Whether you’re furnishing a new home from scratchor giving your current space a style refresh, shopping for furniture and decor can feel like a daunting task. With the opening of CITY Furniture at University Town Center, residents of the Sarasota area now have a stylish new destination that makes the shopping process not only simpler, but genuinely enjoyable. CITY Furniture started in 1971 as a waterbed store before expanding into a full furniture store in the nineties. This family-owned furniture business is local to South Florida and is known for its wide range of affordable home furnishings, sustainable building and shipping practices and a giving pledge that puts five percent of its annual profits into the communities they serve. “Sarasota is such a vibrant community  with a really strong appreciation for quality and style,” says Caitlin Maribona, CITY’s senior PR manager. “What we offer from a shopping experience is, I think, right on par with what the community is looking for. We want to make a positive impact wherever we go, whether it’s through creating jobs or getting involved in local causes, and Sarasota’s energy and growth and community spirit really spoke to us.” When you walk into a CITY Furniture, one of the first things that stands out to you is the abundance of choice. You can find furniture for every room in your house in a range of styles, from modern to cozy to traditional and everything in between. CITY Furniture also offers an extensive selection of seasonally-changing home decor accents including rugs, lamps, chandeliers, florals and pillows, so it truly is a one-stop shop. Worried about getting it home? That’s not a problem—just use their in-house moving company, CITY Moves.  There are also some exclusive items available. CITY has created a Florida King bed which is even wider than a California King—and also recently launched the CITYMOD line of highly-customizable modular furniture. Maribona also teases that in the near future, the company will be dipping its toes into closet spaces beginning with the Sarasota location. And there are a few other things that make the CITY shopping experience so unique. “In all of our showrooms we have our KC Cafe & Wine Bar where you can get wine, coffee, snacks, appetizers. We always have our fresh and free cookies that are the most delicious cookies you’ve ever had in your life,” Maribona says. “Making decisions while you’re shopping can take a little while. So while you’re mulling over your choices, you can go grab a drink while you think about it. We just want to make sure we’re creating really great experiences for our customers.” And if you’re struggling with design choices, CITY also has in-store free designers that can help customers with everything from mood boards to color palettes to floor plans. It’s an invaluable service that is truly unparalleled. At press time, CITY Furniture was expected to have its soft opening at the end of June, with a grand opening weekend scheduled for July 17th. “We love to have a big to-do with our grand openings,” Maribona says. “We’ll have food trucks, DJs in the showroom and thousands of dollars in giveaways all weekend long. It’s really a big splash in the community.”