Outdoor wood furniture from Wicker Emporium
“Wicker emporium is an organization that scours the world to find the best products at the best prices for our customers,” said Raj Kapahi, Chief Operating Officer of Wicker Emporium.
“We’re going to shows all over Europe and Asia to try to find the best designs. We deal directly with the manufacturers. We cut out all the middle men and we just bring in the best stuff for the best price,” he said.
The company, which started in 1972 – and once sold only wicker products – has grown exponentially, selling everything from floor coverings, home lighting, textiles, teak and mahogany furniture.
“At that time it was really difficult to find wicker products in Atlantic Canada. My Dad who came from Asia was very familiar with that sort of product,” Kapahi said. “It was becoming fashionable at the time in North America and he thought it was a good opportunity to sell it in the market here.”
“We started with wicker but the company has evolved gradually into different products lines. Right now we’re actually selling solid wood furniture from Asia, including mahogany, mango wood, and acacia wood.”
“That’s what the customer is looking for,” Kapahi said. “Wicker has gone out of fashion and people are looking for solid wood and that’s what we’re bringing.”
“We have outdoor teak furniture, and we have outdoor wicker which is made of poly–resin. It’s actually a type of plastic that you can leave outdoors with aluminum frames. We have outdoor sectionals, outdoor dining sets and outdoor bar sets,” he said. “We even brought out something new this year called textilene which is an outdoor fabric.”
The Wicker Emporium in Oakville is focusing on outdoor furniture for the remainder of the summer.
Wicker Emporium is able to keep their prices low on top quality solid wood products because of their personal relationship with manufacturers from overseas.
“We’re able to deal with some of the mid-size to smaller size factories that have really great value,” Kapahi said. “Many of these other larger retailers can’t work with smaller factories because of limitations with supplier production capacity. Another characteristic which makes us unique is that we are receiving new containers into our warehouse every day and our product mix is always changing. You can be sure that you will see new and exciting merchandise in our stores during every visit!”
“We bring in solid wood pre-cuts and we are proud of it. We believe there is value in bringing in solid wood. It lasts longer and if there is any issues with solid wood, it’s easier to repair.”
Wicker Emporium is located at 210 North Service Rd. W.
“We want to continue to bring amazing products to our customers,” Kapahi said. “If the Toronto market likes us we’d like to open more stores and offer our products to more people in the GTA.”
“We’re very passionate about bringing great furniture, and great home decorating accessories to Oakville,” he said.
Stop by the showroom at the Wicker Emporium location at 210 North Service Road West in Oakville or visit their web site at www.wickeremporium.ca.
Tags: Dorval Crossing, furniture, indoor, outdoor, wicker
About the author: Michael Burton
Michael is journalist with experience in publishing, news writing and the magazine industry. He graduated from Sheridan College and is the former editor of TRAVIS magazine.
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