Buy in store if comfort is your top concern and you're unsure about seat depth or firmness. Buy online if you already know what you like, want more configurations to choose from, or need it to fit through a tight door. The best option, when you can get it, is both: try it in a showroom, then order at the same price and have it shipped to your home. It's less about where you buy and more about whether you can judge the sofa before it's yours, and send it back if you can't.
We started Cozey as an online-only brand in 2020 and opened our first store in 2024, so we've seen both sides closely. A lot of our customers sit on a sofa in one of our stores, go home, measure, sleep on it, and order a week later. That's a perfectly good way to buy a sofa.
This guide covers what you can and can't judge in each setting, how delivery, returns and pricing differ, and how to buy a sofa online without regretting it.
On This Page
- Online vs. In Store at a Glance
- What You Can Only Judge in Person
- What Buying Online Does Better
- Delivery, Returns and Price: What's Different
- How to Buy a Sofa Online With Confidence
- The In-Between: Try It in Store, Ship It Home
Online vs. In Store at a Glance
Online vs. In Store at a Glance
| Buying in store | Buying online | Try in store, ship home | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Judging comfort | Best: you sit on it | Hardest: rely on specs and reviews | Best |
| Seeing fabric | In the store's lighting | Photos, or samples by mail | Take swatches home |
| Choice of sizes and configurations | Limited to what's on the floor or in the catalogue | Usually the widest | The full range, with help planning it |
| Pressure | Can be high | None | Low |
| Getting it home | Depends on the store's delivery | Courier to your door | Courier to your door |
| Fitting through tight spaces | Depends on the piece | Boxed furniture fits more easily | Boxed furniture fits more easily |
| Returns | Varies a lot, sometimes store credit only | Varies, often a set trial window | Same as online |
| Price | Can vary with sales and negotiation | Easy to compare | Same as online |
What You Can Only Judge in Person
Summary: Comfort, seat depth and how a fabric feels are the three things photos can't show you. If you're unsure about any of them, try before you buy.
- Seat depth. A few centimetres changes everything. A deep seat is great for lounging with your legs up, but shorter people may not reach the back with their feet on the floor. A shallower seat is better for sitting upright.
- Firmness and how it changes. Some cushions feel firm at first and soften with use. Others feel plush and sink further than you'd like. Sitting for a few minutes tells you more than a firmness rating.
- Back and arm height. Can you rest your head? Can you lie down with your head on the arm?
- Fabric in hand. Texture, weight and how a colour reads in real light are hard to judge on a screen.
- Scale. A sofa often looks smaller in a big showroom than it will in your living room. Bring your measurements.
The trick in a store is to sit the way you sit at home. Kick your shoes off, lie down, slouch. Nobody minds, and it's the only way to know.
What Buying Online Does Better
Summary: More choice, more information and no pressure. Online is often the better way to configure and compare, even if you still want to sit on it first.
- Every configuration, not just the floor model. Online you can build exactly the size, shape and fabric you want, and see the price change as you go.
- Specs you can actually compare. Seat depth, height, materials, box sizes and weights are all on the page, side by side.
- Real reviews. Hundreds of owners tell you how a sofa holds up after a year, which a showroom can't.
- Time to think. Measure your space, ask your partner, sleep on it. Nobody is waiting for you to decide.
- Delivery built for small spaces. Furniture designed to ship by courier usually comes in boxes that fit through apartment doors and up stairs.
Delivery, Returns and Price: What's Different
Summary: The biggest differences aren't in the buying, they're in what happens after. Check delivery, returns and the real price before you choose where to buy.
Delivery
Furniture bought in a traditional store is often delivered fully assembled by a two-person crew on a scheduled day, which is convenient if it fits through your door. Furniture designed for online sale usually ships in boxes by courier, arrives faster, and is assembled at home. That makes it far easier to get into a walk-up or a condo with a small elevator.
Returns
In store, return policies range from generous to store credit only, and large items are sometimes final sale. Online brands usually offer a set trial window, but read who pays for the return and whether you need the original packaging.
Price
Online prices are easier to compare. In store, prices may move with sales events. Either way, compare the total cost, including delivery and any return fees, not just the sticker.
At Cozey
Our stores and our website work the same way: same price, same 30-day trial on furniture and 100-night trial on mattresses, same free delivery to your door, whether you order in store or online. We've never run a sale, so there's no reason to wait for one.
How to Buy a Sofa Online With Confidence
Summary: Order swatches, measure twice, read the reviews that mention durability, and make sure the trial and return terms work for you before you click buy.
- Order fabric swatches first. They're usually free, and they'll settle the colour question in your own light.
- Know your seat depth. Measure the seat depth of a sofa you already find comfortable, and use it as your benchmark.
- Tape it out. Mark the sofa's footprint on the floor with painter's tape and live with it for a day.
- Measure the path in. Doorways, stairwells, hallways and elevators, compared to the box dimensions.
- Read reviews from people like you. Look for reviews that mention how the sofa feels after a year, and from people with kids, pets or a similar space.
- Check the trial and return terms. How many days, who arranges the return, whether you need the boxes and whether there's a fee.
- Check the warranty. How long it is, what it covers and whether you can replace a single part.
- Ask a person. A good brand will answer questions by chat or help you plan your layout before you buy. At Cozey, you can book a free design consultation.
The In-Between: Try It in Store, Ship It Home
Summary: At Cozey, our stores are showrooms. You try everything in person, take swatches home and get design help, then order in store or online at the same price. Your order ships to your home from our fulfillment centres.
We opened our first store because customers kept asking to sit on a sofa before buying it. What we didn't want was a store that worked differently from our website, with different prices or different terms. So our stores do one job: help you choose with confidence.
Here's how it works:
- Walk in. No appointment needed. Try every sofa, sleeper and bed on the floor, and lie down if you want to.
- Get help, or don't. Ask anyone on the floor, or book a free one-on-one design consultation on a weekday to plan your space.
- Take swatches home. See the fabrics in your own light before you decide.
- Order when you're ready. In store that day, or online from home a week later. It's the same price either way.
- We ship it to you. Nothing leaves the store with you. Your order ships from our fulfillment centres, in the same boxes designed to fit your stairs and doors, and arrives at your door like any online order.
You can find us in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary, with Edmonton opening at West Edmonton Mall on November 18, 2026. In the U.S., we have pop-ups in Los Angeles and Chicago, and our New York flagship opens on Fifth Avenue in spring 2027.