Is there a secret furniture district or similar somewhere in Los Angeles?

July 17, 2009 3:42 PM

Where to get a great deal on new furniture in Los Angeles (Not Ikea)? Is there a furniture district or something? Surely there must be great deals to be had in some sort of industrial part of town or something, and not just Ikea, Plummer's, garage/estate sales, and Craigslist, right?

Specifically, I need to get a sofa, nice bookshelves, and a bunk bed for kids. I like mid-century modern looking stuff, but I'm not necessarily looking for places that just have that sort of thing.

Really, what I'm asking is this: Other than Ikea, Craigslist, Plummer's, and garage/estate sales, is there some sort of furniture district or something like that where there are direct-from-the-factory or similar furniture warehouse places in Los Angeles? There seem to be places like that here for pretty much everything else.

On the East Coast, there are places like this (e.g. Green Front in DC). Given that I like LA more and more, and that I left the East Coast to live here all those years ago, there must be something like this here, right?

posted by The World Famous to shopping (19 comments total)

I don't know about a furniture district, but have you tried Living Spaces? They have some pretty good deals, and tend to be built more solidly than IKEA. There's one in Van Nuys, if you're not allergic to the Valley.
posted by mr_roboto at 4:02 PM on July 17

Yeah, I don't know of any furniture district either. My furniture shopping included getting lucky at the Macy's outlet on Mission, and taking advantage of department stores' declining sales to negotiate deals. Green Front looks pretty unique.
posted by jabberjaw at 4:31 PM on July 17

Been here in L.A. most of my life and haven't heard of anything like this. In the early 1980s, Western Avenue in what is now called Koreatown was sort of a used-furniture district, with Wertz Brothers as kind of the anchor store - but Wertz Brothers moved to the westside long ago.
posted by chez shoes at 4:37 PM on July 17

Western, in Korea town and going north, is lined with nothing but furniture stores. I've never been in any of them, and I would doubt anything they carry is of quality, but you might want to check it out.

Other than that, I can't think of any place in LA that would qualify as a furniture district.
posted by SAC at 4:41 PM on July 17

There used to be a lot of furniture stores along Lincoln Blvd. in Venice, but I think most of them are gone. I'd check out the listings at BargainsLA to see if any of them meet your needs.
posted by mogget at 4:44 PM on July 17

There's a ton and a half of furniture places in culver city.
posted by milinar at 4:54 PM on July 17

Thanks all for the answers so far. It doesn't need to be a district - just suggestions for outlets, genuine discount places, factories, etc. The Macy's outlet intrigues me. Tell me more!
posted by The World Famous at 4:54 PM on July 17

A friend from work swears by Al's Discount Furniture for sofas. I also visited the hotel surplus outlet once (they have mostly new stuff actually, not really used hotel stuff), and they had some good deals and more of the mid-century look you mentioned; the problem is, they don't deliver. I am interested to see what others say, I have wondered the same thing ever since I moved to LA!
posted by booksandwine at 4:59 PM on July 17

Oh, but the no delivery isn't a huge deal, I have a great mover I can recommend if you need.
posted by booksandwine at 5:02 PM on July 17

I think our car will fit whatever we're getting. If not, I'll be back (or I'll just MeMail you).
posted by The World Famous at 5:11 PM on July 17

Mid-Wilshire, up and down La Brea Avenue.
posted by notyou at 5:23 PM on July 17

Could be way off, but CORT *rents* furniture to people, but they currently have a 10% coupon
for "Your Clearance Center Purchase." I have heard before that they do sell the furniture as well.

Try it out.
http://www.cort.com/furniture/locator?city=91505
posted by Spyder's Game at 5:28 PM on July 17

Forget Western/Koreatown - chintzy junk. Culver City along Venice east of Overland has the usual assortment of Plumbers and the like, but also Dansk and a few specialty places (not particularly cheap though), and other stores are just bad wood/folk kinda places. There's also Melrose west of Fairfax, but it's pricey (and hideos IMHO). Sorry, but LA sucks as furniture town, at least in my experience, when I went shopping all over town for a couch. I ended up with an Ikea item - yeah, I know.
posted by VikingSword at 5:29 PM on July 17

I ended up with an Ikea item - yeah, I know.

This has, to date, been my life. I am trying to change, but it's apparently not easy.
posted by The World Famous at 5:33 PM on July 17

It's not in LA, but his factory is: Couch, up in Seattle. Frankly I'm at Aperture's East Coast labs and I've considered buying from them, but I'm still budgeting for cross-country shipping.
posted by Weighted Companion Cube at 6:37 PM on July 17 [1 favorite has favorites]

Check out all the rental centers. They usually have (or know where to find) good deals on off rental furniture. I bought two rocker/recliners ~20 years ago for 100 bucks each at a CORT and they've been the best chairs evah! - comfy and indestructible, they're still going strong.
posted by torquemaniac at 6:39 PM on July 17

We needed a couch and didn't want Ikea. Ended up buying one I really like from Ashley in West L.A. for ~500 bucks. They had a decent selection of basic sizes and colors and fabrics, with cheaper prices than Living Spaces for similar sofas.
posted by rio at 8:42 PM on July 17

Sofa-wise, you can get a custom one made at the L.A.-based Funky Sofa for less than a lot of sofas you'd find in stores; they've got many styles that are fairly mid-century modern.
posted by lisa g at 9:09 AM on July 18

Follow-up:

Spent the day Saturday exploring the suggested options above (some of them, anyway) and ultimately buying nothing due to par-for-the-course indecision.

The Macy's outlet is awesome. Is there anything else like that that anyone knows of? Also, the furniture "district" on La Brea going north from Wilshire is amazing. Still need to get to Culver City to check that stuff out. Thanks, everyone!
posted by The World Famous at 11:06 AM on July 20