Donna,
I have traveled to NC multiple times, and for the last 20 years bought everything but antiques this way. Many of the stores were consolidated in the mid 2000's and quite a few of the small ones are no longer in business. I bought from Boyles for years with excellent service etc. and they are out of business. The only big ones I am aware of are Furniture Land and the Hickory Mart.

I don't find the trip to NC worth it any longer. NC passed a new law several years ago that requires sales tax to be charged. By the time you pay for shipping to S. Cal. and the sales tax, you have chewed almost all of your savings. The shipping right now is really high due to the price of fuel.

Before you plan a trip, shop your local stores and get the stock # and a fabric lot and you can call and compare the pricing. Make sure they include the shipping. The stores will all give you quotes over the phone if you have the item manufacture and #.

Remember most of the big manufactures (century, henredon, etc) are not made in NC any longer.

good luck
shelli

Century is still made in NC. FLS will ship at reasonable rates or rent a trailer or truck/ fly and drive.

One of the biggest advantages of going to especially FurnitureLand South is the size. They have just about every brand you can think of! We have made two trips there and you can easily spend a whole day going through the store. They also have a great little sandwich shop/restaurant in the store.
10 years ago we purchased a higher end master BR set and dining room set from them at a significant savings 50% over local!.. no tax, no shipping..
About 3 years ago when we were finishing building our current home we made 2 trips down.. 1 to look the 2nd to buy.. we had plans to purchase 7 rooms of furniture. (LR/DR/FR/MBR/KIT/DEN + Guest BR) We did not have a good expierience at FLS.. we got the rudest/least helpful salesperson and I didn't think their prices were that great. So we ended up looking at FLS all day.. then buying elsewhere. (many elsewheres!) It might have just been bad timing.. but my husband and I were just so annyoyed with this salesperson we moved on.
Too bad about Boyles.. we purchased at Marge Carson DR there at a great price! We also ordered quite a bit of furniture from Elite in South Carolina. They had the best prices on many of the brands we were looking at. We purchased a BR set from Beechers(I think) in Indiana.
We put together a list of the items we wanted then I just started shopping for price, but of couse would check out the business prior to purchasing. In some cases I saved 10-20% over FLS, which is significantly discounted from retail. Had no problems with any ordering except a 1 item was significantly delayed due to mfg. backorder.
The fly drive option probably won't work because most items need to be ordered and will come in at different times.
If I were doing it again(which hopefully we won't!) I would go back to NC, but do your homework before and after. If you do go, there is a nice little Inn we stayed at in High Point.. J.A Adams.. very nice place with a wonderful restaurant.

I too have used Elite Interiors with good luck in the past year. Their web site lists the manuf. they offer. I worked with Christine and had a great experience. She is at 843-449-3588. I am in Louisiana, and had no problems. I think they use alpha & omega or reliable for shipping.
Re: US made products, I should have been more clear and stated that not all US based companies still produce their complete line in the US. There is a mix of US and overseas manufacturing.

I am seriously thinking about going back to NC for a shopping trip - not necessarily to buy but to look. It is amazing the variety that you can see there versus the local stores. I am not an online or catalog shopper. I really need to see and touch furniture to feel comfortable buying it. Most stores obviously don't have the space to show too much. I've gone before intending to buy but most of the sales people were so unhelpful that I converted my goal to just a "looking trip". Since I knew I wasn't going to buy from them I didn't bother them and they left me alone. Once I decided what I wanted to buy I called around and got the best pricing without any guilty feeling of wasting people's time etc.

On another post I asked about North Carolina Furniture company in Kentucky and got no replies and am sad but it is August. I googled the company and there are many good reviews from THS in 2004 but nothing recently. They are not charging me tax or shipping for my Bombe dresser and will set it up in 8 weeks.By far they came in with the best price after Boyles went out of business. Any thoughts?

Here is a link that might be useful: Lexington KY Furture company

Monsoon, did you go? We are also contemplating a trip to NC and have nearly the same questions. Is there an online map of the furniture places? Obviously we would need to rent a car - but after that, how much driving is involved to see 4-5 (or more) places? Trying to visualize how we would do this....Anyone else go recently?

Maggie2000, by all means go with Lex furniture. We ordered from them with our first house about 5 years ago. We just ordered for 3 rooms from them just now. We got the things from one room so far - 2 days ago actually. The rest will come around October/November. Everything went very very well. Ask for Angela. She was our sales person. Highly recommended. She kept me informed of everything and was so very prompt.