How to Choose a Rug Store in Chicagoland: Seven Things to Check Before You Buy

Type "best rug store near me" into Google and you get a map, a few paid listings and a lot of five-star claims. That tells you who is close. It does not tell you who will sell you the right rug, at a fair price, and still pick up the phone in five years. Here is how to tell a serious rug store from a showroom with rugs in it — wherever in Chicagoland you are shopping.

1. Ask how the rug was made, then flip it over

The first question in any rug store should be "is this hand-knotted, hand-tufted or machine-made?" A good store answers without hesitation and turns the corner over to show you. If the answer is "it's handmade" with no detail, or the salesperson has to look for a tag, keep your wallet in your pocket. Here is how to check for yourself.

2. Look for rugs, not a catalog

Some showrooms carry a few samples and order everything else from a warehouse you will never see. That is fine for a sofa. It is not fine for a rug, where the color in the photo and the color on your floor are two different things. A real rug store has stacks you can unroll, and someone willing to unroll them.

The test of a rug store: can you see the actual rug, on the floor, before you decide?

3. Ask whether they can make one

Rooms are not standard sizes, and neither are runners. If a store can only sell what came in the container, you will end up compromising on size or color. A store connected to its own production can weave to your measurements, match a color to your paint chip, and tell you honestly how long it will take — anything from a few weeks for a simple piece to the better part of a year for the finest work.

Custom color done properly: wool poms against the customer’s own paint swatches.

4. Ask to try it at home

This is what an in-home trial looks like: a few rugs, your floor, your light.

Showroom lighting flatters everything. Your living room does not. A confident store will bring the rug to your home, lay it down and let you live with it for a day or two before you commit. If a store will not do that for a rug you are serious about, ask yourself why.

5. Check whether the prices are real

A rug that has been "70% off" every week for three years was never the higher price. Ask what the rug costs, and whether that number is the same next month. A store whose prices are set fairly once has no reason to play the crossed-out game.

6. Ask what happens after the sale

Rugs live for decades and things happen to them: a spill, a moth, a corner that curls, a move to a smaller room. The store that sold you the rug should be the store that cleans it, repairs it and resizes it — in-house, not shipped off to someone else. If they cannot, you are buying an orphan.

7. Notice who you are talking to

At a chain, the person selling the rug also sells the recliner. At a rug store, the person selling the rug has usually spent their life around them and can tell you about the wool, the knot, the dye and the weaver. That conversation is the difference between a purchase and a good one.

A store that does its own fitting, cleaning and repair is a store that will still be there after the sale.

If you are looking for Persian and Oriental rugs specifically

Ask three things: how old is it, what is the knot count, and what is the wool. Ask to see the back. Real vintage and antique pieces should be described honestly — age, wear, any repair — and new rugs made in traditional designs should be described as new. A good store carries both and is clear about which is which.

Where we fit

We are a family-owned direct manufacturer with a showroom in Downers Grove, a few minutes from Hinsdale, Oak Brook, Naperville and Elmhurst. The rugs on our floor came from our own looms or were hand-selected by us; there is no importer or distributor in between, and no permanent sale. We weave to size and color, we bring rugs out for in-home trials across the western suburbs, and cleaning, repair and resizing are done by us, not sent away. More than a hundred customers have reviewed us on Google, and you can read every one before you visit.

What to bring: a photo of the room, its measurements, and a paint chip or cushion if color matters. Then we open rugs until one is right.

239 Ogden Ave, Downers Grove · Mon–Sat 10–6, Sun 12–5 · (630) 324-6567. Start with the rugs we weave ourselves, custom sizes and colors, or vintage and vintage-style pieces.