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Category: Furniture Stores [Edit]
Neighborhood: MissionWed-Sat. 11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Sun. 11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
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I'm not sure where the attitude about this store from some Yelpers is coming from, but I think The Apartment is a great store. It's stock is always eclectic and interesting, and the owners do a very nice job of rotating the stock to keep things fresh.
No one is claimimg that anything in the store is particularly valuable or important - it's just fun, nicely priced, and a good alternative to IKEA for interesting stuff. Lots of old photos and postcards, for those into that kind of collectible and a seemingly endless supply of black velvet bullfighting paintings that I enjoy giving my friends as housewarming gifts. (They all act like they're above black velvet, but every one of them has theirs displayed prominently!)
Fun store, very nice owners, reasonable prices, and the occasional totally unique piece. Love it!
This store is part of my regular routine, whether I need furniture or not. It's great. I stop often in to buy something or just to see what they have. It carries interesting vintage pieces from the 20's-80's- chairs and bureaus and tables that I don't see at other stores. And the prices are very reasonable. I've bought a table, a bureau, a wooden box, a set of lamps, and a bench there and been happy with them all. I recommend making the visit if you want to find cool stuff and not spend a lot of money.
Wow, this place is crazy. And not in a necessarily good way.
First of all, it's on 18th street in the Mission, yuppie and hipster central. So, of course that explains why this store sells what it sells.
It's basically this random, eclectic collection of furniture, kitsch, decorations, all packaged as "vintage." Read: "Vintage"=smart marketing strategy. Seriously, when people say that they have vintage furniture, it garners the same kind of dopeness/respect as when you say you bought a t-shirt (probably an ugly one) from a thrift store. "Vintage" turns ugly things beautiful, tacky things unique, and out-of-style things cool.
"Where'd you get that shirt?"
"At that thrift store on Haight."
"That's SO cool."
"Yeah, it's VINTAGE."
"Nice!"
Yes, it's very annoying. So you basically have a store with old furniture that people have gotten rid of, and you do some careful rearranging, add some soft lighting to the space, and Voila! Vintage!
Oh, and the thing that really threw me off was that they have a little IKEA cabinet with drawers, and each drawer is labeled with tape, with things like "postcards," "Easter pictures," and....
Wait for it.
"Asian/Orientals."
What the. I opened the drawer, and there were old, I mean, VINTAGE pictures of Asian people. Yes, sir, for a buck or so, you can buy pictures of random people and put them on your mantelpiece. Potentially creepy, more than a little disturbing.
They're definitely trying too hard to be cool.
So, in conclusion, the stuff that's vintage here is really just old furniture repackaged in an aesthetically pleasing way so that the neighborhood yuppies will shell out some bucks and drag it home. There are other ways to be cool, people.
My suggestion: go to a garage sale or better yet, an estate sale. They probably have way more variety, at cheaper prices too.
Last note: Two stars for the fellow behind the counter because he was, admittedly, a nice guy. Props for niceness, even if his store is really whack.
EVERYTHING IS BROWN. Walking into this place is like walking into your grandma's attic, where all wooden furniture is a uniformly-stained shade of 1960's brown. It's not the furniture's fault, it can't help that it looks that way, but it instills an immediate sense of blah.
There are no bargains. This isn't thrifty furniture to help you save a buck, these are other people's semi-valueable leftovers that would likely not mean anything to you unless you deal with antiques or have an affinity for clunky and rickety chests of drawers.
The art, while someone else's leftovers sold to a secondhand furniture/antique shop, is sold at gallery prices.
My boyfriend likes it here, and I can't for the life of me figure out why. There's always the *chance* we'll find something.... but I've been here half a dozen times and have yet to find anything that I would ever consider purchasing. Boo.
Two stars for really nice people who work there, and an outlet for hobbyists into collecting old photos and magazines (which I am not, but can appreciate.)
Cool place, and the guys that work here aren't jerks. Oh, you know the type - I'm so cool, I work in a vintage store. Whatever.
I got a really neat Life magazine here for 6 bucks. The furniture is always changing, but they also have lots of neat little things like old photographs & magazines. Definitely a fun spot to check out while you're walking off brunch!
The look we dislike the most about San Francisco - grunge posing as style.
It is kinda like visiting what Valencia St. must have been like in the 80s or 70s - - rundown, dirty, rusty old, grunge. Nothing here that one couldn't find at a Goodwill or Salvation Army store, or the Sunday flea markets.
