Lifestyle and Leisure
Homing in on the shopping
If you’ve decided that you’d rather deck out your American pad with newly purchased items, you’re going to need to know where to shop
David Fuller heads off in search of the stores you could soon become very familiar with
For those of you who are not planning on shipping your furniture across the Atlantic when you emigrate, furnishing your new home is something you will probably be quite looking forward to doing.
At last you've got the perfect excuse to throw out the mouldy old sofa that has been sat in your front room in the UK for so long and replace it with something a little more comfy and clean. After all, American properties are much bigger than those in Britain and that small sofa will look so out of place in your new large lounge – or at least this is how you can reason with your significant other that you really should buy a new luxury suite: A far more convincing argument than sulking in a corner moaning about 'not wanting that smelly old sofa anymore'.
However, when you first arrive in a new country it can be confusing to find out what shops sell what. From now on there will be no more popping out to familiar stores like MFI to purchase a wardrobe, DFS for a sofa or Dixons to buy that flash new stereo – these shops don't exist in the US.
Fortunately, it is unlikely you will need to become accustomed with American shops and what they sell the minute you arrive in the US. "When you buy a home in the States the chances are it will be well furnished anyway, especially the kitchen, which more often than not is fully fitted," says Carol Dudley of Florida Villa Sales. However, this isn't to say you're not going to want to stamp your own personality on the place by buying your own furniture as soon as possible. Very often the property's existing furniture will not fit in with any ideas you may have for the home," she adds.
Therefore, to help you find out which shops and stores you will be becoming familiar with on your Saturday morning shops, below is a guide to which stores sell what and, more importantly, for how much.
Furniture
"Most furniture companies in America sell complete packages which would include sofas, dining tables and chairs, bedroom furniture, mattresses and even pictures, silk plants and ornaments," says Suzanne Morrill of World of Florida. "Packages start from about $18,000 to kit out a three-bedroom sized home and go up to over $40,000 for a deluxe package," she adds.
Three of the bigger nationwide furniture dealers – it is important to remember that in the US individual states will have their own fairly large chain stores, such as Kanes or Hudsons for furniture in Florida – are Rooms to Go, Ashley and that old favourite, Ikea.
At Rooms to Go you could purchase a seven-piece living room – consisting of a three-person sofa, a love seat (a two-seater sofa), a three-piece table set and two lamps – for $1,299.99 (approximately £745). To buy all these items individually at the same store would set you back $1,599.93 (£920), so there are definitely savings to be made by purchasing packages – unless of course you don't need all of the items which they offer.
If, for argument's sake, you only wish to purchase a three-seater leather sofa then the cost will largely depend on the quality. At Ikea the prices for such a sofa range from between $219–$999 (£126–£547.) Beds can also be brought on their own or as part of a whole-bedroom package. At Rooms to Go prices for whole-bedroom packages are between $975 and $2,299.99 (£547 and £1,321.71).
For the cheaper option you would get a three-piece Queen bed, a chest of draws and a mirror for your money, while those who are prepared to splash out a little bit more will receive a three-piece Palladian poster Queen bed, a chest of draws, a mirror and two nightstands. In the UK you would be looking at paying anything between £299 and £1,500 for a sofa suite at MFI depending on how luxurious you want it, while on its own a kingsize bed at the same store would set you back around £730.
Appliances
"If I were looking to purchase some white goods then I would either head to somewhere like Home Depot or to one of the big department stores like Sears," says Morrill. In America it's worth remembering that there are a number of big department stores where you will find almost every household item you can imagine under one roof. In addition to Sears there is also Target, J.C Penney and Wal-Mart to name just a few. All of these stores are often worth a look when furnishing your home.
However, Home Depot undoubt-edly offers far more choice when it comes to white goods such as washing machines, fridges, microwaves etcetera. Big name brands such as Hotpoint, LG Electronics, Admiral, Maytag and Daewoo are just some of the familiar names you will find in the store. You can expect prices of kitchen appliances in the store to compare favourably to similar goods in the UK – although of course when you emigrate you will be paying for your purchases in dollars not pounds, so all prices are relative.
As I mentioned earlier, American houses tend to be much bigger than British ones, and therefore furnishings do tend to be a lot larger. For example, prices for a popular-brand refrigerator with 15 cubic feet of capacity start from around $549 (£315) at Home Depot, while a far smaller fridge, 11.8 cube feet, could cost you as much as £700 at Currys in the UK.
Shop in a discount department store like Target or Wal-Mart and prices are cheaper still. In Target a small 4.3 cube foot fridge will set you back around just $99, while a same-sized fridge in Wal-Mart currently costs $128.72. It is important to note, however, that neither of these fridges are big-name brands and that the choice you will find in either shop is minimal compared to a specialist store like Home Depot. Not that it's just refrigerators that you will find to be more affordable in the US. At Home Depot it is possible to buy a fairly large washing machine for $299 (£170), while in Comet in the UK prices of even the smallest machines start at £169.99.
Electrical goods
Unsurprisingly for a country which is so renowned for its film, television and video game culture, there are plenty of stores throughout America where such electrical goods can be purchased.
The two most popular nationwide stores for entertainment software are probably Circuit City and Best Buy. "These two stores offer electrical goods by every top-name brand you can think of," says Dudley. "As a rule of thumb you should expect things such as televisions, DVD players and stereos in America to cost you a dollar for a pound. In other words, if a top of the range widescreen television in Britain costs about £3,000 then you should expect it to cost $3,000 in the US," Dudley continues. "But it is definitely worth keeping an eye on the prices in the two stores before buying something in either one of them. "Circuit City and Best Buy are like two brothers fighting each other, trying to get one over the other. Therefore, one will often be trying to undercut the other's prices and that is obviously very good news for purchasers."
At Circuit City it is currently possible to buy a 42-inch plasma screen television for $1,599.99, while at Best Buy a plasma screen of the same size can be purchased for as little as $1,399.99 For those who are either looking to furnish their new American property on a budget, or not that fussed about owning a big-name brand, then Dudley suggests looking at the discount department stores. "In Wal-Mart you can pick up a non-famous brand 13-inch television for as little as $80–90," she says.
Obviously this is just a small selection of the hundreds of shops and stores where you will be able to find the various items with which to furnish your new home. But with all the choice offered in these stores alone you certainly won't have to put up with that mouldy old sofa or flickering television once you leave the UK.
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