Furnishing a home on a budget without sacrificing quality is the whole premise behind Canterbury Used Furniture and Antiques, a Kent County fixture that has been selling refinished and secondhand furniture along South DuPont Highway since 1968. The store sits at 8916 S. DuPont Highway, on Route 13 in the Viola and Felton area south of Dover, and it has spent more than five decades helping local families and newcomers alike fill their homes with pieces that cost far less than buying new. That longevity in a single retail category is itself notable in a business where many secondhand furniture shops open and close within a few years; Canterbury has instead become a known quantity along the Route 13 corridor for anyone furnishing a first apartment, downsizing an estate, or simply hunting for a well-made piece at a fraction of retail price.
The showroom mixes everyday used furniture with recognizable name-brand pieces that periodically pass through inventory, including Ethan Allen, Pennsylvania House, Henkel Harris, Kincaid, Drexel, Thomasville, and Steelcase, brands that typically command much higher prices when bought new or through traditional dealers. Alongside that rotating brand-name stock, the store carries antique and vintage furniture spanning oak rockers, cherry armoires, Oriental accent tables, and Victorian-style hall racks, generally priced from around 99 to 699 dollars depending on the piece and its condition. Living room seating, dining sets, bedroom suites, and office furniture round out the categories, giving shoppers a genuine mix of styles from rustic and painted country pieces to more formal antique furnishings, all under one roof rather than spread across specialty shops.
Because inventory turns over regularly and only a portion of what is in the showroom ever makes it onto the website, Canterbury encourages people to visit in person to see the full current selection rather than relying solely on online photos. The store is open six days a week, Sunday through Wednesday and Friday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., closing only on Thursdays, which gives shoppers a fairly generous window to stop by during a weekend errand run or a weekday visit. For larger purchases, Canterbury offers delivery depending on location and a lay-away option that can be started with as little as one-third down, a practical touch for customers budgeting a full room’s worth of furniture rather than a single item. Shopping in Delaware also means no state sales tax on purchases, an added incentive for buyers crossing the state line from Maryland or elsewhere on the peninsula specifically to furnish a home more affordably.
For anyone in central and southern Delaware looking to give a house more character without the price tag of new furniture, Canterbury’s mix of everyday used pieces, name-brand finds, and true antiques, backed by decades in the same Route 13 location, has made it a dependable stop rather than a one-time bargain hunt. Canterbury Used Furniture and Antiques on South DuPont Highway near Viola and Felton, Delaware has furnished homes with affordable used, name-brand, and antique furniture since 1968, offering tax-free shopping, lay-away, and delivery to Kent County customers and beyond.
