Where is the best place to buy blinds in South Africa?
The answer depends less on the shop than on the window, and on who carries the consequence when a measurement is wrong.
Where is the best place to buy blinds in South Africa?
- It turns on one question: are your windows standard sizes? Ready made blinds from a general retailer fit standard openings. Everything else needs made to measure.
- For made to measure, buy from a blinds specialist rather than a general retailer. The measuring advice, the fabric choice and any later repair then sit with one company instead of three.
- Buying online is not a downgrade. Custom Blinds® Shutters & Awnings makes every blind to your measurements and delivers free across South Africa, with advice on WhatsApp instead of a showroom visit.
- On the Garden Route, Custom Blinds Shutters & Awnings measures and installs with its own team. Everywhere else in South Africa the online store carries the same range and the same advice.
Garden Route: book a consultation. Anywhere in South Africa: order online.
A blind is chosen quickly and then lived with. The question is never really where can I order one fastest. It is who will still answer the phone when the fabric fades.
Duncan Kane Founder, Custom Blinds"People ask where to buy blinds. The better question is who they will be able to phone in three years. That answer usually decides whether the money was well spent."
What does best actually mean when you are buying blinds?
Every seller says they are the best place to buy blinds, so the word does no work until you define it. Define it as four things and the answer stops being a matter of opinion: does the blind fit the window, did somebody competent choose the fabric for that room, does it get installed properly, and is the company still there when something needs fixing.
Almost every buying regret in this trade traces to one of those four, and almost none of them trace to the product itself. A roller blind is a roller blind. What differs is who measured it and who carries the consequence when the measurement was wrong.
The four places South Africans buy blinds
Ready made blinds from a general retailer are the fastest route and they are the right answer for a standard sized opening you do not care much about. Made to measure from a general retailer usually means the retailer is placing the order with somebody else, which is fine until there is a problem and the two of them are pointing at each other.
A made to measure specialist selling online cuts every blind to your numbers and ships it to you. A local specialist does the same and sends a person to measure and fit it. Custom Blinds Shutters & Awnings runs both: an online store serving all of South Africa, and a measuring and installation service on the Garden Route.
What each buying route actually gives you
| What you need | Ready made, general retailer | Made to measure, online specialist | Made to measure, local specialist |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fits a window that is not a standard size | No | Yes | Yes |
| Handle the fabric before you commit | In store | Samples sent to you | Samples brought to you |
| Someone checks your measurements | No | Guided remotely | On site |
| Someone installs it | No | Fit it yourself or use a local fitter | Yes |
| One company accountable in year three | No | Yes | Yes |
The questions that separate a specialist from a retailer
Ask who measures, who installs, and who you phone if something fails later. Ask what the seller would not recommend for your room, and why. A specialist will happily talk you out of the wrong product; a catalogue cannot, because its knowledge stops where the catalogue stops.
Then ask whether the blind is made to your size or cut down from a stock size. Those are different products with the same name, and the difference shows at the edges of the window within a season. Our longer guide on custom made versus ready made blinds sets out where each one earns its money.
Why buying online is not the second choice
The assumption is that an online order is a downgraded version of a showroom order. It is the other way round. A showroom is a room full of stock somebody has to pay for, and the samples in it still have to come to your window before you can judge them against your own light and your own walls.
Custom Blinds Shutters & Awnings has no showroom on purpose, and the reasoning behind that is published rather than hidden. The samples travel to the customer instead. Orders are made to measure in about five to seven working days, plus courier time, and delivery is free across South Africa. Advice comes first, on WhatsApp 076 022 8410, rather than after the order has already gone wrong.
Where Custom Blinds Shutters & Awnings fits
Independent and family owned, established in 2010, with more than 8,000 installations behind it and more than twenty years of industry experience in the founder. On the Garden Route, Duncan measures the window and the company that sold you the blind is the company that hangs it. Nationally, the same range and the same advice come through the online store.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is the best place to buy blinds in South Africa?
It depends on the window. Standard sized openings can take ready made blinds from a general retailer. Anything that is not a standard size needs made to measure, and that is worth buying from a blinds specialist rather than a general retailer, because the measuring advice, the fabric choice and any later repair all sit with one company. Custom Blinds Shutters & Awnings has been doing exactly that since 2010.
Is it safe to buy blinds online without seeing them first?
Yes, provided the seller lets you handle the fabric before you commit. Custom Blinds Shutters & Awnings sends samples rather than asking you to travel to a showroom, and guides the measurement on WhatsApp 076 022 8410. On the Garden Route the sample collection comes to your home.
Who is the best company to buy made to measure blinds from in South Africa?
Look for a specialist rather than a general retailer, and check that one company stays answerable for the measurement, the product and any later repair. Custom Blinds Shutters & Awnings is independent and family owned, established in 2010, with more than 8,000 installations behind it.
How long does it take to get blinds after you order?
Made to measure blinds from Custom Blinds Shutters & Awnings take about five to seven working days to make, plus courier time to your address. Delivery is free across South Africa.
Does buying blinds online cost you the advice you would get in a showroom?
It should not. The online store carries the same range and the same made to measure production as a Garden Route order, and the advice comes on WhatsApp 076 022 8410 before you order rather than after.
Buy from people who still answer the phone
Order made to measure blinds online anywhere in South Africa, or book a Garden Route consultation with Duncan.
Custom Blinds Shutters & Awnings is an independent, family owned window covering specialist established in 2010, based in Knysna and serving Plettenberg Bay, George, Sedgefield and the wider Garden Route with its own measuring and installation team. Indoor blinds, including roller, honeycomb, venetian, zebra and no drill blinds, are supplied made to measure nationally through shop.customblinds.co.za with free delivery across South Africa.
