home furniture on consignment
The Sydney store.
Cool finds at their new Melbourne store.
Love the prints.
Ever stylish Panton chairs ... and glass vases just like I bought from the Sydney store.
Great buys can be had with accessories, not just big-ticket items.
For those of us who find paying full retail price for anything equivalent to a trip to the dentist then Home Furniture On Consignment is a great place to shop for homewares. I certainly managed to find some bargains when I was putting the finishing touches to my apartment. I bought a Parker nest of tables which I have arranged as a coffee table and some mercury-glass-style vases similar to the ones on the dining table (pictured above). Recently owner Scott Faso opened an HFOC store in Melbourne and spoke to me about what makes HFOC so successful.
When and why did you open HFOC? We opened in 2002. I saw a need for the type of resale furniture businesses that I was used to in Southern California. When I moved to Australia I couldn’t believe how expensive everything was and there was no way of reselling top-end furniture.
Why consignment? Consignment gives the vendor a better return because HFOC is selling the items on their behalf. HFOC can work on a lower margin than a traditional furniture business. This gives the vendor a higher return and the purchaser a lower price.
Has the response from customers been what you expected? We have been busy since we opened the door in Foster Street, Surry Hills in 2002. We tripled the size of HFOC when we moved to Doody Street, Alexandria and then opened Melbourne in September 2007.
What five words best describe your store? Beautiful furniture at affordable prices.
Have you noticed a shift in popularity for particular styles/items since you first opened? We did much more mid-century Danish, etc, when we started in Surry Hills. Now we do much more high-end Italian designer furniture mixed with more traditional items. (B&B Italia leather sofa with a vintage brass tray table or an old farm table with ghost chairs or Panton chairs.)
What pieces sell the quickest? The high-end items such as B&B Italia, Poliform, Knoll etc. (items originally from Space Furniture, DeDeCe, etc)
What’s the trick to buying consignment? Keep your eyes on the website www.hfoc.com.au and DON’T procrastinate. If something is a bargain it WON’T LAST!!!
Where do you get inspiration? When someone gets a fantastic deal on a beautiful piece of furniture and says to me, “I have always wanted one of these but would never be able to pay full price.”