Low Furniture Prices at High Point
In the center of this North Carolina town there is a rectangular gray building that looks exactly like an enormous chest of drawers complete with drawers and drawer knobs. This unusual building, at 508 N. Hamilton, was erected in 1926 and now is headquarters for the local Jaycees. But it remains a constant reminder that High Point is one of the furniture capitals of the world. Today, more than 60% of the nation’s furniture is made within a 200-mile radius of High Point.
The town was founded and built around the furniture industry. High Point’s location in the heart of rich hardwood forests and at the crossroads of two principal transportation routes (it was named High Point because it is the highest point on the North Carolina Railroad) made it a prime site for furniture factories. Manufacturers began locating in High Point during the late 1800s. In the early 1900s, several local citizens invested about $2 million to develop the area’s furniture industry.
There are dozens of wholesale and discount showrooms that sell to the public in the center of town, on or near Main Street. They range from enormous showrooms displaying hundreds of styles by dozens of furniture makers to small specialty shops that offer one type of furniture or one line.
While High Point’s furniture dealers will not quote prices (in deference to retailers selling their lines), most items are sold for about 30% to 50% less than prices for identical furniture at retail stores around the country.
Discount prices and a vast selection of styles make High Point a terrific shopping spot.
Wood-Armfield Furniture (460 S. Main St.), one of High Point’s best and largest multi-manufacturer showrooms, was founded more than 50 years ago. It has been expanded to include 80,000 square feet of show space, plus another 40,000 square feet for service and storage.
Wood-Armfield shows and sells bedroom and dining room, leather and contemporary furniture, upholstered chairs and sofas, accessories and lamps. It carries more than 200 furniture lines, ranging from high-end to reasonably priced furniture. Galleries are dedicated to Thomasville, Hickory-White, Knob Creek, Century, Carsons and Thayer Coggin. Other major brands include Stratton, Ficks Reed, La-Z-Boy, Southwood Reproductions, Lexington, Stanley and American Drew.
Wood-Armfield has two additional showrooms: Utility Craft Furniture (2630 Eastchester Drive) has a similar selection of items, and Furniture Clearance Center (1107 Tate St.) features market samples and factory close-outs, often sold at wholesale or below. The biggest selection of goods at the Furniture Clearance Center is found during the months following market weeks, when the latest display models are cleared, but factory close-out items are available throughout the year.
The Atrium Furniture Showrooms (430 S. Main St.), with 230,000 square feet of display space on four floors, is one of the South’s largest home furnishing malls, featuring High Point’s premier collection of galleries. In all, more than 300 furniture lines, including contemporary, traditional, country and European styles, are represented in 22 shops. The Atrium Premiere Shopper Incentive Program offers monetary rewards to customers for referrals that result in sales.
The Furniture Makers Guild Factory (1150 W. Tryon Ave., off West Green Drive) offers free one-hour guided tours of its plant, which produces upholstered furniture. Tours must be booked at least one month in advance. Contact the High Point Convention & Visitors Bureau (101 W. Green Drive, P.O. Box 2273, High Point, N.C. 27261, 919-884-5255), which also provides brochures listing about 20 retail stores and other information about accommodations and attractions in the area.
For more information, High Point’s Bienenstock Furniture Library has the world’s largest collection of books on the history of furniture. In August of this year, High Point is opening the Furniture Discovery Center, the nation’s only museum illustrating how furniture is manufactured, designed and crafted.
High Point’s furniture dealers arrange for shipping. Average cost from High Point to the West Coast is $81 per 100 pounds and $77 per 100 if the total weight is more than 1,000 pounds. Most sofas weigh 200 pounds. A solid wood dining room set usually weighs 800 to 1,000 pounds.
