I went to the J Roux interior design furniture sale this morning (11255 Hwy. 55, Plymouth, 763-560-8689), which has been advertising “high-end furniture at great prices.” Normally I am unimpressed with prices or selection, but this sale is better than most. The samples are from decent manufacturers including Hickory Chair, Taylor King, Drexel and Nichols & Stone and prices for the most part seemed reasonable. Don’t go expecting to find sofas under $1,000. Most were about $1,400 and up. I zeroed in on one item, a Robert Abbey Beaux Arts torchiere, to compare prices online. At the Plymouth sale, the price is $157. At various online sites, the cheapest price I found was $240 before shipping. Still, there were a few items, such as an overpriced Hickory Chair game table with a zebra top (scratched) that was $2,642 after the discount. The deals are hit and miss, but more hits than misses.

In other furniture biz, Curley’s Furniture in Mendota Heights (1044 Dakota Dr., 651-452-1010) started its going out of business sale. I haven’t been to it yet, but it run by a liquidation company. Generally, prices are not as low at a GOB sale when liquidators take a cut too, but every sale is different. The sale is expected to run into July, which also tells me the deals may not be that great initially.

The store that I have long recommended for reasonable prices, Furniture Minnesota in St. Paul, has closed, but the voicemail indicates that it may reopen for a final sale. Stay tuned.   

Here’s another December discount I’ve never seen before Christmas. Now through Dec. 12, get 40 percent off your entire order at www.thymes.com plus free shipping. Use promo code FRIENDS28 at the checkout. This is a great sale if you missed the fall warehouse sale and of course this is good on all current scents, soaps, lotions, candles, mists and diffusers. If you haven’t tried the Thymes Frasier Fir scents, give it a shot. It’s authentically Christmas-y.

 One more sale: Ambiance at Home (5500 Cottonwood Lane SE.,  Prior Lake, 952-440-6757, www.ambiance-athome.com) is having its annual sale with amazing bargains. Prices are about half of wholesale on accessories such as pottery, table linens, dried and silk flowers, fake fruits, lamps, rugs and framed art. I thought the deals on art were especially good. The furniture pieces are limited but fairly well-priced. The sale runs 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. through Sunday.  

These are weary times for furniture retailers. New home buyers and old home remodelers are as scarce as furniture made in the U.S.

 Sofas & Chairs (5145 W. 98th St., Bloomington, 952-831-7027) is passing along some of the woes of the industry by discounting about 30 sofas (most about $700 on sale, nothing over $1,000), 50 chairs ($200 and up) as well as tables and lamps too. Items are priced about 50 percent less than S&C’s normal prices.

The medium to higher quality from Norwalk Furniture manufacturing is reduced because of Norwalk’s possible bankruptcy. Most of the items are one-of-a-kinds. The liquidation is only at the Bloomington location.

 Does an item “made in the USA” make any difference in your furniture buying decisions? Most furniture, especially budget to moderately priced, is made in China. Most of Sofas & Chairs pieces are made in the U.S., a rarity today.