Shei Wah
Husband and wife owners and operators
Steven and Win Halverson have run this store for 32 years. It is well
known to a segment of the University of California community, but not to
the population at large.
This is a customer’s store. Win, born in
Burma, is charming and helpful. She obviously values her relationships
with her customers. She takes pride in the generations, people who have
bought furniture in turn bringing their married children to outfit their
new homes.
She tells of one professor from New York who
comes each summer to teach and always takes back something with him to
the East.
Shei Wah represents furniture makers in
Vermont, Canada, Oregon, Italy, and China (factory for an Italian
company).
If you wish something custom made, Steve, who
was born in Hungary, will find a local artisan for you. He also
sometimes makes something himself. These are people who love furniture.
We took away a catalog for Lyndon Furniture
from Lyndon, Vermont.
The variety from Lyndon is staggering. For your
dining table you may choose styles of trestle, flare leg, tapered leg,
Duncan Phyfe, Vermont traditional, and more.
Your bed may be Afterglow, Mission or new
Mission, Willoughvale, Mason, La Cama, or Carriage in either its Edged
Panel or Upholstered Headboard incarnation.
There are similar variations in armed and
unarmed chairs, chests, buffets, hutches, and more.
Whatever the style from this Vermont maker, the
use of wood is paramount. It has the general Arts and Crafts feel. Wood
of course is natural: cherry, birch, maple. There is no veneer here.
The Halversons know their suppliers. So you
will be told realistically when to expect ordered items. They try to be
conservative, so you won’t be disappointed.
On occasion they have been known to loan a
piece for a party when the order was delayed.
You may notice something unusual about the
walls of this store. They are old-fashioned narrow vertical wood. This
is the oldest building on Solano Avenue, so the Halversons have
preserved the walls.
A year ago, they opened a second store in
Emeryville. Called Furniture Oasis, this is seven times bigger than the
rather small original store. You can visit there and and view more of
the furniture available. The Halversons plan to keep the Solano Street
store, to continue serving their long-standing clientele.
1545 Solano Avenue (opposite Safeway), Berkeley, CA 94707.
Phone 510-525-3362. Fax 510-525-1262.
Hours: Tue-Sat 12-6, closed Sunday and Monday.
Second store: Furniture Oasis, 5959 Shellmound Street (North of
Borders), Suite 75, Emeryville, CA 94608. Phone 510-594-0977, Fax
510-594-0987. Email: sheiwa@hotmail.com
