If you head to Hickory to shop for furniture, you may end up with bargains on well-known furniture brands, such as Baker, Century, Lexington, Thomasville or Broyhill.
You can head up U.S. 321 for the renowned "20 Miles of Furniture" between Hickory and Lenoir.
Or check out the Hickory Furniture Mart (www.hickoryfurniture.com), the largest retail center of its kind in the nation with 100 factory stores, outlets and galleries.
Also worth a day trip: From Charlotte, head north on Interstate 85 to Cannon Village in Kannapolis and find a furniture mall with 350 manufacturers and a Martha Stewart showroom.
And don't forget the Charlotte area has plenty of its own furniture showrooms.
When delivery charges are figured in, you might end up paying less than you would in Hickory, or about the same price.
For bargains, a good place to start is the Rooms to Go clearance center on the Interstate 85 service road near Freedom Drive.
For contemporary furniture, head down South Boulevard in South End to find a good selection of showrooms.
Other clusters of furniture stores can be found near Carolina Place mall in Pineville and near Northlake Mall at Interstate 77's exit 18.
Further afield is High Point, another well-known furniture destination. It's the center of the industry, but it mainly serves the wholesale trade. Still, Furnitureland South is worth a look.
