Can I buy furniture in Ambergris Caye?
Kate Corrigan - Caye International Bank
We have some lovely furniture stores here in Ambergris Caye. One of the most popular stores here is Hummingbird, which makes some wonderful and beautiful furniture. Hummingbird has some retail stores, so you can just walk in and choose from the beautiful furniture they have on display. They make beautiful sofa beds, tables, and chairs. They make a lot of outdoor furniture, but they also make some soft furnishings. They are a more expensive brand, but that is what people here in Ambergris...We have some lovely furniture stores here in Ambergris Caye. One of the most popular stores here is Hummingbird, which makes some wonderful and beautiful furniture. Hummingbird has some retail stores, so you can just walk in and choose from the beautiful furniture they have on display. They make beautiful sofa beds, tables, and chairs. They make a lot of outdoor furniture, but they also make some soft furnishings. They are a more expensive brand, but that is what people here in Ambergris Caye are looking for. In the developments, if homeowners are not having a container load brought in, they would have Hummingbird make their furniture for them. If you are looking for soft furnishings, sofa beds, or pull-out beds, Hummingbird is the best place to go. We also have some local furniture makers like Graniel’s, which is a family that has been making woodwork furniture here in Ambergris Caye for many years. I actually just had some new desks delivered here from them. They are beautifully made. We have about three or four furniture makers who take bulk orders, but they can tailor-make them for you. Some of my friends had just purchased a condo unit and they told me that they wanted some furniture made for them, so I told them that I’ll take them to Mr. Graniel and he will make the furniture just for them, and they did. They have some lovely designs at Graniel’s. If you need some desks or some cabinets made, you can have them tailor-made for you by Graniel’s. They come over and fit them, and make them especially for you. They are very busy because most people go to Graniel’s to have their furniture made for them. One of the desks that we had made by Graniel’s was made of the local wood here in Belize and it cost us about $1,000 Belize or US $500, but every job is different. They will give you a quote depending on the type of wood that you would like the furniture to be made out of.
It is also possible to have your furniture imported from the US or France, for example. It would be expensive, but most of the people who do that, take advantage of the QRP program, which allows qualified residents to ship in a container full of their goods to Belize tax-free. You still have to pay for the shipping cost, but there are shipping companies that will work with you on that. The persons who are facilitating your QRP status for you will also be able to give you an idea of a couple of companies to use. Height Shipping is one of them, but there is also a barge that comes over from the mainland.
There are also several stores in Belize City. Mirab has a furniture store where you can go and just buy furniture. They have chairs and everything that you would normally want. They import their furniture. We also have Courts and you can buy furniture there, too. I know Grand Baymen, which is a company that we work with here in Ambergris Caye, has a development that we offer financing on, and when they first occupied the building, they had container-loads of things that were all bought from the States. But now they go around and buy everything from the local distributors like Mirab or from the hardware stores for their water heaters or other big things like that. They order them through local companies.
The local companies would have a better relationship with the shipping companies than you would as an individual, and they just bring the goods in with their next container.
You have to make sure that when you are planning and building your home, that you always allow for delays such as rain and customs, because nothing comes quickly here in Belize. We are still in a Third World Country, but I would like to call it a Two and a half World Country, where it is a bit of manana mentality in some areas. It just happens, and you just have to be okay with it because being upset does not make things work any quicker. You just have to sit back, have a pina colada, and say, “Oh well, I am still sitting on my plastic chairs today, but my new furniture might be here tomorrow.”
And if it does not arrive tomorrow, go ahead and sit on someone else’s sofa and have lunch at their house!
Posted December 24, 2014
David Drummond - Georgetown Trust
You can buy iron furniture in Ambergris Caye at some of the local stores that are designated for the resorts. You can also find some of the Mennonite furniture, which is a little bit less expensive. Ambergris Caye is an island, so things tend to be a little bit more expensive here. You can buy things on the mainland and have those items shipped to the island. But you can get furniture and other household goods here on Ambergris Caye.
You can buy iron furniture in Ambergris Caye at some of the local stores that are designated for the resorts. You can also find some of the Mennonite furniture, which is a little bit less expensive. Ambergris Caye is an island, so things tend to be a little bit more expensive here. You can buy things on the mainland and have those items shipped to the island. But you can get furniture and other household goods here on Ambergris Caye.
If you want to go to the mainland and ship some furniture to Ambergris Caye, the cost depends on the item. It could be US $25 to $50 depending on where it is. You can put your items on a water taxi yourself and some of the stores will also ship it out for you.
The selection of items on the island they tend to be one of two extremes – very high end or low end, without very much in the middle. If you want something in the middle, you can get that from the mainland and have it shipped over or have it built. People here in Ambergris Caye, build furniture, too. That is what I would probably do. I would have someone build what I want. There are furniture builders on the island.
There are local people in Ambergris Caye who build furniture, too. You can just show them a picture of something that you want built and they will build it for you. There is a great builder in Corozal (on the mainland) who builds extremely high end customized cabinetry and chairs, tables, armoires, dressers, and outdoor furniture. Recently, I saw a picture of the wooden bathtub that he made.
You can find builders of simple furniture to complex furniture on Ambergris Caye. You just need to make sure that they know exactly what it is you want and what color it is you want.
Most of the office desks in my office were built here on Ambergris Caye. I have 4 x 8 foot of mahogany as separators instead of the Hayworth or the Herman Miller office separator. The cost to make these mahogany separators is around $400, stained and shellacked. The cost for the same thing in the US would be around $800 to $1,200 in the US.
(1924 photo of huge Belizean mahogany being squared for transport, pictured.)
Posted May 10, 2015
Allan Lima
There are furniture shops that sell imported goods in Ambergris Caye. Whatever you need, you go there. If you want local furniture, there are, I believe, two wood shops that have furniture already made that you can purchase. If you want furniture that is custom-made here in Belize, they would do it for you. You could also make a purchase of furniture on the mainland of...
There are furniture shops that sell imported goods in Ambergris Caye. Whatever you need, you go there. If you want local furniture, there are, I believe, two wood shops that have furniture already made that you can purchase. If you want furniture that is custom-made here in Belize, they would do it for you. You could also make a purchase of furniture on the mainland of Belize, perhaps in Belize City and then just have them deliver it to the barge and the barge will bring the furniture to you. So furniture is something that is very easy to get here. You could have it customized or you could go to the mainland and just have it shipped.
My apartment came fully furnished, which is many times the case here, so when this happens, you don’t have to purchase any furniture. If you chose, of course, you could purchase your own if you don’t like the furniture that came with your apartment.
(Pictured: suite at Blue Tang Inn, showing ample use of wood.)
Posted June 8, 2015