
First and Main Design Market stays resilient amid rising tariffs, striving to make design accessible without raising prices.
BOTHELL, Wash. — First and Main Design Market, a furniture store in Bothell, is feeling the pressure from rising tariffs. The owner, Chelsea Coryell is holding off on raising prices for as long as she can — hoping to keep her customers and her store’s vision intact.
However, with tariffs stacking up, Coryell is caught between rising costs and loyal customers.
“I have so much to teach people about how they can have design,” she said. “It’s not just for the wealthy, I want this to be for the community.”
Now, she’s fighting to keep that vision alive, even as costs continue to climb.
“Our customers come in and at least once a day someone mentions the tariffs,” she said. “How it’s affecting us, how it’s going to affect the price, should they hurry and buy something. It really is on the front of everyone’s minds.”
Coryell said for the past month and half she’s been waking up to emails from vendors notifying her about price hikes.
“There’s always a line item for tariffs now,” she said. “Again, that’s frustrating, it’s no one’s fault, but things are getting more expensive, and we thought eggs were a problem!”
Currently, there’s a 10% tariff on top of existing duties for goods from most countries, and a 145% tariff on products from China.
The tariffs mean higher costs even for products that are assembled in the United States. For example, Coryell said even though a couch is assembled in Los Angeles, the fabric comes from overseas — meaning customers would now pay about $500 more under the new tariffs.
Despite the mounting pressure, Coryell said she has not raised prices yet.
“We haven’t raised prices yet, we’ve been really lucky,” she said. “We eat a little of it and vendors eat a little of it. Most of them are raising prices by about ten percent.”
She said it’s not just the cost increases but the uncertainty that has the design industry on edge.
“Maybe the tariffs won’t happen, maybe they will, maybe they’ll change,” Coryell said. “We just don’t know.”
Even small changes can have major impacts across the industry.
“When those little changes happen, it is a huge waterfall of events that happen with us,” she said. “I see sales reps that are being let go and are panicking, I’ve heard numerous stores that have closed.”
For now, Coryell said she and her team are taking things one day at a time. They’re working to keep their doors open and design accessible for everyone.
“We’ll get through it, we always do,” she said. “We’ll come back stronger.”