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Trading Spaces: Furniture Shopping Gets An Extreme Makeover at Hickory Furniture Mart

All it takes is a quick glance through the TV listings to prove that home decor has become our new national obsession. Every week more and more shows like Trading Spaces, Extreme Home Makeover and While You Were Out feed our insatiable hunger for redecorating, remodeling and renovation — yet our appetites for it just keep growing. It's like furniture has become the universal language we all use to express how we live, who we are and what we hope to be. Now imagine bringing together the collective thoughts, designs, hopes and dreams that we express through our furnishings in one place. To those who love furniture, it would be like the Garden of Eden, although in Catawba County, it is called by another name— Hickory Furniture Mart.

With nearly 100 factory outlets, stores and galleries under one roof, the Hickory Furniture Mart contains enough furniture and decorating ideas to complete an entire city of extreme home makeovers. The Mart carries 1,000 lines of furniture, including every major furniture brand, furniture accessories, lighting, rugs, art and other furnishings, with prices that reflect its close proximity to North Carolina's leading furniture manufacturing centers.

Now when most people think of this much furniture under one roof, they imagine a warehouse with concrete floors, exposed rafters and rows of furniture stretching as far as the eye can see. One visit to the Hickory Furniture Mart will erase that impression forever, as you enjoy furniture shopping in style. The Mart's airy, four-level layout is a showcase for beautifully designed showroom, complete with its own café, Internet coffeehouse, tearoom, visitor center, comfortable lounges and a wine shop specializing in North Carolina vintages. Because so many visitors need more than one day to shop, the Mart also offers discount rates at its own on-site hotel, and an attractive, economical Furniture Shopper Package.

Need help choosing a new look for your home or office? Relax (which ought to be easy to do considering that there's a near-infinite variety of sofas, chairs, stools, lounges and beds in every which direction). Each showroom is expertly decorated to inspire you with fresh furnishing ideas. Many showrooms also have their own designers and other helpful professionals on-staff to help you select the look that's right for you.

Once you've chosen your furnishings, the question inevitably becomes "how do I get all this home in one piece?" Well, you won't have to worry about bamboozling your neighbor into borrowing his pickup with the old "hey buddy, what are you doing this weekend?" routine. All the stores in the Hickory Furniture Mart will facilitate fully consolidated shipping to any location.

And is if there weren't already enough reasons to visit, the Mart also offers shoppers its own reward program. Now, for most of us, the most rewarding thing we can expect from our furniture is to find some loose change or a TV remote wedged in between the sofa cushions. But members of the Hickory Furniture Mart's Gold Leaf Club receive something far more satisfying — like Mart Rewards certificates redeemable for free merchandise, hotel, golf or spa packages.

So if you'd like to see the furniture shopping elevated to a whole new level — actually four new levels — make plans to visit one of the nation's leading furniture resources and a bona fide North Carolina attraction — Hickory Furniture Mart.
Who knew furniture shopping could be as comforting as what you're shopping for?

Hickory Furniture Mart is easy to reach from Interstate 40. Driving east, take Exit 125, turn right, then left onto U.S. Highway 70 East. Heading west, take Exit 126, turn left, then right onto Highway 70.

Hickory Furniture Mart is open to the public from 9 am to 6 pm, Monday through Saturday. You can learn more about this North Carolina attraction by calling (800) 462-Mart or visiting www.hickoryfurniture.com.

by Burt Dellinger with Jane Earnest

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- Posted by: Alice at October 18, 2005 01:19 PM

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