IKEA is the first option, OK..
But other than IKEA?

Where can we find furniture stores alternative to IKEA?

Is there a specific location with several different furniture stores?

there several locations ..good thing though, they come usually as big malls with several floors...

Yuexing Furniture Mall at 168 Aumen Road (澳门路168号月星家具广场)

and try also Macalline http://www.bychinese.com/red-star-macalline.html

and last but not least http://www.jswb.com/Malls_Hongqiao.html

Jinshang International Deco' mall.
Cross of Langao and Tongchuan Rds. Putuo.
Hundreds of independant shops, all negotiable.
Ikea would be my LAST option.

Thank you for the answers.. I've created a list of addresses.. I'll visit them next weekend hopefully..

Also HomeExpo on WuZhong Rd

http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/shanghai/ ... home-expo/

http://www.shanghaihomeexpo.com/

Sorry for hi-jacking but its related issue.

I have seen many of the similar threads about furniture, and IKEA is pretty much a top recommendation.
I am just curious, why IKEA??

I had IKEA stuff too, in college, its cheap, after you use you can just trash it when moving.
In China, I would think the real furniture are cheap, not talking about the Italian imports, but local made brands, wouldn't it be nice to get real stuff made out of real wood and save the trouble to assemble yourself?

Just wondering why.
Is Ikea still wait cheaper than any real furnitures? Or is it local made stuff not the style expats like?

No idea.

A lot of the traditional local stuff is pretty heavy, but you can get modern style locally made furniture here very easily from one of the many malls.

I would try going to the JSWB Mall out at Qingpu- it is next door to the outlets mall.

It is basically an outlet mall for furniture, and stores out there give bigger discounts than in town.

There is a good furniture mall in Wending road (Xu jia hui), Street number is 200 something. This place has several floors and offers various styles (including European). If you are looking for bed or sofas, this place is very good.

Also there are several other shops nearby.

dincer80, just as an alternative, you can also have furniture made. there is a bunch of places around SHA and you will find sufficient info also here (just search).

IKEA is still my first and ONLY choice. Tried a few chinese makes to my disappointment.

In my opinion Ikea is great value. It is the cheapest furniture you will get at that quality level that is also easy to find and buy, and suits most international tastes. The problem is that if you want a higher level it seems difficult to buy here. (Since we are here long term and didn't just graduate from university we want a notch above Ikea). We have been to almost every big furniture mall and I am surprised at the lack of choice. The Chinese made stuff seems to all be Natuzzi knock offs or really Chinese looking or super ornate gold guided tacky crap (possibly also Chinese style). Imported furniture is very expensive of course.

Several years ago we saw a dining table we really liked in Canada. The brand was FFDM www.ffdm.com. The whole set was about $7000 but we noticed the manufacturer was from Shanghai so we decided to wait and see if we could find the factory and do a back door deal. Well we forgot about it for a while and then one day stumbled across a new store with their name on it We looked for the dining set we liked and it turned out it was equivalent to $10,000 here. Its all made for the American market and is nice quality but its premium priced for sure (as most flagship stores are).

We are still looking for something. We have ordered custom before and I think if you are careful and know what you want that is the way to go.

The lack of (Real) European inspired design goes back to the circumstance that:
a) Local producers were mainly satisfying the taste of the US market (Disneyland Style)
b) Local customers think of classic furniture when they mean European Style
c) Thus leading the local producers to start "Creating" their own interpretations of what was explained in "b"
d) Local affluent "New Rich"clients cannot imagine that contemporary European furniture can cost a small fortune. Otherwise they might buy them.
e) Customers taste in developing countries go also through developments... starting with Disneyland Style. Guess at which stage we are

At OP, Wending Lu Shops are either "High End" foreign brands, where a Sofa can cost you 400-500K. Or there some local brands, who you might think are not worth the money.

I recommend that you do not get furniture made. Rather buy something WYSIWYG.

I thought Chinese are good at copying.
So why can't they just copy the popular European design, except it will be cheaper due to cheap labor and etc here.

^ They are good in copying... but they need to make use of their factory capacities as well. They are (were?) mainly satisfying (mainly Us driven) demands..."European popular" design as you put, is been satisfied mainly by IKEA.

my points d + e are the main reason why there are not that many well designed contemporary choices on the market.

tnmom wrote:Also HomeExpo on WuZhong Rd

Yesterday, we first went to IKEA, and then to Home Expo..
There is really a big difference between two in terms of furnitures&prices..

And unlike my other shopping experiences in Shanghai, bargaining is not really possible there.. They just make tiny discounts and if you try to get more they just say you byebye..

The strange thing is that they don't seem to be interested/eager in selling their products although there were only a few people shopping there even on a Saturday.. I don't know how they can make money..

By the way, on WuZhong Rd., there are several other malls.. Not only furniture malls but also kitchen/bathroom design and electronic appliances..

2 tips

1. I don't know the street name.... but if you go to Hongqiao airport from downtown Puxi you pass a huge building called "Shanghai Mart" on the right. If you were in Shanghai Mart and left out of the front door and went left and left again you'd get to a building that sells cool furniture (has a coffee shop at street level). First floor is imported designer stuff which is silly expensive thanks to import tax. However second floor has locally made stuff but designed for export, generally by European designers... Prices are quite reasonable and there's lot of cool stuff (there's also some gaudy Louis 14th stuff if that's what you're looking for, but most of it is high end stuff like you'd find in a good European/Italian furniture store). You can also buy copies of many famous European designs, things like chairs.

2. Hola. This is sort of like a Chinese Ikea, has home furnishings and basic furniture and is generally pretty cheap and cheerful. There's a few of them around Shanghai (one's in the Super Brand Mall downstairs I think). Just search for Hola and then see the list.

Sorry for not being able to give specifics, but above should be enough to get you there

If somebody is interested in something different than IKEA, please check out my website: www.jonasdesign.net

I make furniture and home accessories from reclaimed, reused and repurposed material that I find in Shanghai. All handmade by myself in my studio in Yangpu district.

Cheers,
Jonas