What it’s actually like
From the sidewalk Baluchi Rug Gallery looks like one more Fifth Avenue storefront. The numbers say otherwise. The gallery, in Suite B at 7155 East Fifth Avenue, puts its stock at more than 7,000 handmade rugs, which it calls the largest collection in Arizona. Shopping here means having the staff turn through rugs with you until the right one shows up, more like a dealer’s warehouse than a decor shop.
The business belongs to the Momeni family and has been family-owned since 1990. They import directly from the weaving regions rather than buying through wholesalers, and they run their own loom in Afghanistan for custom work. The name comes from the Baluch, whose tribal weaving tradition comes from the borderlands of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The range goes well beyond Baluch rugs, though. There are hand-knotted Persians from Tabriz, Isfahan, Kashan, Heriz, Nain, Kerman, Mashad and Qom, in wool, silk and wool-silk blends; Afghan, Turkish and Central Asian tribal pieces; flat-woven kilims; contemporary designs; and Navajo rugs. Nothing in the building is machine-made.
It is a full-service rug shop. The gallery hand-washes rugs by full submersion, with free pickup and delivery, repairs and restores them, makes custom pieces, writes appraisals and runs a program for interior designers. The most useful service for a first-time buyer is the in-home trial: a rug brought to your house to live with before you decide.
What to buy
A hand-knotted Persian. The heart of the stock. Ask the staff to show you the difference between city rugs like an Isfahan or Nain and village rugs like a Heriz, then choose by what the room needs.
A tribal rug or kilim. Baluch, Afghan and Turkish tribal work and flat-woven kilims are where the gallery’s name comes from. They are often the better value and the better fit for a Southwestern house.
A Navajo rug. The Arizona answer to the Persian, in a gallery that sells both.
A runner or a 2x3. If you are flying home, a small piece is the one that fits in a suitcase.
Parking, timing and the practical stuff
The gallery is on the Fifth Avenue curve west of Scottsdale Road, in the Fifth Avenue and downtown district, across the street from Leela Market. Use the free public garage on the Fifth Avenue side near the canal or the Civic Center garage off Drinkwater Boulevard. Anything bigger than a small rug should be delivered, so ask before you try to carry it. The Old Town on foot note maps the walk.
Come with measurements. Measure the room and the furniture footprint before you visit, and photograph the space in daylight. With thousands of rugs in stock, size is the fastest filter, and the photos help the staff pull the right colors.
Budget an hour. Looking through stacks takes time, and the staff will keep going as long as you are interested. Weekday mornings are the calmest. The gallery is open daily from 10 to 6, which makes it a good stop on a hot summer afternoon, when the street outside is quiet. High season, roughly January through April, brings the winter residents who are furnishing second homes.
Bring the old rug’s story. If you are inheriting or selling, bring photos of the front and back. The appraisal and cleaning conversation starts with the knots on the back.
Eat while you’re there
Original ChopShop is a few doors east for a quick lunch, and Cartel Roasting Co. is the coffee a short walk west. Citizen Public House further along the curve is the gastropub for a longer meal, and FnB in Craftsman Court is dinner for anyone celebrating a purchase.
How it got here
Handmade textiles have been part of Fifth Avenue’s history from the beginning. The craftsmen who cut the street in 1950 after the Arizona Craftsmen fire, the founders the Fifth Avenue lexicon entry describes, included weavers alongside the silversmiths and potters. In the 1950s the Kiva Craft Center and Craftsman Court made the avenue a showcase for handmade design, and Lloyd Kiva New’s textiles and leather goods, sold under the Kiva name, took Native design national from the same street.
Rugs came with the resort economy. As Scottsdale grew through the 1980s and 1990s into a town of large houses, winter homes and interior designers, the demand for good floor coverings grew with it. Oriental rug dealers, Navajo weaving galleries and design showrooms like Wiseman & Gale on Marshall Way all served the same clients furnishing the same houses. The Momeni family started their rug business in 1990, at the beginning of that expansion.
They built the business on sourcing. Buying directly from weavers and suppliers in Afghanistan, Turkey, Pakistan, India and Central Asia cuts out the importers that most rug stores buy from, and their own loom in Afghanistan lets them make custom orders rather than only resell. The services followed: washing, repair, restoration and appraisal, the work that keeps a handmade rug in use for generations and that a family business with thirty-plus years of handling rugs is well placed to do.
The gallery that resulted, more than 7,000 rugs in a Fifth Avenue suite, is a long way from the craftsmen’s studios of 1950. The premise is the same, though. The street was founded on objects made by hand that last, and a hand-knotted rug that will outlive its buyer fits that premise well.