Finding a comfy place to lay one’s head and park one’s tookus is the first step in outfitting a dorm room or apartment. It’s a fact, after all, that the hot transfer student on the fourth floor will not sleep over if she’s forced to share a leaky air mattress on cold linoleum. To this end, we’ve pieced together this handy guide to help college students and other impecunious types furnish an abode with minimal abuse to the credit card that just came in the mail.
Bargain Barn (292 Pioneer St., Santa Cruz, 831.423.8611) Essentially a sorting station for a host of Goodwill branches, the Bargain Barn is a warehouse full of unwashed, barely sorted donations that, every morning, is rifled through by packs of ravenous deal-seekers in mad fits of no-holds-barred shopping mayhem. The good news is you can find couches, beds, chairs and desks for $5 to $20. The bad news is the merchandise comes straight from the donation bins, so you’ll need to check under the cushions and in the nooks and crannies for broken glass, rusty nails and the occasional mongoose den.
Goodwill (350 Encinal St, Santa Cruz, 831.423.8611; 204 Union St, Santa Cruz, 831.423.1078; 103 Whispering Pines Dr, Scotts Valley, 831.430.9029) For a step above the raw goods at Bargain Barn, Goodwill has a modest selection of couches, tables and chairs and a fairly large selection of beds and mattresses that will only set you back $100 or so. Last week there was a pair of deep and cushy couch chairs at the downtown branch for $25 a pop.
The Salvation Army Thrift Store (812 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. 831.429.8118) The Salvation Army has a much larger selection of furniture than Goodwill, with nearly half of the massive downstairs showroom taken up by desks, cabinets, tables, chairs, bookcases, vanities and home electronics. Check the color of the price tags to see what’s on sale that day and show up the last Friday of the month for 50 percent off everything in the store. Some of the latest steals were a painted wood dining set and chairs in good condition for $150 and an old school green paisley couch for $90.
Santa Cruz Flea Market (2260 Soquel Dr., Santa Cruz. 831.462.4442) Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays (weather permitting) are perhaps the single best times to go deal hunting in Santa Cruz for one reason alone: the Santa Cruz Flea Market (formally called the Skyview Flea Market). Though there’s no guarantee as to what you’ll find, it’s not uncommon for thrifty shoppers to stumble upon everything from wood frame beds for $100 to vintage chairs for $20. Plus, with the time-honored tradition of haggling in full effect, the price you see doesn’t have to be the price you pay.
California Gray Bears Thrift Store (2710 Chanticleer Ave, Santa Cruz. 831.479.1055) The California Gray Bears is a non-profit that caters mainly to seniors, delivering food and other goods to older folks that need a hand. They also operate a thrift store, however, and even the young whippersnappers can get in on it. With a random selection of tables, chairs, dressers and beds for between $10 and $50, it’s one of the best thrift bargains around.
Ross Dress For Less (650 River St, Santa Cruz. 831.423.0551) For those uninitiated Californians, Ross is a must-stop-shop for just about everything you can put on your body and in your home. It’s essentially a miniature outlet mall that deeply discounts a huge selection of new clothing, along with rather funky crafted home needs (think second-rate Pier 1 Imports) and includes drawers ($130), chairs ($80) towels ($5), lamps ($10), sheets ($30) and furniture like chairs and coat racks ($40).
Couch Potato (3131 B Soquel Dr., Soquel, 831.462.4636) Besides some scattered deals on sofas, chairs and couches, the Couch Potato in Soquel has the corner of the market on that most classic of college room furnishing: the bean bag. Featuring bags in all shapes and sizes, from miniature footstools to coma inducing recliner-sized bags, shopping at Couch Potato will make it that much easier to skip homework in favor of all night Playstation sessions.
Office Max (470 River St, Santa Cruz. 831.459.8910) For the especially studious or obsessively geeky, a solid and attractive computer desk and a fine office chair are a must. Office Max packs in plenty of both along with lamps, storage bins and workstations. The prices (bonded leather chairs $99-$230, manager’s desks $200-$530) don’t hold a candle to any of the deals you’ll get for used stuff at the thrift stores, but with frequent sales and endless amounts of coupons that are likely already cluttering your mailbox, it’s worth dropping by.
Cost Plus World Market (450 River St, Santa Cruz, 831.466.9188) With a little more liquidity in your assets, one can procure some truly unique and sexy imported furniture from Cost Plus World Market. Look out for regular sales, like right now there’s a 20 to 30 percent discount off all furniture, making the prices for things like a hip Logan armless sofa chair for $180 and a seven-piece stained oak dining set for $800 a little easier to swallow.
Mattress Discounters (580 River St. # D, Santa Cruz, 831.429.2080) If the thought of purchasing a bed looks like a Jackson Pollock painting if you shine a black light on it is too much to handle, a new mattress is the only recourse. Unfortunately said mattresses can cost $400 and more for a simple twin at some department stores. As suggested by the name, Mattress Discounters cuts prices on brand name beds like a Sealy trundle full size for $197 and a queen for $297. Show your student ID for an extra 5 to 10 percent off.
American Leisure Co. (319 River St., Santa Cruz. 831.423.2425) A local furniture store that specializes in island themed outdoor furniture and patio accessories, American Leisure Co. is the kind of place that dads and Jimmy Buffett fans are hoping will be open in the afterlife. What’s more noteworthy for starry-eyed student purposes is its section of beach chairs and accessories that go from $20 for a simple fold out chair to $200 for a pimped-out beach love seat, both of which will come in handy now that you live right by the freakin’ ocean.
