June 2006
Super-sized discounts on home furnishings
North Carolina stores can save you up to 80 percent
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HOW MUCH TO SHIP THIS ONE? The High Point landmark "dresser" houses the city's Jaycees headquarters.
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Where to find that deal is the challenge. Today, furniture is sold in a multitude of locations at a wide range of prices. You can find home stores displaying expensive pieces that are so well made you'll be able to pass them on to your heirs. Assemble-it-yourself furniture from Ikea or Wal-Mart will save you a wad and still meet the criteria of your Inner Style Police. And for bargain hunters, there are thrift stores, used-furniture outlets, and flea markets.
But you don't necessarily have to compromise. In High Point, N.C., you can find top-of-the-line furnishings at drastically reduced prices.
Quality bargains
In case you didn't know, High Point is the center of furniture production in the U.S. Even with shipping costs, typically about 5 percent of the furniture's retail price, you'll still save if you buy there.
Most manufacturers in High Point have their own factories and showrooms for tradespeople in the region, including Henredon, Leathercraft, and Thomasville. Consumers can shop in nearby outlets, which stock discontinued styles, returns, overstocked items, showroom floor samples, and seconds, all at 50 to 80 percent below retail. Kimberly Causey, author of "The Furniture Factory Outlet Guide" (Home Decor Press, 2006), nabbed a Drexel Heritage brass-and-iron bed with missing side rails for $149, reduced from $2,200. "With a dust ruffle, no one sees the flaw," she says.
For an even wider selection, visit factory-approved deep discounters, such as Boyles, Thomas Home Furnishings, and Better Homes Discount Furniture, which let you order current brand-name furniture at about half the retail price.
• Before you go. A virtual town tour will help familiarize you with High Point stores before you board a plane. The High Point Chamber of Commerce Web site ( www.highpointchamber.org/hppc/index.html ) has a furniture-shopping category that links you to 62 retailers.
Of course, if you've already visited stores in your area and know what you want down to the model number, you can skip the trip to High Point and order most brand-name furniture by calling a phone number listed on the retailer's Web site.
• Visiting High Point. Professional buyers flock to the city twice a year for the International Home Furnishings Market, the world's largest furnishings-industry trade show, filling up local hotels and driving up room rates. Time your visit for the after-market sales open to the public and held about a week and a half later, usually in early May and November, to save another 10 percent on your furniture. The market's dates are posted on the International Home Furnishings Center Web site ( www.ihfc.com ).
The High Point Convention & Visitors Bureau ( www.highpoint.org ) gives tourists a free coupon book, "Passport to Savings," if they stay at 1 of 11 participating hotels. Deals and discounts include 10 percent off any accessory at Henredon and free delivery on purchases of $1,000 or more at Boyles. Go to the visitors bureau Web site for more information.
You must pay your home state's sales tax on purchases unless you take delivery in North Carolina (and haul them home yourself). Sometimes the tax is charged and noted on your receipt. If it isn't, check the Web site of your state's Department of Revenue. To find the address, search for "state revenue sites" on the Internal Revenue Service site ( www.irs.gov ).
This article was also published in Consumer Reports Money Adviser.
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