There is a huge conglomeration of furniture makers and dealers in the df. I think it was called “La Crea.” It must have had 40 individual stores. We had to ride the metrobus (which is like a subway but above ground and the buses have special lanes on the major avenues) for a dozen stops, which was packed on a Saturday. The market is neat, a lot of the sellers make the furniture, and you can get them to make custom things. About half of the shops smell of wood finish and sawdust, and inside someone is finishing a chair or something while his wife tries to sell you some nice furniture. The other half sell factory-made stuff, which is kind of disappointing, because the hand-made stuff is better – solid wood, no veneers, etc. There were also some children who were told to sand some wood when potential buyers were looking. The child-labor-pity/cute-card is played a lot here. There is a good sandwich/burger/cafe in here, too, so you can spend all day – and you might if you get lost among the crazy walkways.
We had a tough time because we were looking for a queen-sized bed frame, and that is not a common size. Many of them would make it, but it would cost more – maybe a thousand pesos more. A queen sized mattress was an easy purchase, but queen sized frames are not. This is annoying. So if you are going to buy a new bed, go with matrimonial, or inidiviual – or buy the frame/headboard at the same time.
Since turistas don’t buy furniture, the Spanish is not slow and easy, it is quick and expected. It was a little intimidating, and we came away with only two lamps. I guess it is back to Viana for us.
Also, they have Costco here. It is exactly the same as in the US except that they had Gran Centenario Reposada. Yay.
UPDATE (by Stephanie):
Our second trip to the artisanal mercado (no longer certain it is called la crea. may have made that up.) was far more successful. Turns out, it’s a whole lot less stressful if you have a definite budget and a clear idea of what you want. Much like everytime I walk into SuperTarget wanting only shampoo and leaving with $50 worth of unnecessary necessaries. In round two we decided to limit our scope to only a table with four chairs and inside our budget. Found a satisfactory solution within a half an hour, then we noticed a sectional sofa in the same vendor’s area that also looked feasible for our apartment. Best part was, we didn’t quite like the finish on the wood, and when we asked the lady how long (and how much) it would take to put on a darker stain, she said it could be ready by 6pm that night, for no extra cost. Sold! We now have seating and table space for ourselves plus a guest or two. We are nearly civilized once more. Such convenient solutions were quite a lovely surprise after having to wait weeks for cable installation and washing machine delivery from large stores far closer to us.
Delivery from the artisan market was also a nice perk. Our vendor tracked down a trustworthy delivery guy (lots of movers hang out in the market, asking if you need help), then we set a time and price and all was set. Of course, he did not get to our apartment till 3 hours after the arranged time, but he did carry all of the furniture up our two flights of stairs single-handedly. Which is pretty much precisely how it works here: You can get anything delivered (really. anything.) so long as you are willing to hang out and wait for it (or pay someone to wait for you.)