Steel Wire Shelving: Staples vs. Sears vs. Target

To cut to the chase - Target wins when it comes to steel wire shelving. I’ve been shopping around for shelving (quality metal shelving), I prefer the steel wire kind, its solid and light.

My first thought was to buy through staples.com for their free shipping. But they are out of stock for the affordable ones, and the Safco shelves are over $200. No thanks. Doing some searching reveals that Sears and Sams have shelves same by the same manufacturer for much less, the only difference being the amount of weight each shelf can hold. 800lbs for the ones at Staples (Safeco model Model 5285BL), and 500 pounds for the ones at Sears and Sams (Safco model # SAF5241BL).

Then I checked out Target, and the pricing was very different. They have a similar (though much lighter weight - only 70 lbs per shelf) for only $39.99 as of September 15, 2007:

5-Tier Wire Shelf - Black @ Target.com for $39.99

They also stock this item, so I can pick it up without having to pay shipping fees. Awesome. While there is a Target getting built in Stoughton where my office is, it won’t be done for awhile, so I guess I’ll go to the one in Abington.

I’m planning to use the shelves to hold small computers, so I think 70 lbs is enough (these computers don’t have bulky power supplies which are pretty heavy). If not, Target sells a much beefier version which can hold up to 350 pounds per shelf, but that one is not stocked in their stores.

On second thought, to save on time and labor, I might just order two of both and call it a day. Both FW and UP offer great rebates on purchases from Target, so that might just seal the deal. I actually decided to get the bulkier ones, for some strange reason, the lighter weight ones were more expensive to ship, so I bought two at $79 plus $59 for shipping, and it came out to just a little more than buying two lighter weight ones. Later on down the road if I need more shelving I’ll buy it from the local Target to avoid the shipping costs.