Ergonomic Office Chairs in Sydney — Sit in the Best Before You Buy

A chair is one of the few things you can research for a fortnight and still get wrong. Reach, recline resistance and the exact place a backrest meets your spine are not printed on a spec sheet, and they are the things that decide whether you are still comfortable at four in the afternoon. Our Sydney showroom at 11/46-50 Wellington Rd, South Granville is there so you can settle that in an afternoon rather than a week after the delivery arrives.

Where we are

South Granville sits in Sydney's west, and it is our only showroom in New South Wales — the whole range is in that one room, so a single trip covers everything rather than sending you to three different retailers. The floor opens at 1:30pm and stays open until 7:30pm, six days a week — we are closed on Tuesdays. There is no morning session, so plan for the second half of the day.

What you can only learn by sitting in it

Three questions come up over and over, and none of them can be answered from a product listing.

• Which Aeron size you actually are. A, B and C are not small, medium and large the way clothing sizes are — they change the seat width, the seat depth and the height of the back together. Plenty of people land on a boundary in the size chart and could plausibly buy either. A couple of minutes in each of the three, back to back and in that order, ends the argument. All three sizes are on the floor for exactly this reason.
• Whether a chair that moves with you suits you or irritates you. The LiberNovo Omni family behaves differently from a conventional tilt mechanism, and people genuinely split on it. Some feel the point of it inside a minute; others would rather a chair stayed where they put it. Twenty minutes in one is the only honest test, and there is no way to run that test through a screen.
• Where your arms end up. Armrest height, width and pivot decide whether your shoulders drop or slowly creep towards your ears, and that depends on your desk as much as on the chair. Bring your laptop and we will set one of the sit-stand desks on the floor to your working height, so you are testing the chair as you will actually use it rather than at a generic showroom height.

What is on the floor

Both of our showrooms carry the same range, so nothing below is exclusive to Sydney. What South Granville gives you is all of it in one room, close enough together that you can compare across brands instead of only within one.

• Herman Miller. Aeron in sizes A, B and C, plus Embody, Embody Gaming, Cosm, Sayl and Mirra 2 — enough range to work out whether you want a mesh seat, the Embody's backrest, or something simpler than either.
• LiberNovo. The Omni, Omni SE and Omni Pro sit together, so the step from manual to motorised is something you feel rather than something you read about. The big-and-tall Maxis is now orderable in three configurations — Manual, Electric and Airflow. Ring Mick on +61 423 037 475 first if the Maxis is the reason you are making the trip, so we can confirm the configuration you want is on the floor that day.
• The value end. Sihoo DORO S300, C500 and C300 Pro alongside the M-series, and the UE Flow 530, 550 and 660 Air plus the ACT 280 Pro. This is the part of the floor that answers how much chair you actually need, and it is normal to leave with something less expensive than you walked in expecting to buy.
• Desks and accessories. The T-series sit-stand desks run up and down on the floor, with monitor arms and headrests fitted so you can see how they behave rather than guess from a photograph.

How a visit works

Walk-ins are welcome whenever we are open. Ringing ahead still helps: the Sydney floor is run by Mick, and a call means he is expecting you and free when you arrive rather than mid-fitting with someone else. It costs nothing and there is no obligation attached to it.

A session usually starts with questions rather than chairs — what you do all day, how many hours of it you spend seated, what hurts and when, how tall you are and how long your legs are relative to your torso. Then three or four chairs get adjusted to you before you sit in them, which matters more than it sounds: most people who dislike a chair in a showroom have sat in one still set up for the last visitor. One of the three is often cheaper than the chair you came in to buy.

Wear what you normally work in. A stiff pair of jeans changes how a seat edge feels against the back of your knee, and a thick jumper changes where a backrest seems to land. If your setup at home is unusual — a very high desk, a very deep one, two monitors — say so early, because it changes which chairs are worth your time.

Everything on the floor is genuine, current stock. Every chair we sell is brand new, and the warranty on every brand — Herman Miller, LiberNovo, Sihoo and UE — is handled locally by Aussie Chair, serviced in Sydney rather than shipped offshore.

Taking it home

If what you choose is in stock at South Granville and it fits in your car, it can go home with you the same day — worth knowing if you have driven in from further west and would rather not wait. Otherwise we deliver across Sydney, regional New South Wales and the rest of the country, with freight quoted at checkout against your actual address rather than estimated. If you are visiting from interstate, our other locations, including pickup points in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, are listed on the showrooms page.

Before you drive over

If you have already narrowed it down to two specific models, read our written comparison of those two first and arrive with a question rather than a shortlist. The floor moves much faster when you know what you are testing for. If you have no idea where to start, come in anyway — that is the more common case, and it is the one a showroom handles far better than any website can.

Questions we get about the Sydney showroom

Do I need to book, or can I turn up?

Turn up. Walk-ins are welcome any time the doors are open. Booking or ringing ahead only matters when you want a specialist held for you for a decent stretch of time, or when there is a specific chair or configuration you want confirmed on the floor before you drive over.

What is the latest I can arrive?

The showroom is open 1:30pm to 7:30pm every day except Tuesday, when we are closed. Nothing opens before 1:30pm on any open day. If you are comparing several chairs properly, do not aim to arrive ten minutes before we close — a real comparison is slower than people expect, and rushing it defeats the point of coming in.

Can I try all three Aeron sizes in one visit?

Yes. Sizes A, B and C are all on the floor and it is the single most useful thing most visitors do, particularly if the size chart put you on a boundary. It is also the decision that is most expensive to get wrong online, because the sizes are not interchangeable once the chair is yours.

Is there a home trial if I am still not sure?

Yes — a take-it-home trial is available. The specifics (which chairs it covers, how long you have it for, and the conditions) are arranged in person, so talk it through with the specialist during your showroom visit and they will set it up with you.

What warranty do the chairs carry?

It varies by model, so check the individual product page. As a guide: the Herman Miller Aeron comes with one year as standard, with a paid upgrade to twelve years available; the Embody and Embody Gaming carry twelve years; every LiberNovo model carries five years on the frame and two years on the motor. Everything else runs from one year upwards.

Can you deliver if I would rather not carry it out?

Yes. We deliver across Sydney, regional New South Wales and nationally, and freight is quoted at checkout against the address you enter. Same-day carry-out is only an option when the chair is in stock at the showroom and physically fits in your vehicle, which rules out most desks.