Just not that inspiring or unique. Kinda been here, done this (or hopefully, didn't do this) And though one may call the other shops on Valencia too designee and expensive - they at least have the product to justify the price. This store seems to want to be pretending to be counter-culture hip, while charging current hip prices.
This furniture resale shop is full of old, California Western stuff picked up from garage and estate sales and then cleaned, refurbished, whathaveyou. It's all very nice, if a bit idiosyncratic in style, but as long as you don't mind an early-centruy Western theme, I only see one problem: all of the furniture seems really big: king-sized, thick-posted beds, dining room tables for eight, etc. Where do people live in SF when they can fit this furniture? (And will you subsidize rent so I can live there too?)
The Apartment also has all kinds of great knick-knacks; I remember seeing pop art Chairman Mao watches, and I also picked up a pair of cat's eye Miu Miu frames for $5 here and was able to take them to my ophthalmologist for corrective lenses. They're the best pair of glasses I've ever owned.
This is a great place to stop in for unique, vintage stuff for. . .you guessed it. . .your apartment! (Sorry, couldn't resist.) It's fun to wander through the different rooms and search for treasures, and the owner is really nice and seems to know and care about each of the pieces in the store.
I usually just browse because it tends to be a bit out of my price range, but I found a great 60s-ish lamp here today for a very reasonable price. It didn't come with a shade, but the owner suggested a few local places to go looking for them. Rad!
This place has a great assortment of things, most of them, while priced reasonably, are still unfortunately out of my price range. I have made some good finds, though. Digging through their vintage photo collection will always yield at least a couple of cool things. I also picked up a cool Jesus and Mary bust/wall hanging thing.
In addition to all that, they've got lots of cool old furniture on hand, and the staff is incredibly helpful and polite. I've never felt unwelcome, even when I've just been browsing.
I was told to go between 17th and 20th on Valencia to find furniture, and we saw the bright yellow store on the side street called The Apartment and went in...I was desperate for a dresser and found a couple of them that would have worked...I got a really cool 1960s off white dresser that had all functional drawers, wasn't dirty, etc. And a fairly ugly bedside small dresser that actually isn't ugly at all in my room.
Their delivery guy (Daniel) moved all of it BY HIMSELF up my terrible stairwell and didn't want me to even help carry the drawers. Great experience...would go back if I hadn't already furnished my apartment.
Yes, yes you may find something here. Everything does look old but hey, you just never know what you may find. The Apartment is worth your time. Did I say reasonable prices? I found an old desk for about 60 dollars. They delivered for like 10 dollars. Seriously, I think it's worth a shot to take a look at this place. Also did I mention I bargained for the desk? And they accepted my offer. Yippee, I am glad I have an old desk sitting in my kitchen. Thank you guys at The Apartment! You didn't seem like a hassle at all.
I have found many a great treasure in this place. Although it can be a little pricey, The Apartment has always been a staple when looking for furniture, trinkets, etc. Between them and Mickey's Monkey I am usually able to find whatever it is I am browsing for.
Perks: They deliver and have amazing postcards as well as other random stuff.
Family owned and operated! Great place to find cheap pieces that with a little DIY love can be transformed into something really quite lovely. The staff is so friendly and helpful, and won't think twice about giving you a great deal.
FAMILY OWNED AND OPERATED!
I like this place. the fact that is a bit off from valencia shows that theyre not elitist like the other stores. (Monument and the touch) The stuff you find in the apartment is a lot more "home-e/collective." A bit of a scratch just adds more character.....
I LOVE the yellow sign up front and I always have to look at what pieces they choose for the window. Great place to meander and look for inspiration and ideas. The owners are helpful and engaging...always a plus in my book!
An aptly-named furniture resale shop, given it's an actual split-level apartment, with a large showroom in front and several smaller bedrooms on the upper level. Creaky floors and rusty piping set the mood for a collection of rustic and distressed wood pieces no newer than the 1970s. Price tags are basically a starting point from which to strike a deal. If that certain something you need isn't here today, try again in a week or so.
I wanted to like this place, I really did, but I just didn't find their selection very interesting or compelling. I stopped in a couple of weeks ago based on its high marks on Yelp, and I was disappointed. Normally when I go to vintage furniture shops I end up finding all sorts of things that I'd love to own (if I had the money), or that are just neat and/or cool to look at, but not here. Ah well, maybe I'll give it another chance someday.
