Qi Home and Garden

Hubby and I have shopped here several times. Each time, we were followed around like common thieves. Very annoying. Nice merchandise (overpriced), but strange employee/​owners.

If you’re going to shop at Qi, I suggest you know a little about traditional Oriental furniture and a lot about bargaining.
The Old Town housewares and furniture shop is composed of two buildings connected by a garden full of water features and sculptures for sale. The main (front building) is a crowded but not cluttered place, full of chairs, small tables, bookshelves, wall hangings, curtains, stone Buddhas and various other decorative pieces. The store smells wonderful and there is plenty to look at. We saw beautiful burnt orange silk drapes, carved wood shutters that would make unique wall hangings, and a antique spice chest that would be perfect for a woman with too much jewelry.
On some pieces we found labels dating the furniture as far back as the late 1700s. However, these authentic antiques were interspersed with cheap, wobbly bookshelves that could have been Ikea if it wasn’t for their exorbitant price tag. It made me wonder if the «authentic» pieces were truly antiques, or just scratched up pieces of cheap furniture with stickers on them.
In the back warehouse we found less antiques and more large items — beds, armoires, dressers and old, carved wood doors. The doors and shutters looked authentic to me, and were truly beautiful. But again, there was no shortage of cheap, poorly made bookshelves and dining chairs.
When we spoke with the owner regarding an armoire we were interested in, she was unwilling to budge on the price. As we tried to leave, she followed us out insisting that we needed to look at the beds, the curtains, the end tables, the throws, etc. She spoke too fast, was extremely pushy, and nearly ruined what was otherwise a zen Saturday afternoon shopping trip.
Many of the pieces at Qi are beautiful and unique, so if you’re willing to spend some serious dollars on what might be fake versions of the real thing, go for it. Don’t bother trying to bargain unless you’re a pro, and definitely bring a wingman or you’ll never get away from the nagging shop owner.

I have to say the selection is nice and eclectic. some of the pieces you can tell are authentic and well made, however, the more i looked around and examined the quality of some of the items, i became very disappointed. i’m not saying this is true, just saying this is the feeling that i got from the majority of their items, but i feel like they’re comparable to MUCH cheaper bargain furniture similar to what you would find at world market. i’m very curious as to who they buy their pieces from and just how «authentic» they are.
don’t get me wrong, the hand crafted tibetan chest in the main building and some of the other finer pieces are works of art, but i feel like not all is as it seems (or as it is priced)
also, the lady who works there is WAY too pushy.
i don’t want to get into a ton of detail, but we did have a poor purchasing experience there. after being offered the «deal» of a century on two pieces, we came back the following day to find one of them was damaged (slightly, but it was $ 500). upon alerting them about this, they put on the «well it’s not that bad» act and tried to force us out the door with it. they did give us a refund after the lady gave us a hard time and made us feel guilty about not wanting imperfect pieces. either way, it’s a cool store, and definitely has a nice feel to some of the stuff there. just be careful and examine what you are buying and make sure you feel right paying as much as they are asking.