BajaNomad

Furniture

Oso - 7-18-2007 at 07:45 PM

Still having no luck locally finding what we want. We're going for Southwestern but not modern SW. Trying for Rustic/Spanish Colonial/Cowboy/Navajo. So far, most all of our wooden pieces are tar&kerosene stained crudely carved- you know the look.

Seems like I either got to go to Guadalajara and deal with the distance, transport etc. costs or Rosarito and deal with higher prices and insane traffic.

Advice appreciated.

JZ - 7-18-2007 at 09:34 PM

Go to Guadalajara for sure. Selection and prices will blow your mind. Make a mini-vacation of it, it's a fun city. The furniture and arts/crafts expos are coming up in August. You can buy at wholesale prices. You can get things made custom to your liking. Thousands of things you'll never find elsewhere.

danaeb - 7-18-2007 at 11:29 PM

JZ - Mas informacion? Where in Guadalajara? I've been all over Tlaquepaque and Tonola, but do you have specific vendors in Guadalajara?
Tlaquepaque is too expensive now to buy retail.

JZ - 7-18-2007 at 11:46 PM

The Arts and Crafts expo will be in Tlaquepaque. For example, you can buy huge chandeliers there for $900 that would cost you $9,000 in LA. 1 foot wide and 3 foot tall candles for $50 that I've seen here retailing for $400. Try to meet vendors at the two expos and get them to invite you back to their Tlaquepaque shops to buy wholesale. David Luna is one vendor that will be at the Arts/Crafts expo and has an awesome shop in Tlaquepaque.

[Edited on 7-19-2007 by JZ]

danaeb - 7-19-2007 at 12:06 AM

JZ - do you have the expo dates for Tlaquepaque?

JZ - 7-19-2007 at 12:20 AM

August 15th to the 18th. The Arts/Crafts expo is always at the same time as the main furniture expo which is in downtown Guadalajara. Once you get an exhibit pass for the main show you can use it at the crafts expo. All you need to do is pre-register on the web and then take a business card. It can be any business. Gringos get in pretty easy.

http://www.expomuebleverano.com.mx/veranoing/index.php?optio...

CaboRon - 7-19-2007 at 09:37 AM

Would anyone like to comment on shipping ? If you haul it yourself .... it seems like a long trip .... Is there any direct boat shipping to La Paz ? :?: CaboRon

vandenberg - 7-19-2007 at 10:00 AM

We bought about $ 6000.00 worth of furniture and pottery in Guadalajara, Tonala and Tlaquepaque. Furniture from 2 different shops. The one shop handled all the shipping for us. Had us give him the invoices from all the other shops where we made purchases and he coordinated the pick-up and shipment to Loreto. Amazing, nothing was damaged. We had Calafia as the shipper. From what I've heard, the most expensive but also the best. On a trip last year, we purchased $ 3000.00 worth of pottery in Santa Rosa,( just outside of Guanajato), Allende and Dolores Hidalgo and the Santa Rosa people arraigned for the total shipment on the same truck. Forgot the name of the company. Took for both shipments roughly 2 months to arrive, so patience is definitely in order. It's costly, roughly 20 to 30% of the purchase price, but I wouldn't haul it for that myself. And in the last shipments only one little piece of pottery was broken

Hook - 7-19-2007 at 10:06 AM

Vandy, how do you handle getting payments that large into the hands of the furniture people? do you have a mex bank account? Are you carrying that amount of Cash?

tripledigitken - 7-19-2007 at 10:32 AM

Oso,

There is a store in Ensenada that handles what I think you are looking for. They are not cheap, but the product is very nice. The name of the store is Fausto Palanco on Avenida Lopez Mateos just east of the tourist area on the north side of the street. They also have a store in North Rosarito on the main street.

Ken

[Edited on 7-19-2007 by tripledigitken]

JZ - 7-19-2007 at 11:29 AM

Vandenberg, can you tell use more about Santa Rosa/Guanajato. What's it like there and what goods are available. How did you get there? How far is it from Guadalajara, etc.

vandenberg - 7-19-2007 at 02:26 PM

Hook,
Just asked the better half how we paid for the stuff and was adviced that we paid cash, the only thing they would accept. Have a Mexican account with Bancomer and got the money. Dealt with a bigger shop, had my doubts, but was never a problem. They do this all the time it seems.
The shipping is paid upon delivery, so you really never know the correct amount in advance. This also is done by the shipper all the time and seems on the up and up. Never felt cheated or even overcharged.

JZ
We live in Loreto and made the mainland trip to see more of the old colonial cities in central Mexico. Took the ferry to Topolobampo and then from Los Mochis went to Mazatlan, Villa Union, Copala, Durango, Fresnillo, Zacatecas, Guanajato ( Santa Rosa ), Dolores Hidalgo, San Miguel de Allende, Queretaro and many little places in between. In Concordia, out of Villa Union, they make all kinds of furniture also. Pottery in the Guanajuato, Hidalgo and Allende area abound, with roadside shops everywhere. And lots of neat stuff. Besides the stuff we had shipped we also had a car full.
For visiting, Zacatecas was my favorite, but they are all very interesting, with, like Europe, the downtown areas with the churches, cloisters, convents, etc . the most picturesque. Came back the same way to see some of the stuff we missed on the way down. Recommend a trip like that to anyone.
JZ
Don't know the exact distance from Guadalajara, but I know it's an easy day's drive into that region.

