Winsome Wood 4-Shelf Narrow Shelving Unit, Espresso

This shelf is durable and well put together. However, assembly IS required. You will be required to glue hefty pegs in place and to screw in some allen-hex screws.

This is made of real wood, not particle board, so you'll have to wiggle a little here and there to get it all lined up. Once it's in place, the screws hold it together snugly while the pegs dry.

The peg holes are a little oversized because it's consumer assembly, and you don't want someone breaking it with a hammer. As such, I recommend overuse of wood/white glue to fill the holes.

Once it's assembled, the "smart" thing to do is to wait a day or two for the glue to dry, and make sure there are no drips/runs.

However, I loaded mine up with books and equipment immediately and have been very happy with it over the last 6 months. I've moved it around, leaned on it, piled heavy books on top, etc.

Because it's open on the sides, the weight is much less than something more solid. The slats hold in most anything I'd want to put on the shelves. There's even a little room under it which I found was good for packing into a corner with a torchiere light, or for hiding misc stuff. YMMV as you might find it simply collects dust bunnies.

Either way, my unit does not wobble other than being tall and thin. It supports any book load I put on it, free-standing.

In summary, this is REAL WOOD, free standing, about 5' tall, and can be assembled by one person with a sore back in about 20 minutes with glue and an allen wrench. It can be carried by one person, but is stable on the floor.