> Most US cities have or at least used to have the same scenario of a few furniture stores in the same district where you can browse several selections. I remember Schenectady having several stores in one spot each dedicated to lighting (and exhaust fans and doorbells, because of NuTone's business).

The impression I got from this article is that most of the stuff he bought was second hand. There are a lot of decent ways to buy second hand goods in every city I've lived in.