Furniture/Home Decor Shops in Sweden

September 10, 2014 5:22 PM

My husband and I are traveling to Sweden soon. We both love Scandinavian design and would like to visit some furniture/home decor shops while in Sweden. What are some good, not too expensive furniture shops to visit in Stockholm and Sundsvall? We're interested in both local chains (Ikea not included) and boutique shops. Is it possible to buy furniture there and have the shop ship them to the US for you? Are the shipping costs generally reasonable? Thanks!
posted by wcmf to Travel & Transportation around Sweden (9 answers total)

Best answer: You can buy furniture in Sweden, you can ship it back in a container. I've ordered MANY teak Scandinavian pieces from catalogs that were shipped via container. Other fun news is that a lot of the furniture is assembled in a wood shop in the back of SHØP or whatever the Scandinavian Furniture store in your neighborhood calls itself, so you can get it flat-packed and cram stuff in the container.

Here are some places you might want to check out:

Mio

Asplund

Myrorna (Consignment)

Plan Ett

I'm rather envious! I want to go to Sweden! Have a fika for me!
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 5:39 PM on September 10, 2014 [1 favorite]

Bolia is a Danish chain, a bit like Habitat in the UK, it has branches in Sweden
posted by Middlemarch at 11:26 PM on September 10, 2014

Have a look at Norrgavel (their shop in Stockholm is close to Plan Ett mentioned above).

A few minutes walk from there is the danish designstore Illums Bolighus. And right across the street from that is the NK department store which also have a nice (if expensive) selection.
posted by Petersondub at 12:01 AM on September 11, 2014

If expensive is OK (or if you just want their tea tin): Svenskt Tenn.
posted by iviken at 3:45 AM on September 11, 2014

If you want modern and quirky: Designtorget. Wide range of prices, and lots of interesting things.

I haven't personally been, but there is Design House Stockholm

Check out the big department stores. They have a good selection at a variety of prices.
NK
Åhlens

If you want to go the antique route, take a look at
Bukowskis
Auktionsverket
(both have a large amount of stuff online)

(Other, non furniture things:)
And Swedish glasswork is quite well known:
Kosta Boda
Orrefors

For porcelain:
Gustavsberg (not to be confused with the company with the same name with bathroom offerings.
posted by troytroy at 6:30 AM on September 11, 2014

Lauritz has a showroom in Stockholm, but you can bid now on things online. Lauritz is way cheaper than e.g. Bukowskis, at least for my local location, but people from Stockholm have more money, so YMMV. Be sure to uncheck "show only lots in my chosen language" ("Visa endast varor på valt språk") and to choose Stockholm from the showroom list.
posted by beerbajay at 7:12 AM on September 11, 2014

When I lived in Sweden, I bought some *extremely* cheap midcentury furniture at a secondhand store. It practically cost nothing. Even so, the cost of shipping it back was so much that I decided not to keep it. It wasn't that much less expensive than just buying from an importer in the U.S.
posted by three_red_balloons at 7:31 AM on September 11, 2014

Bukowski's (mentioned above) is a big auctioneer, but they have a less high-end site, Bukowski's Market which might be more what you are looking for. It's quite a lot like Lauritz (typical online auction) but more expensive and with better photography.
posted by beerbajay at 10:54 AM on September 11, 2014

Just returning here to say that if you don't like to include Ikea, perhaps don't waste your time on Mio either. We were there yesterday, and everything struck me as depressingly wannabe and generally not-so-well-made.
posted by Namlit at 2:57 PM on September 12, 2014