Designer’s Warehouse

On North Railroad Avenue in Opelika, inside a building that once served the area’s railroad-era commerce, Designer’s Warehouse operates as both a home decor retailer and a working interior design studio. The business was built by Sherry and Allison, who set out to create what they describe as a beautiful interior design studio paired with an affordable, timeless retail space, positioning the shop as unique and accessible rather than a luxury-only showroom. Sherry, the principal designer, holds a degree in interior design from Auburn University and brings roughly three decades of experience across corporate, retail, commercial and residential projects, which shapes how the showroom itself is arranged and styled.

Walking the floor turns up a rotating mix of art, lamps, rugs, case goods, upholstered furniture, home decor and gift items, arranged in vignettes rather than aisles, which makes the space function almost like a showhouse a customer can shop directly from, each grouping suggesting how a piece might actually sit in a living room rather than leaving that translation up to the shopper. Designer fabric bolts and trim samples sit near the back, a nod to the custom upholstery and window treatment work the design side of the business regularly takes on for local homeowners. The retail floor and the design studio share space deliberately, so a customer picking out a single lamp is standing in the same room where full residential and commercial projects get planned, and it is not unusual for a browsing customer to end up in a conversation about a much larger project simply because the design team is on site rather than off at a separate office.

For customers who want more than a single piece, the design team offers both residential and commercial interior design services, working through colors, finishes, window treatments and furniture selection to carry a room from a blank slate to a finished space. Custom window treatments and interior and exterior finish selections round out the service list alongside furnishings and accessory coordination, so a client can lean on the studio for a single decision or an entire project from the ground up. The studio also offers hourly consultation rates for buyers working through selections on new construction, a service that comes up often in a fast-growing area like Auburn-Opelika, where new subdivisions and custom builds keep the design side of the business as busy as the retail floor. That combination, retail on one side and full design services on the other, is what distinguishes Designer’s Warehouse from the antique and gift shops nearby on the same block. It draws both browsers looking for a single rug and homeowners in the middle of a full room renovation, and the showroom’s vignette-style layout means either kind of customer can see a finished idea rather than just a price tag.

Design consultations run by appointment, so shoppers planning a project rather than a browse should call ahead, while the retail floor keeps regular weekday and Saturday hours for walk-in traffic, ten to six on weekdays and ten to four on Saturday, with the shop closed on Sunday. The North Railroad Avenue location puts Designer’s Warehouse within easy walking distance of the rest of downtown Opelika’s shopping district, making it simple to pair a stop here with the boutiques, antique malls and gift shops filling the surrounding blocks of restored railroad-era storefronts. That district exists in its current form largely because of Opelika Main Street, the nonprofit that has worked since 1987 to bring investment back into the city’s historic core, turning former warehouse and rail-commerce buildings like the one Designer’s Warehouse occupies into active retail space. For homeowners in Auburn and Opelika weighing a full renovation against a single new rug, having both the retail floor and the design studio under one roof means the conversation can start with either question and end up covering both.