suzeandmatt

Hello all,

My husband and I are arriving in Calgary on the 4th January. We have a 2 bedroom house sorted to move in on the 5th, however it's unfurnished and we aren't planning on bringing any furniture over.
We don't have a lot of money to bring over initially so were wanting to buy from second hand furniture shops if possible, though to be honest that's how I buy furniture in the UK anyway. (apart from a bed and mattress, Ikea will be providing that).
We're going to be by the university in NW Calgary- so if anyone knows of any stores around there that would be ideal.
Or any other way to possibly buy second hand furniture?
We were also wondering if it's normal for second-hand furniture shops in Calgary to deliver larger pieces of furniture? We're not going to have access to a car straight away either.

Thank you! :-)

Almost Canadian

I have no knowledge of second hand furniture stores in the north west of Calgary but, if they do exist, expect to pay around $50 for delivery as that appears to be the going rate for delivery of new items from most stores in Calgary.

If you don't have any luck finding stores, I suggest you have a look on Kijiji or Craigslist. However, getting to the vendors will be difficult without a car.

I suggest that you rent a car for a week or two upon arrival. While you will have easy access to the C-train, I can virtually guarantee that most places you will need to go to initially will require a car to travel to them in early January.

suzeandmatt

Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately due to finances and looking at how much hiring a car is, we don't think that's going to be a possibility initially. It's going to be more likely about 2/3 weeks in when more money becomes available to us.

Oh well, may have to just see what we can do and live rather minimally for a while. Haha

TheThornes

Kijiji.ca is your best bet. You'll be able to find everything on that but, agreed, you might struggle without transportation. Some sellers might offer delivery for a fee and you could always ask if they will too.

Siouxie

I found these on a Google search, might be worth checking them out.

https://habitatsouthernab.ca/restore/
https://www.facebook.com/reusecalgary/
https://www.yelp.ca/biz/reuse-calgary-calgary
Thrift / Charity stores
More
https://ca.letgo.com/en/scx/alberta/calgary/home-garden
Furniture in Calgary, AB
Calgary Inter-Faith Furniture Society
Used Furniture Stores in Calgary AB | YellowPages.ca™

+1 for kijiji - I've bought quite a few bits on there (in Ontario) and many of them will deliver (some items I've bought sight unseen apart from photos and paid on delivery).

suzeandmatt

That's great guys. Thanks for your help! :-) Really appreciate it.

Siouxie

I also found these, not 2nd hand but discounted or cheaper stores.

Calgary Discount Furniture & Mattress Store | Factory Outlet Warehouse
https://www.jysk.ca/furniture.html
Clearance Centres | The Brick

and there's always Walmart for small stuff (toaster, kettle etc) or the Dollar stores for odds and sods.

Tinpusher63

Google is your friend.

suzeandmatt

Thanks for those as well. :-) I'd thought of Walmart for little bits like that so that's okay.

Even in the Uk I'm always massively reluctant on paying for brand new furniture because for the prices I can afford it's always places like IKEA and I just don't think the quality is any good. I'd rather pay less and do a bit of work to something to make it how I want it.
But that's helpful thank you.

I realise we'll probably struggle without a car initially. But we've managed it in various places before. It's just a bit more of a chore. Haha

Photoplex

I think you'll be in for a surprise at how vehicle dependant life in Canada/Calgary is... whilst the CTrain is conveniently close, it's only great for access to places along the various lines. The vast vast majority of stores, especially furniture stores, are nowhere near a CTrain line. Without a car, it's not just a chore... it's simply not possible.

Furniture shopping on Kijiji etc will be pointless without transport to get over to whoever's house it is, in whatever far flung part of the city they're in, to check it out first.

If you can't get a vehicle right away, see how quickly you can get a Car2Go membership. In case you're unfamiliar with the system, it's a membership club that allows you to access any one of hundreds of car2gos parked all over the city. You tap your card on the windshield, jump in, drive somewhere, park on the street, and ditch the car there. Very handy. The only tricky part might be your UK driving license - it may not be eligible. The system is global though, so you may be able to join in the UK with your UK license, then use the system in Calgary.

Another alternative is Uber, which is operating again in the city. However, it's not as cheap as it once was (thanks to Nenshi and The Taxi Mafia).

If you find some large bulky furniture at someones house and need to get it home (it won't fit in a Car2Go), you can rent a pickup truck from Budget for something like $15 a day, with a certain charge per km ($0.25/km or something).

Siouxie

Car2Go UK closed down in 2014.

Great idea for the OP to get around Calgary though!

suzeandmatt

Thanks for your reply. That's helpful. I'd looked into car2go because we can use that with an international driving license so that's okay for getting to the shops we need to get to, then we can pay for delivery for larger items- e.g. Our first stop at IKEA will be for a bed/mattress and other bits and bobs, so we can just have them deliver them.

Fortunately we're living literally a 5 min walk from where my husband is working, and it's him that has the secured job. I just go in on an OWP, so I can be finding our feet while he's at work. Haha
We will be getting a car, probably about a month into us arriving. So we'll just have to find a way to deal with things before then.

Thanks again everyone for your replies. Appreciate it.

haggis88

When I was selling on Kijiji i used to offer delivery in the city for gas money...im sure many other people do

there's also a few people that I know of who offer "Man with a van" services for a few bucks...where there's a will and all that

suzeandmatt

Ah that's good. I know I've done that myself several times when people don't have transport so yeah, it's always worth asking isn't it. Thank you. :-)
Always good to know a 'man with a van' we know several of them at home...need to build up our network of useful friends again! Haha

Allie73

Bibles for Missions

https://www.valuevillage.com/

https://thriftstore.ca/
(You can buy new mattresses at some Salvation army stores, but I'm not sure how their prices compare to buying new in an after-Christmas sale. You might be able to buy something online from a store for delivery after you move. We did this when we bought our mattress at Sears)

https://habitatsouthernab.ca/restore/


Also, see if there's a Giant Tiger near you. Dollarama is good for starting out. Decent kitchen stuff (the Betty Crocker brand), front door mats, paint rollers, containers etc.