Shopping the Showrooms: The Do's and Dont's of Browsing and Buying at Design Centers

Kuchinskas, Susan, Sunset

The do's and don'ts of browsing and buying at design centers

Those magic words "I can get it for you wholesale" - do they apply to design centers? In one more word, no. The industry is changing, and design centers that turned up their noses at the public a few years ago now welcome us.

But that doesn't mean we can walk in and buy at the same wholesale prices designers do. Nor are furniture showrooms anything like retail stores. Though you can enter and browse through many showrooms, you usually can't buy directly from them (sometimes you might be lucky enough to purchase a sample product from a particular showroom, but that's usually an exception rather than the rule). Design centers have various policies, but it helps to know the basic shopping etiquette.

Don't be offended if you are not immediately acknowledged, or perhaps are downright ignored, when you enter a showroom. Showroom employees are often busy, checking on products for their clients or …

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Publication information: Article title: Shopping the Showrooms: The Do's and Dont's of Browsing and Buying at Design Centers. Contributors: Kuchinskas, Susan - Author. Magazine title: Sunset. Volume: 199. Issue: 3 Publication date: September 1997. Page number: 102+. © 1999 Sunset Publishing Corp. COPYRIGHT 1997 Gale Group.

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