Because this 24,000 square-foot, high-ceilinged warehouse of furniture and housewares is a clearinghouse for the stuff builders use to stage model homes, you can never be sure exactly what you're going to see in terms of style—could be midcentury-ish, Art Deco-esque, vaguely Asian, country kitsch, or totally grandma. But that's what makes each trip to Just Like the Model an adventure: a forest of lamps, a mesa of tables, a veritable badlands of comfy chairs. (Sign up for the e-mail list for notifications of new shipments.) Granted, you won't have that extra frisson of historical discovery that comes with prowling through vintage stores, but that's not what you strolled through these roll-up loading gates for. You're here for high-quality, functional, only slightly used, reasonably priced (as much as 70 percent off retail) furniture that fits your life—and isn't disposable (cough, Ikea, cough). The staff is friendly and attentive and keeps in constant radio contact with one another. But be careful about taking too many notes; they might think you're a spy for the competition! And yes, they know the densely packed ranks of chairs and ottomans are eminently climbable because that's where they put the “Please! Do not leave children unattended” sign. But even if you were attending them, you probably would let them sit on the sidecar-shaped, red vinyl-upholstered chair, with its red flames on the black fenders and the leather saddle bags we spotted there on a recent visit. (Now, who was a home builder trying to sell that house to?)
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