Without major furniture chains within the city limits, Detroiters have traditionally had two choices: stores that sell used items in varying degrees of wornness or stainedness. or else places offering contemporary but gaudy items for people who want to force their visitors to acknowledge their appalling taste.

But sitting on the outskirts of downtown in an unassuming building is a purely Detroit furniture store that stocks three floors worth of items as eclectic and refined as any suburban store.

Gardella Furniture has been open on lower Gratiot since the 1930s, housed in two connected century-old buildings. The three-level store was founded by Gardella’s grandfather, Louis Gardella, in 1939. The original building housing the store had once been the entrance to a theater, now long gone. Originally, Gardella sold unclaimed freight from railroad cars, then added new appliances, radios, paint, rugs and furniture. In the early 1950s, his son, Joseph Gardella, purchased the store and operated it through the 1990s, when it was taken over by his son, Gary, who began focusing more on mid-level and high-end furniture and home design.

When he took over the store, one half of the building was abandoned, filled with illegally dumped trash and refuse from crackheads who’d taken over the facility. “We took 800 yards of garbage out of this building,” he said.

The store carries more than 160 major brands, featuring everything from basic designs to high-end furnishings, or as Gardella said, “we carry Chevy- to Bentley-level products, and we discount it all.” His store’s lower pricing is a reflection of his store’s low profile and low overhead. “We don’t advertise,” he said. “I own all the buildings. We don’t have 50 trucks.” One frequent customer is the mayor.

The store offers delivery, as well as in-home design services, which Gardella provides. “We help people to make sure that they do their houses properly,” he said. “Selling furniture is a byproduct of what I do. I do houses properly, and the end result is selling stuff. If it means that you buy something else or don’t buy something at all, that that’s what it is. But doing the house properly is what I’m after.”

“If people want to buy crap I say go someplace else. I won’t sell them a piece of garbage, because people don’t remember whether they spent a hundred bucks more or less; they do remember if it was a piece of garbage.”

Gardella Furniture is located at 2306 Gratiot. Hours are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. every day except Thursday and Saturday. For more information, call (313) 567-7470.