I Tried the 'Casper of Couches' and Saw the Future of Buying Furniture

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- The Editors at Men's Health

I Tried the 'Casper of Couches' and Saw the Future of Buying Furniture

In a classic scene that aired nearly two decades ago, Friends perfectly captured the futility of moving a big couch into a tiny apartment building. After volunteering to help Ross lug his gargantuan sofa up a narrow stairwell, Chandler and Rachel find themselves stuck, unable to pivot free. Ultimately, they're left with no choice but to saw their way out, leaving poor Ross's couch in ruins.

Twenty years later, that episode remains disappointingly relevant: The problem of moving bulky furniture into tiny spaces continues to haunt people—namely, New Yorkers like me who live in cramped, constricted apartment buildings. A growing number of online-only retailers, however, think they've finally found a way to help city dwellers avoid Ross, Rachel, and Chandler's fate. Similar to how manufacturers like Casper and Leesa invented a relatively pain-free way to ship high-quality mattresses, companies like Campaign, Article, and Benchmade have sprung up in recent years to help simplify the process of buying—and transporting—couches and chairs.

Burrow, which bills itself as the “luxury couch for real life,” is one of the newest and fastest-growing entrants into this burgeoning retail category. Like most of its competitors, Burrow ships its couches modularly, which means you snap the sections together Lego-style upon delivery. In exchange for a little bit of manual labor on the backend, in other words, you get the peace of mind that you won't wind up trapped and shouting for a saw. An added bonus is that you can shrink or expand your couch at will: If it turns out you only have space for a love seat, you can just unclip the middle cushion and snap the ends together; it's refreshingly versatile.

- Mike Darling (Men's Health Executive Editor)

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