by jon bosworth jaxvillain@yahoo.com
The trick to a great remodel can often be knowing some secret places where you can find high-end materials and items for low low prices. I’m not talking about the cheap homogenized crap they sell at Wal-Mart, and if you spend your time shopping at Home Depot or Lowes, you’ll end up with all the same fixtures as everyone else in the country. If you want your redecorating to really wow, you have to know where to go.
“Most of our stuff is overstocked or discontinued items. Sometimes its just package changing, and they have to get rid of it,” said Travis Morton of Contractor’s Best, a small liquidation and surplus store in San Marco.
Contractor’s Best has two locations. The San Marco location has the more creative staff that is good at helping you come up with great ideas for your redecorating, and most of their inventory is decorative, interior items. As an authentic warehouse liquidation store, anything has the potential to not be there, but they usually keep lighting fixtures, from chandeliers to sconces, real wood cabinets, bathroom hardware, plumbing fixtures, and decorative hardwood molding.
“We wait until we can get something at a cheaper price than Home Depot. If it’s too expensive to pass along savings, we don’t buy it.”
Their Lane Avenue location, next to the Flea Market just off of I-10, has interior/exterior building supplies ranging from showers and pre-hung doors to front door hardware and fireplaces. Although their staff may not be as creative and free thinking as the San Marco store’s crew, they have a lot of industry expertise and can help answer your installation questions.
Contractor’s Best is a great place to go when you are remodeling your bathroom or kitchen. They have decorative sinks, beautiful mirrors, and a variety of kitchen faucets like you won’t find anywhere else.
Another well-kept secret is the liquidation store Tuesday Morning. Although it is not always open, they only open when they have inventory, their items are also liquidation and surplus. That means that you can find some high-quality products that have been discontinued and get them for a steal. There is no stability to the sorts of things they carry, but that benefits you because then you know your neighbor won’t have the same fixtures as you. When you are planning a wide variety of redecorating and remodeling projects, you should stop in whenever you can and start collecting the outstanding items they have on their shelves. From stainless steel pot and pan racks for less than fifty dollars to butler carts and even kitchen appliances, Tuesday Morning is filled with affordable treasures.
Tuesday Morning is a large, nationwide corporation. They have locations on Blanding Boulevard in Orange Park, on Old Kings Road South, and on Monument Road. There isn’t much in the way of staff at Tuesday Morning, so you won’t get the excellent service that you can expect from Contractor’s Best, but either store tends to be friendlier and more unique than Home Depot. These smaller stores are not as overwhelming or aisled out. They’re more laid back and they are more likely to remember you.
When you’ve looked everywhere for something creative and new, check out these little secrets. They don’t carry the mass-produced, poor-quality merchandise you’ll find at the big retail stores, they get contractor-grade, high-end items for the same price or less than anywhere else.
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