Where to find interesting rugs? Since the beginning of my journey that’s been one of the most difficult questions to answer. Duluth,Mn, the place I began, is well out of the loop (is that a pun?). Rochester, Mn, my present diggings, might have one of the finest medical facilities in the nation and be a growing cultural crossroads, but it’s still a long way from being a shopping capital.

I’ve gone to EBAY; I’ve gone to CRAIGSLIST and I’ve scoured the libraries. I’ve even managed to find something interesting in the rugs I have around my house. But until recently I hadn’t found a place where I could actually look at rugs made by hand outside the United States. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a chauvinist American, and grateful to the taxpayers thereof for my government pension, but the fact is it’s been a long time since we’ve hand-woven rugs in this country and while machine made rugs are wonderfully resilient, beautifully colored and a lot more in my price range than handmade, they are only part of the story I find interesting.

I searched online for “oriental rugs in Rochester, Mn.” Several pages of rug dealers purporting to be in Rochester popped up: I searched in vain for local addresses for these stores and couldn’t find them because virtually all were online. After my time spent looking a rug pictures on EBAY, CRAIGSLIST and the public library, I was eager to actually, uh, “press the flesh,” so to speak; I was never one to be satisfied by the playmate pictures in PLAYBOY.

In desperation I finally Googled “rugs in Rochester, Mn” and discovered a number of rug and carpet retailers, only one of which seemed to have what I was looking for, hand knotted rugs: Hom Furniture, located a few blocks away in the Miracle Mile Shopping Center. I decided to take a look.

I approached World Rugs a bit apprehensively as I wondered what they might think to see a scruffy old man prowling around feeling their rugs. I need not have worried. Mike and Brice, two fine young men, were more than willing to show me around and talk with me about the rugs. They showed me how to tell the difference between handmade and machine made rugs, and showed me some tufted rugs made in this country that I actually could afford. Thanks guys.