Area 51

I love Area 51 for the fab showroom, fun/knowledgable/stylish staff, and reasonable prices. Sure, the parking might be easier at Ikea but the schlep to Auburn makes you feel like you HAVE to make a...
Published by K M. More

I love Area 51 for the fab showroom, fun/knowledgable/stylish staff, and reasonable prices. Sure, the parking might be easier at Ikea but the schlep to Auburn makes you feel like you HAVE to make a purchase - and can't return it (unless of course you live in Renton, Tukwila or around there). But the BEST thing about Area 51 is their generous return policy. After visiting with a couple sales clerks (love 'em almost as much as the Dwell Baby stuff), I casually mentioned that my kids jumped on our couch we purchased there three years ago and we had to jimmyrig it a bit underneath. They said, "Oh, we'll just replace it for you." And guess what?! They DID - that week!!! Holy smokes. For all those Atomic Ranchers out there - this is your home.
Published by K M. Less

Located in Capitol Hill. Very interesting selection of furniture and accessories, all seem to be from the mid 60’s through mid 80’s. Items are rather overpriced; especially considering 90% of the...
Published by Mark S. A. More

Located in Capitol Hill. Very interesting selection of furniture and accessories, all seem to be from the mid 60’s through mid 80’s. Items are rather overpriced; especially considering 90% of the population grew up with this furniture in their basement-slash-rec-room. But your mom threw it out. Some other kid’s mom was more forward thinking and kept the harvest-gold wool couch in plastic, knowing that in 30 years, people would forget that harvest gold went out of style for a reason, and would pay $6,000 for a couch that JC Penny sold in 1972 for $79.99. Oh well. Get your retro on and make your hip Belltown Pad look the way your garage did when you were in 2nd grade.
Published by Mark S. A. Less

With modern furniture design at an affordable price and a hip location to boot, Area 51 has found its niche. Its market consists of those who have moved on from IKEA and want products that are a...
Published by Jeff B. More

With modern furniture design at an affordable price and a hip location to boot, Area 51 has found its niche. Its market consists of those who have moved on from IKEA and want products that are a little more distinctive, but who aren't willing to pay high-end prices. One can find new and used products here, ranging from Dwell bedding to the occasional Eero Aarnio Ball Chair as well as modern sofas, tables and rugs. However, where Area 51 provides in product selection, it takes away in service. This change has happened recently because when it first opened, the service was outstanding. Two years ago, I purchased a chair from this store and got a great deal on it, as the owner knocked the price down significantly because the product had a negligible defect. Naturally, this kind of situation promotes repeat business. Yet, subsequent trips to Area 51 have proved its service completely inadequate. Last time I visited the store, which was about a month ago, I was looking for a specific type of bookcase. The employee was extremely unhelpful and would not even come up with alternative ideas on where I could find something similar; he just said, "We don't carry anything like that", and turned around. That's deplorable and it's why I'll be taking my business elsewhere. Unfortunately, the lack of options in this market make Area 51 just about the only place to go for affordable, non-mass produced design in Seattle. If anyone wants a money making idea, open a store similar to Area 51 and provide better service, which isn't hard to do.
Published by Jeff B. Less

Area 51 has some great reproduction mid-century modern furniture. There are also so great original pieces in there from time to time. Although a lot of the furniture looks great, the quality of...
Published by Emily M. More

Area 51 has some great reproduction mid-century modern furniture. There are also so great original pieces in there from time to time. Although a lot of the furniture looks great, the quality of some is so-so. If it is really cheap and seems to good to be true, it probably is and won't last. If you shop around, you can definitely find some good pieces to round out your apt/house, though. They are one of the few people to carry Dwell bedding, which has neat modern prints.
Published by Emily M.