Hook - 7-19-2007 at 02:44 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by vandenberg
Hook,
Just asked the better half how we paid for the stuff and was adviced that we paid cash, the only thing they would accept. Have a Mexican account with Bancomer and got the money.


That's what I figured. Gracias.

JZ - 7-19-2007 at 02:45 PM

Thanks for the details. It sounds like a very interesting trip.

My experience is the same with the vendors and shipping. They only take cash. They gave us the option to pay half upfront and the other half at delivery to our furniture consolidator. Everything was delivered to the consolidator as promised.

The exact price for shipping wasn't known until the end. It was a little higher than expected, but within the range of reasonableness.

Oso - 7-19-2007 at 04:46 PM

Thanks all.

Fausto has some very nice stuff on their website but most seems a bit too refined and sophisticated. To fit my personality, we need more in the way of crude, cheap and not quite symmetrical:yes:

A vacation trip to Guadalajara sounds very tempting even if mid-August is a rather warm time for travel. On the other hand, there are only two known destinations hotter than where we live; Death Valley and Hell.

And I'm not that sure about Hell. There's an old tale around here from the days of Fort Yuma about a soldier who was such a consummate reprobate that everyone was absolutely sure which way he was going when he died. It's said that a few days after his burial, his ghost appeared at the barracks...looking for his blanket.

danaeb - 7-19-2007 at 06:13 PM

Bear - weather in Guadalajara in summer is cooler than May-June. There are afternoon thunderstorms that cool everything down. It's really quite pleasant.

Dana

JZ - 7-19-2007 at 06:26 PM

I was going to say the same thing. It rains for 30 mins every afternoon. Bring your umbrella.

Oso - 7-20-2007 at 07:20 AM

Ah yes, the rainy season. I remember the D.F. in the early 60s when you could set your clock by the daily 4 pm rain. Alas, it's no longer the same because of the pollution etc. Here we call it the Monsoon or "season when it looks like it's going to rain but doesn't".

Pescador - 7-20-2007 at 07:37 AM

Oso, you also might want to look at www.tresamigos.com I think they have a couple of stores in Phoenix. We ended up buying our furniture from a Colorado Store called American Furniture Warehouse who bought the stuff from Guadalajara, shipped it to Colorado, and we buy it and haul it in a trailer to Baja and still saved money over what we found in Ensanada and Tijuana.

vandenberg - 7-20-2007 at 08:29 AM

In the last 10 years " muebles rusticos " have really caught on in the States. There is a huge warehouse style store in Sacramento, which probably means that they're all over the major cities in Ca. Should be able to Google addresses and get some more info. Buying or ordering there could save you some mullah, maybe.

Hook - 7-20-2007 at 01:36 PM

It's actually tresamigosworldimports.com.

but their website is undergoing a major reorg. supposed to be done by August 1st.

[Edited on 7-20-2007 by Hook]

DEALS??

rob - 7-20-2007 at 03:41 PM

We just got back from Guadalajara - I think we got there 10 years too late. I agree with danaeb - if you enjoy paying full tourist retail, you're going to LOVE it.

In many of the "artesania" shops, the stuff had come directly from Oaxaca and Chiapas - I have a feeling the real bargains lie, as always, for those who seek the source.

So much for the downside. I admit I have not bought furniture for 10 years in LA, so we may have been insulated . . it was a great trip - and with those new discount fares and the fact that big G is just 40 mins up to road from La Paz - we're going back muy pronto.

Oso - 7-20-2007 at 04:33 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Hook
It's actually tresamigosworldimports.com.

but their website is undergoing a major reorg. supposed to be done by August 1st.

[Edited on 7-20-2007 by Hook]


Yep, that first one was a Tex-Mex joint in Austin:lol:

Pity they don't have a catalog just yet. The pictures look like what I like. I have to go to P City several times a year so I'll take the truck next time and have a look.

It's very frustrating living within sight of a Mexican City with 200,000 Mexicans and hardly anything Mexican for sale. Everyone there goes to Copel for "cosas modernas" from China and the U.S. There are a couple of small curio shops and more of those in Algodones but they are all geared to junk tourists can carry. "Mexican furniture" around here is harder to find than chupacabras.

comitan - 7-20-2007 at 04:54 PM

Oso

La Paz has quite a few rustic furniture stores some of them low end and others over the top, if its the couches and chairs in wood and leather they sell them on empty lots.

[Edited on 7-20-2007 by comitan]

JZ - 7-20-2007 at 06:08 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by rob
We just got back from Guadalajara - I think we got there 10 years too late. I agree with danaeb - if you enjoy paying full tourist retail, you're going to LOVE it.

In many of the "artesania" shops, the stuff had come directly from Oaxaca and Chiapas - I have a feeling the real bargains lie, as always, for those who seek the source.

So much for the downside. I admit I have not bought furniture for 10 years in LA, so we may have been insulated . . it was a great trip - and with those new discount fares and the fact that big G is just 40 mins up to road from La Paz - we're going back muy pronto.


You went at the wrong time. Should have waited a bit more. There's thousands of craftsmen around Guadalajara. You didn't look in the right places.


[Edited on 7-21-2007 by JZ]