Home and design stores in Palo Alto

Palo Alto is a city of remodels. Many of its houses date from the 1920s to the 1950s, including thousands of Eichlers. Owners update them constantly. The stores have followed. Within a few miles you can tour a three-story furniture gallery, test a Swedish bed by appointment, match a paint chip, buy a new set of keys and pick up California native plants for the garden.

This guide groups the city's home and design stores by area. It covers furniture, linens, beds, kitchenware, lighting, rugs, paint, hardware and plants. Each store named here has a verified listing in our directory with its address, phone and hours. For the architecture behind all those remodels, see our guide to Eichler homes in Palo Alto.

Stanford Shopping Center: furniture, linens and beds

The open-air center holds the city's largest concentration of home stores. Most sit along Arboretum Road, Sand Hill Road and Quarry Road on the edges of the center, so they are easy to reach from the parking lots and garages.

• RH Palo Alto: a three-story design gallery of about 60,000 square feet with furniture, rugs, an interior design studio and a rooftop restaurant.
• Crate & Barrel: a two-story store selling furniture, kitchenware and lighting, with free design help and registry consultations.
• Pottery Barn: furniture, bedding, lighting and decor, with free design services and wedding registry experts.
• Williams Sonoma: cookware, bakeware and gourmet food, with cooking classes and registry help.
• The Container Store: storage and organizing products, with custom closet design and elfa shelving installation.
• Frette: luxury bed linens, towels, robes, throws and home accessories.
• Hästens: handcrafted Swedish beds, with private guided bed tests by appointment.
• Tempur-Pedic: the brand's flagship store, pairing shoppers with a sleep expert to try mattresses, bases and pillows.

RH replaced the old Macy's men's store building and opened as one of the brand's large galleries. Plan time for it: the upper floors are laid out as furnished rooms and the rooftop restaurant makes a break between floors. Crate & Barrel's store page says it has been at the center since 1986. The Container Store's parent company changed in July 2026, when Bed Bath & Beyond completed its purchase of the chain. The Palo Alto store is still listed and open. Our Stanford Shopping Center guide covers the rest of the center.

Town & Country Village: tableware and kitchen

• Hudson Grace: white Italian ceramics, candles, serveware, bedding and gifts, with registry, trade and corporate gifting services.
• Sur La Table: a kitchen store with hands-on cooking classes, knife sharpening, a gift registry and in-store pickup.

These two make Town & Country the place to shop for the table rather than the room. Hudson Grace leans toward entertaining, with tableware, serveware, candles and bedding. Sur La Table also offers private group classes, which work for a team outing or a birthday. See the Town & Country Village guide for parking and food.

Downtown: modern design, lighting, rugs and beds

The 300 block of University Avenue has turned into a small design row. A few doors away on Bryant Street is a Swedish bed showroom.

• Design Within Reach: the DWR Palo Alto studio, part of MillerKnoll, showing modern furniture, lighting and decor with free design services.
• Visual Comfort & Co.: a designer lighting showroom with chandeliers, sconces, lamps and outdoor lighting, plus lighting design appointments.
• Artsy Rugs: a hand-knotted rug gallery with traditional, contemporary, vintage and antique styles, cleaning, repair and appraisals.
• Avocado Green Mattress: a showroom for the brand's certified organic mattresses, bedding and pillows.
• DUXIANA: a Bryant Street showroom for DUX beds from Sweden, a component system with replaceable parts.

Showrooms like these work best with a plan. Bring room measurements, photos and paint or fabric samples. Several offer trade programs for interior designers, so ask if you are working with one. Our downtown boutiques guide maps these stores alongside the area's galleries and independent shops.

Paint, hardware and garden

The practical end of home shopping is spread along El Camino Real, Alma Street and the south side of the city.

• California Paint Company: a Benjamin Moore dealer on South California Avenue, run by a Bay Area company founded in 1936, with stains, wallpaper samples and blinds.
• Sherwin-Williams: a paint store on Page Mill Road that opens at 6 a.m. on weekdays, with paints, stains and supplies for homeowners and pros.
• Hassett Ace Hardware: a family-run hardware store on Alma Street with key cutting, paint matching, propane, screen repair and knife sharpening.
• SummerWinds Nursery: a garden center near San Antonio and Middlefield roads since 1960, with California natives, edibles, houseplants, succulents and pottery.
• Sleep Number: the adjustable bed maker's store on El Camino Real at Page Mill Road, offering free pressure mapping.

California Paint Company runs color consultations in the store on Saturdays, a useful step before you commit to a whole room. SummerWinds opened in 1960 as Woolworth Nurseries and took its current name in 2002. Its native plant section suits Palo Alto's dry summers. If your project needs a permit, read our guide to building permits and remodeling before you buy materials.

Design help, registries and classes

Free services are one of the best reasons to shop for the home in person. Here is what the stores' own pages list:

Booking ahead is wise for anything that needs a staff member's time, especially on weekends.

Delivery and getting big items home

Most furniture and bed stores deliver, but terms differ by brand and by item. Ask about delivery windows, white glove setup and old mattress removal before you pay. Tempur-Pedic's store page lists white glove delivery. If you are buying something small enough to carry but too awkward for the car, the shipping stores in town can pack it for you. Our holiday shopping guide lists them.

Planning a home shopping day

For furniture, start at Stanford Shopping Center, park once and walk between RH, Crate & Barrel and Pottery Barn. Have lunch at the RH rooftop or elsewhere in the center. Then drive or walk across El Camino Real to downtown for Design Within Reach, Visual Comfort and Artsy Rugs. Save paint and hardware for a weekday morning, when you can get color matched and keys cut before the weekend crowd of home projects. If you are new in town, our moving to Palo Alto checklist covers utilities, permits and the rest of settling in.

Frequently asked questions