BARGAINS / GERI COOK : Oasis of Furnishings : The Palm Springs area is loaded with consignment stores offering a treasure trove of well-priced, quality items.
Serious shopping for home furnishings might have to be added to your list of things to do during your next trip to the Palm Springs area. During the last few years, consignment stores have burgeoned there. One store owner put the number of furniture consignment stores at 43. I can’t vouch for that number, but I can tell you that several are absolutely fabulous.
Where does all this stuff come from? One store owner thinks that when people move to the desert, they discover that their more traditional furniture doesn’t work, so they turn it over to consignment stores. Another store owner’s theory is that many estates are disposed of this way by heirs who just want to get rid of the items, and because estate sales are prohibited by law in this area, consignment stores provide a means.
At any rate, the deals are here.
*
At The Consignment Company, four gorgeous Lucite chairs recently upholstered in gold ultra suede were $200 per chair, and that’s without negotiating. New, these chairs would sell for around $800--and these looked like new. A small, round Oriental coffee table, cut in four pie slices that could stand separately, was unique and $150.
The Consignment Company, 71572 Highway 111, Rancho Mirage. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. Discover, MasterCard and Visa. (619) 568-4022.
*
Up the road is La Gallaria Consignments, where a stunning ship man’s desk, with lots of gleaming cherrywood and silver adornments, was $995. A similar desk at an antique store on Melrose had a $3,200 price tag. There’s quite a silver collection, and one silver-plated sugar bowl from the Victorian era was only $15. Another beautiful deal was a rectangular-shaped marble-based lamp for $45.
La Gallaria Consignments, 71713 Highway 111, Rancho Mirage. 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday to Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sunday. American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa. (619) 776-9880.
*
Consign ‘N Design has the ambience of a museum. It’s not just previously owned items here on consignment but, much like Designer Bloopers in Culver City, there are many new pieces from the Pacific Design Center and other venues of the top designers. A life-size baby elephant made of wood (just the thing for that corner of the den) that sells for $80,000 is in a window display, and from the ceiling hangs a dome, 14 feet by 7 feet, from the solarium of a turn-of-the-century Philadelphia home. It’s like one enormous Tiffany shade for only $49,000. It would cost about $125,000 in today’s market, says Gary Lavery, the store’s manager.
The new items are sold at wholesale or below, Lavery says. A down-filled custom chenille sofa on the floor was $3,900. It would be difficult to find a sofa of this quality for less than $6,000.
Consign ‘N Design, 70007 Highway 111, Rancho Mirage. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. MasterCard and Visa. (619) 770-3360.
*
The woman who started the desert consignment store mania is Sharon Dean, who opened The Estate Sale Co. a little more than five years ago. Just the size of this store got everyone’s attention. When 22,000 square feet of space is filled with upscale used furnishings, people notice. Dean’s operation thrives on the frequency of estate liquidations, and the deals are excellent. A nine-piece Henredon walnut wall unit, covering a 12-foot wall, retails new for $13,500 but previously owned and in perfect condition it was $3,500.
Estate Sale Co., 4185 E. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. MasterCard and Visa. (619) 321-7628.
These are only a few of the many consignment stores in the area. A drive from Palm Springs to La Quinta on Highway 111 reveals many more.