My new favorite store in the Mission, The Apartment has a well-edited flea market-type collection ranging from practical vintage furniture to 60s Japanese military medals. A super-fun place to just rummage around for that certain something you never knew you needed, The Apartment is well-worth a visit every few weeks...
I guess I'm the odd one out. I was thoroughly unimpressed by the wares at The Apartment. 3/4 of what I saw was simply "old furniture." That's it. Nothing was exciting or stood out. When I think of vintage furniture, I think of pieces that exemplify an era or a style, that have unique charm to them. There's not a whole of of this here. It's basically a bunch of old stuff. Just because something is falling apart does not make it retro-chic. Nor does it warrant a huge price tag!
Most of the furniture is simply old. Not cool and old. Just old. And their prices are ridiculous for what they are offering. Not a must-see kind of place.
Seek and you shall find. There are some great pieces here. I bought a 60's Danish style small table that still charms me to this day. You do have to wade through the collection, but I've always found an interesting piece, or two, when I drop by. The fact they had a bowl full of Farrah Fawcett doll heads is enough to merit many visits!
As opposed to some of the other stores that are similar, the people here will actually talk with you as opposed to sitting behind their desk reading their magazine. The selection here is good, they have some really interesting stuff here and the prices are not too outrageous and are up for some negotiation. My girlfriend and I found a Marcel Breuer chair for $550 that had been reduced to $300 which we were able to talk down to $275. The chair was in really good condition and the staff gave us tips on how to clean and care for it and even gave us some ultra-fine steel wool to complete the work on the metal that they had started. Would absolutely buy from them again as I start looking more at this type of stuff rather than IKEA.
I always feel like I am going to find a great treasure here, but so far I haven't.
Have you never had luck with a place, but still find yourself compelled to go in at every opportunity? That is The Apartment for me. I KNOW there is something lurking for me in there, I have just not had luck with it yet, but I know I will score if I keep showing up. Not unlike the romantic technique of a young David Silver to one Donna Martin. Hold out. It pays off.
It's one of our fav places to browse but i've never actually bought anything there. They do have some pretty unique stuff and it's always on our list when shopping for the house, but honestly I think it's a bit overpriced whenever I find something I like.
The BEST selection of old photographs, which I love, and old love letters! I could spend hours in this tiny shop.
I was never a fan of vintage furniture yet I find this shop interesting and fun to wander around. There are several little rooms furnished with a slightly different themes. It's quite pleasant with plenty of bright natural lights peeking in from the windows, unlike those dark and smelly vintage furniture stores. Oh, and I like their old hardwood floorings too, covered with faded paints. Very friendly staff as well.
I agree a lot with the two reviews directly below mine. The furniture did seem rather large, but still some interesting pieces. However, I was a little let down to tell you the truth. Nothing in the store really stood out and grabbed my attention. Plus, I did not find the prices to be that good. Yes I know it's vintage so of course I expect to pay more than a tag sale, flea market or even the salvation army. But with the exception of one really amazing piece the rest of the stuff didn't seem appropriately priced. Just my 2 cents!
Well, I haven't bought anything here yet, but there's some really great vintage furniture here and not as pricey as the stores on Valencia street, but not thrift store cheap either.
Hit or miss. We got two really nice 1940s-style dressers here and they gave us a discount for buying them both. If you wander around the Mission and check out other furniture places, you'll find that The Apartment is probably the most reasonable in terms of cost.
The stuff in this shop just seems pretty tired (and beat up!) idea of design, interior decoring. Kinda post college dorm room look.
Or furnishings for the anti-Design Within Reach crowd.
And the prices seem way too high for what is really flea market finds and sidewalk sale bargains. Stuff that doesn't cost a lot to buy yourself, and actually not that difficult to find either.
I guess I never was a fan of San Francisco Shabby Grunge.
Nice staff though.
one of my favorite places to browse in the mission, even though now i really don't have room for more furniture!! and of course when i did have room and saw something i wanted, i lived with a bf who was particular (picky!!) -- the apartment has an eclectic mix of items ranging from deco, arts and crafts, to more modern. prices seem reasonable to me, and the owner is very nice.
i have furnished 75% of my apartment from this store. the selection is just the right mix of off-the-wall and normal enough to live with. they are always willing to bargain for a fair price. this place inspires me everytime i go. i love the apartment!
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