I run a showroom in DHA and I am about to send you to several places that are not it. That is deliberate: the fastest way to lose a customer at this price level is to pretend one shop is right for everything, and the fastest way to keep one is to tell them where the good sheesham dining sets are.
What follows is how Lahore’s furniture trade is actually organised, what each part of it is genuinely good at, and what to expect to pay. Prices are indicative for 2026 and move with the exchange rate.
How the city is arranged
| Area | Best for | Typical price level |
|---|---|---|
| DHA — Main Boulevard, Y Block, Phase 3–5 commercial | Design-led showrooms, imported and boutique brands | High |
| Gulberg — MM Alam Road, Main Market | Contemporary retail, lifestyle stores, lighting and décor | Mid to high |
| Ferozepur Road corridor | Large national brands, ranges, sofa sets | Mid |
| Raiwind Road and Multan Road workshops | Manufacturing, made-to-order, upholstery | Low to mid, and variable |
| Bilal Gunj and the older markets | Salvage, restoration, antique and second-hand | Low, and requires knowledge |
| Anarkali, Shah Alam and the walled-city bazaars | Fabric, brass, upholstery materials, small craft | Low |
| Online — brand sites and marketplaces | Price comparison, small items | Anything |
DHA — where to go for design rather than volume
DHA’s commercial blocks carry the design-led end of the market: smaller showrooms, imported pieces, and boutiques with a point of view. Expect fewer options in each category and more thought behind each one. Sales staff are usually able to answer construction questions, which is not universally true elsewhere.
Buy here when the piece has to be right rather than adequate: seating, statement furniture, anything Art Deco, anything that has to be delivered into a specific room and installed properly. Expect to pay a premium over Ferozepur Road for the same nominal item, and expect the construction to be different in the ways set out in solid wood versus veneer.
Our own showroom is at E-100/14, Lower Ground, Main Boulevard, DHA, and we specialise in Art Deco. I mention that once, here, and then leave it alone.
Gulberg — décor, lighting and the contemporary end
MM Alam Road and Main Market carry a broader lifestyle mix: contemporary furniture, lighting, textiles, ceramics and the accessory layer that finishes a room. For lighting in particular it is the best area in the city — more choice, more current designs, more people who understand the difference between 2700K and 4000K.
It is also where to go for the smaller decisions: cushions, throws, tableware, mirrors. These are the things that are wildly overpriced in a furniture showroom and correctly priced in a homeware shop.
Ferozepur Road — brands, ranges and warranties
The large national brands cluster along this corridor. What you get is scale: a full range in stock, delivery within a week, a written warranty, financing options, and a return policy that means something. What you do not get is uniqueness — the same sofa is in six thousand houses.
This is the right place for a first home, for a rental you will furnish and leave, for children’s bedrooms, and for anything where availability matters more than distinction. It is also a good baseline: know what a brand charges for an eight-seat dining table before you accept a boutique quote for one.
The workshops — Raiwind Road, Multan Road and the industrial belts
This is where most of the furniture sold in this city is actually made, including a good deal of what is sold as imported. Going direct is entirely legitimate, and it is how you get bespoke work at a sensible price.
It is also where the variance is greatest. Some of these workshops do genuinely world-class joinery; some are three men and a table saw producing furniture from timber that arrived wet last week. Both will quote confidently and the quotes will not be far apart.
- Go with drawings. A workshop that is given a dimensioned drawing produces what is on it; one given a photograph produces its interpretation
- Ask the moisture-content question. It separates a workshop from a carpenter in one sentence
- Look at work in progress, not the showroom sample. The sample was made carefully; the pieces on the bench are the truth
- Expect to manage the process. Direct-to-workshop means you are the project manager, and the savings are the fee for that role
- Pay in stages tied to milestones, never fully in advance
The full assessment method is in choosing a furniture workshop in Lahore, and what commissioning actually costs and takes is in custom furniture in Lahore.
The old markets — salvage, antiques and restoration
Bilal Gunj and the surrounding trade deal in second-hand, salvage and restoration. There are extraordinary things here — colonial-era pieces, 1950s and 60s furniture with genuine Deco detailing, brass, doors, and stone.
It requires knowledge, and the market knows precisely how much you have. Two rules: buy the structure rather than the finish, because a sound frame under bad paint is a bargain and a beautifully polished piece over a ruined carcass is not; and never buy anything with active woodworm, which is visible as fresh, pale bore dust rather than old dark holes.
For fabric, brass fittings, upholstery foam and trim, the walled-city bazaars remain unbeatable on both price and range. Every upholsterer in this city buys there.
Buying online
Online is excellent for price discovery and for small items, and risky for furniture, for one specific reason: everything that determines quality is invisible in a photograph. Substrate, seasoning, foam density, frame timber, joint type — none of it photographs.
If you do buy online, ask for the specification in writing before ordering: species, substrate, foam density in kg/m³, frame timber, and finish. A seller who provides all five is a seller worth buying from. One who replies "best quality material" has told you what you needed to know.
What things cost, roughly, by area
| Where | Typical price | What you are getting |
|---|---|---|
| Workshop, direct | Rs 90,000 – 250,000 | Variable. Excellent or poor depending entirely on the workshop |
| National brand, Ferozepur Road | Rs 150,000 – 350,000 | Consistent, warrantied, unremarkable |
| Gulberg contemporary retail | Rs 250,000 – 500,000 | Current design, mixed construction |
| DHA design showroom | Rs 300,000 – 700,000 | Specified construction, hardwood frame, sprung, proper foam |
| Imported brand | Rs 700,000 + | Design provenance, and freight and duty in the price |
The bands overlap because construction varies more than location does. A Rs 300,000 sofa from a good workshop can be better made than a Rs 500,000 one from a showroom, and the only way to tell is the frame test in how to judge a sofa you cannot see inside.
Where I would not send you
- Anywhere that will not name the timber species
- Anywhere quoting "imported" without saying from where
- Any seller who will not let you turn a rug over
- Sales that run permanently. A 60% discount available every month is a price, not a discount
- Anyone who quotes only a total and refuses a breakdown by component
- Any workshop asking for 100% payment before work starts
Buy the volume furniture where volume is cheap, and buy the pieces you will look at every day where somebody can explain how they were made.
