Can I buy furniture in El Valle de Anton, Panama?
Bill Brunner
One of the great things about living in Panama is that, in addition to buying pre-made furniture, you can have your furniture made. There are four cabinetmaker shops here in El Valle that make a great variety of furniture. They use a lot of teak, some mahogany if it happens to be available, and other hard woods that get harvested or get chopped down for some reason or another. These furniture makers are busy. You can have furniture made here in El Valle and...
One of the great things about living in Panama is that, in addition to buying pre-made furniture, you can have your furniture made. There are four cabinetmaker shops here in El Valle that make a great variety of furniture. They use a lot of teak, some mahogany if it happens to be available, and other hard woods that get harvested or get chopped down for some reason or another. These furniture makers are busy. You can have furniture made here in El Valle and it’s going to be heavy.
Outside the Valley (El Valle de Anton) on the road that comes into the Valley (just 28 kilometers / 17 miles from the Inter-American Highway), there are some places that make furniture out of what could be described as heavy vines, which is very different from anything you’ll find in the States. It’s also heavy and typical of locally made furniture. On Sundays, you may see some of this already made furniture at the local open-air market, but for the most part, people order furniture to be custom-made; they just tell the furniture maker what they want.
Considering that the furniture in El Valle is made of solid wood, the prices here for that furniture when compared to the US is very good.
In addition to cabinets, the furniture makers make chairs, tables, lamps like stand up floor lamps, table lamps; pretty much anything you want. They don’t make a lot of upholstered furniture; it’s pretty much solid wood. There are people outside El Valle who come to El Valle to order their custom-made furniture.
There are other places in Panama that have custom furniture makers. There’s a region in the Azuero Peninsula (especially around Chitre and Las Tablas) that’s known for leather furniture like tables and chairs. They use a heavy leather into which they carve a design on the surface, but they don’t have much, if any, upholstered furniture). From El Valle, you can get to these areas easily within two to three hours. [Las Tablas is about 40 minutes by car from Pedasi, which is another region discussed on this site.]
There’s a store on the Inter-American Highway on the way to El Valle from Panama City that sells furniture, hammocks and a variety of things made by craftsmen from Central America who came to Panama during the civil wars in Central America and brought their crafts with them. So you can get rocking chairs like what you can find in Nicaragua and other similar, interesting items. Even though they call themselves a handicraft store, they sell a variety of furniture that is locally made, including hammocks. For example, I purchased from them some folding wooden chairs from Cost Rica 20 years go that cost me US $25 bucks apiece. They’re made of an attractive solid wood with a variety of colors in it I think is called guayacan.
You can also have the upholstered furniture made in Panama, but you would have to go to Panama City for that. Over there, you can get locally made furniture or imported furniture. If you live in El Valle and you don’t want what’s made locally, there are plenty of places there where you can get any kind of furniture. If start in Coronado (about 45 – 50 minutes away by car), you can find stores that are branch outlets of larger stores in Panama City where there are a variety of furniture styles and places that do interior design.
Outside the Valley (El Valle de Anton) on the road that comes into the Valley (just 28 kilometers / 17 miles from the Inter-American Highway), there are some places that make furniture out of what could be described as heavy vines, which is very different from anything you’ll find in the States. It’s also heavy and typical of locally made furniture. On Sundays, you may see some of this already made furniture at the local open-air market, but for the most part, people order furniture to be custom-made; they just tell the furniture maker what they want.
Considering that the furniture in El Valle is made of solid wood, the prices here for that furniture when compared to the US is very good.
In addition to cabinets, the furniture makers make chairs, tables, lamps like stand up floor lamps, table lamps; pretty much anything you want. They don’t make a lot of upholstered furniture; it’s pretty much solid wood. There are people outside El Valle who come to El Valle to order their custom-made furniture.
There are other places in Panama that have custom furniture makers. There’s a region in the Azuero Peninsula (especially around Chitre and Las Tablas) that’s known for leather furniture like tables and chairs. They use a heavy leather into which they carve a design on the surface, but they don’t have much, if any, upholstered furniture). From El Valle, you can get to these areas easily within two to three hours. [Las Tablas is about 40 minutes by car from Pedasi, which is another region discussed on this site.]
There’s a store on the Inter-American Highway on the way to El Valle from Panama City that sells furniture, hammocks and a variety of things made by craftsmen from Central America who came to Panama during the civil wars in Central America and brought their crafts with them. So you can get rocking chairs like what you can find in Nicaragua and other similar, interesting items. Even though they call themselves a handicraft store, they sell a variety of furniture that is locally made, including hammocks. For example, I purchased from them some folding wooden chairs from Cost Rica 20 years go that cost me US $25 bucks apiece. They’re made of an attractive solid wood with a variety of colors in it I think is called guayacan.
You can also have the upholstered furniture made in Panama, but you would have to go to Panama City for that. Over there, you can get locally made furniture or imported furniture. If you live in El Valle and you don’t want what’s made locally, there are plenty of places there where you can get any kind of furniture. If start in Coronado (about 45 – 50 minutes away by car), you can find stores that are branch outlets of larger stores in Panama City where there are a variety of furniture styles and places that do interior design.
Posted August 26, 2014