Mom loves this piece. She stores some of her house shoes, magazines, and she won't admit to it but I think she keeps some Scotch in there as well. I've seen her sit on it to get closer to the TV, she puts her feet up on it when she's sitting on the couch, or just keeps a bunch of things on top of it to keep them handy. She's had it about 6 months now and it's holding up real well considering the amount of use it's getting.