Update: I have had this for 2 months now and it STILL smells. The smell is a strong musty odor (not like a stain or varnish), very unpleasant. 
There are a lot of positives with this hall tree but also a HUGE negative (at least for me). First the positives- sturdy, real wood, great size if you need/want something tall but narrow (short depth), super easy to put together. Now the negatives- wood is A LOT darker in person and does have strong smell out of box. I was aware of smell from other reviews so that was not a problem for me but the darker color is a huge disappointment. The pics I have attached don’t show how dark it truly is in person (it’s even darker). If that’s what you want, great, but I’m considering stripping and re-staining mine. I thought about returning but my husband was already frustrated with me for taking so long to pick something out so we’re keeping it