What's more, when they had to do some minor disassembling of legs to get some new pieces in: "Ricky and I were getting tired just turning bolts, which says something - and I couldn't help but think that wow, this is just the first stop." They made it, though, and they powered through in Gallery Furniture fashion, making sure the first customer had everything just the way they wanted.
The second stop was something Roy was ready for. "We headed over to a beautiful condo outside of Crested Butte, and we had a solid Mango Wood table and chair set by HTD to deliver - anyone who knows these pieces knows they are heavy. Thing is, we had a couple of things that made it easier. First, we had gained some valuable experience on breathing and working in this elevation. Second, we had an elevator."
Gallery Furniture definitely believes in hard work, and also believes in working smarter, as Roy and Ricky used the large elevator to make it up the condo and get the delivery in place. "At this point, I looked at Ricky and we both kind of knew that we just needed to head out to the last stop, even if we would make it by night. We were ahead of schedule, and we just wanted to knock it out."
The funny thing about the last Gallery Furniture stop in Colorado? There was no furniture on board the truck! Explains Roy Ortega: "the last customer outside of Longmont, Colorado ordered nothing but Drexel Heritage from Gallery Furniture. So much, that Mack had to send a 53' truck out to Drexel Heritage to meet us in Colorado."
The roads apparently presented some dangers - Roy and Ricky quickly found the lack of guardrails in the mountain ranges disturbing, if not downright scary. "You get used to driving in Texas with lots of safety guidelines on our state highways. Colorado was a whole other picture - Ricky and I exercised extreme caution making our way on winding elevated roads with no guardrails and small curbs. When we finally got to the last stop, we saw the truck waiting. All 53 feet of it."
Roy and Ricky looked at the clock, it was 8 p.m. local time and they decided "let's do this." They spoke with the customers and the driver, and while the Gallery Furniture customers and eighteen wheeler driver went to grab dinner, Roy and Ricky stayed behind. "I didn't see the sense in eating and grabbing sleep - let's just do this the Gallery Furniture way and get it done."
Working by themselves, Roy and Ricky verified items as they unpacked all 53 feet of the eighteen wheeler. "We had to check everything, the manifest, the receipt, the delivery ticket, everything was triple checked." They worked tirelessly into the night and until the morning. And while the truck driver slept, Roy and Ricky toiled away getting hundreds of Drexel
Heritage pieces into a valued Gallery Furniture customer's home.
"The neat part? The customers stayed up even though they didn't have to, pointing out where things were going and what they wanted done. It was nice of them to do that - they got us water and kept us motivated." They wrapped the delivery up at 4 a.m., after one last piece presented a challenge unlike any other.
"It was what we called the kidney bean desk. A beautiful desk made by Drexel Heritage, and that sucker was heavy. Easily 400 pounds of solid desk in the odd shape of a kidney bean. One solid massive, piece. Add to that we were just a bit tired and were wearing protective booties to keep the home looking clean and nice, and you talk about a challenge hauling that kidney bean desk up the stairs."
Finishing up at 4:00 a.m. on Wednesday did not mean that the Gallery Furniture Team was done, it just meant that they could rest til morning and come back for final clean up. "We could've worked through, but honestly, we needed a shower at that point - and some sleep, so we grabbed both at a local motel and were back at 9:00 a.m. to finish the job.
"We took all that trash and compacted it into our truck - just image that. A 53-foot truckload of paper, cardboard, and plastic all into a Gallery Furniture truck. We then went back in, talked to the customers, and we did some final re-arranging. They had some new
thoughts on where to put some pieces, and we were more than happy to make them happy."
When did they get back in? Thursday. Roy Ortega said "it was just one more Gallery Furniture delivery - only a longer drive." Way to go, Roy and Ricky! Gallery Furniture delivers your furniture wherever you want it - from Hawaii to New York or Michigan to Colorado. Wherever that vacation home, summer home, or winter home is, let Gallery Furniture's experienced team get your furniture there when you want it, how you want it.
Above, the "kidney bean" Drexel Heritage desk. Below, driver Roy Ortega back from his three stops in Colorado. He had to get back to work - and Ricky (not shown) was busy again today making Gallery Furniture customers happy with same day delivery.
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