Albany bed

July 9, 2008 10:06 AM

I'm moving to Albany, NY, and I'm trying to figure out the most practical way to set up a place to sleep in my apartment (bed, futon, or mattress) as quickly and easily as possible.

I'm going to be moving to downtown Albany, NY in a few weeks, and I'm trying to figure out how to have a bed in my apartment ASAP after I get there. This could be just a mattress or a futon. I'll be moving into my apartment as soon as I get into town. I won't have a car.

So my question is: what's the quickest, simplest way to do this? Should I call someplace in advance and have them deliver it to my apartment the day I arrive? Should I just head over to a store the first full day I'm in town? Any specific store recommendations?

I can bring a sleeping bag to tide myself over the first night I'm there, but I'd like to have a real bed (or a least a mattress) by the second night.

I want to spend the absolute minimum amount of time and effort on this, as I'm going to be taking the bar exam a few days after I arrive. Also, since I want it to be as hassle- and risk-free as possible, I want to avoid makeshift options like Craigslist.

(I have searched on Google and Google Maps for things like "bed," "futon," and "mattress" along with "Albany," but it's really haphazard. Many places have almost no information beyond a phone number and address, and the first place I tried to call seemed to be out of business.)

posted by Jaltcoh to home & garden (10 comments total)

I should add that I talked to customer service at IKEA about this, and they said they couldn't deliver anything on a specified day, which is a problem.
posted by Jaltcoh at 10:08 AM on July 9, 2008

www.mattress.com
Same day delivery.
posted by amro at 10:17 AM on July 9, 2008

Have you considered an inflatable bed/mattress? That tided us over for a few days when we recently moved to Chicago.

(Albany was my home for four years, two cities back; I still miss the orange spiced tofu from Ichiban!)
posted by korpios at 10:26 AM on July 9, 2008

I've always wanted to sleep in a hammock.
posted by low affect at 10:31 AM on July 9, 2008

Seconding amro, mattress.com is your best bet. They allow you to schedule a delivery date during the checkout process on the website, and you can also shop by phone if you're suspect that entering in a date on the website is going to translate into an actual delivery.

If you're coming to Albany via moving van or truck, and you'd like to lay on the mattress before buying it, take the truck down to Huck Finns, which is the closest-to-downtown (and generally cheapest) furniture store. Their selection is a little bare-bones, and I'm not entirely convinced that they deliver, so this option may be out of the question if you're not going to have temporary access to a vehicle.

Raymour and Flanigan is a furniture chain that offers delivery in 3 days or less, but are generally more expensive than any of the competition.

Taft Furniture does deliver, has a decent selection and prices, but it pretty far away from downtown, so getting there to shop may be a bit of a project.
posted by coryinabox at 10:50 AM on July 9, 2008

If I still lived in downtown Albany, I would try calling these places (in the following order) and see if you can get them to deliver on a certain day/time:

Furniture Liquidators Inc
3 Colvin Ave
Albany, NY 12206
[phone]

Huck Finn's
25 Erie Blvd
Albany, NY 12204
[phone]

Resnicks Mattress Factory Direct
602 Columbia Tpke
East Greenbush, NY 12061
[phone]

If all else fails, consider a couple of sleeping bags/blankets, stacked one on top of another....
posted by chocolatepeanutbuttercup at 10:54 AM on July 9, 2008

I went to college not too far from downtown. Albany is a great town.
Depending on the size of the mattress, you can go to any of the mattress stores listed above (Or Taft's Furniture on Central Avenue). If you do a search, look up 'furniture Albany NY' and you will get most of the big players.
Good luck!
posted by KB.Boston_implant.By way of NY at 11:37 AM on July 9, 2008

Iam sleeping on an aerobed raised for my internship. It feels like a regular bed and is almost the height of regular beds. Once inflated rarely need to inflate again.
posted by radsqd at 12:08 PM on July 9, 2008

Thanks so much for the suggestions. I'm not sure which one I'll use, but I'm leaning toward buying a futon from mattress.com, using it as a bed to begin with, then eventually buying a normal bed and switching the futon to a couch.

Since someone asked: I won't have a vehicle at all -- I'm just flying there.
posted by Jaltcoh at 1:29 PM on July 9, 2008

For the record, I ended up buying a mattress from mattress.com, to be delivered the day after I arrive. They weren't able to deliver it earlier, which is understandable since my flight arrives in the evening. I used the "chat" feature where you place your order by IMing with a customer service rep, and the rep was very nice and helpful. Thanks, amro and coryinabox, for suggesting that site.

Based on a couple of the positive asides about Albany itself in this thread, I'll probably be asking a more general Albany-related thread once I move there...
posted by Jaltcoh at 8:34 AM on July 10, 2008