Find MCM furniture bargains at Machine Age, closing in Boston after 34 years

The showrooms at Boston’s Machine Age will soon shutter, but inside its walls sit hundreds of one-of-a-kind, well-preserved pieces of furniture and décor crafted in the mid-20th century.

For 34 years, owner Normand Mainville has been in the business of sourcing and selling mid-century modern furnishings ranging in origin mostly from the 1930s through the 1970s.

Mainville is now on the cusp of retiring and has plans to close Machine Age’s storefront at 121 Boston St. — located right on the dividing line between South Boston and Dorchester — early this year.

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However, due to continued customer demand, the store has stayed open longer than its original anticipated closing date of November 2025.

Mainville said that remaining inventory will eventually be brought to a specialized auction house in Chicago where it will be sold to the highest bidder.

Before then, though, prospective customers still have the chance to stop into Machine Age’s showrooms from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesdays and Saturdays or can request by phone or email to come in for an appointment.

Mainville said that everything in the store is now priced at 40% off in an effort to attract buyers and clear out leftover items.

Part of the enduring appeal of this kind of furniture and décor is its unique designs, refined tastes and high quality, only appreciating in value as it ages, Mainville said.

“Vintage furniture has such a presence and it creates such an identity and people invest in that,” Mainville said.

He added that buyers enjoy creating tailored aesthetics in their homes with these sleekly designed, rare, statement pieces that they often keep for years, if not decades.

People are also drawn to the stories behind these pieces and often want to know details about the designers or how the piece found its way into the showroom, he said.

“If every piece of furniture could share their life, their history, imagine if they were able to talk, it would be a great party,” Mainville said.

Mainville still receives feedback from customers who bought pieces in the past telling him how much they love their purchases years later, he said.

Mostly through word of mouth, Machine Age built up a loyal customer base over time. Mainville added that what he will miss most once retired is working with these clients.

The business has acted as a middleman between buyers and sellers to provide favorable outcomes for both parties.

Machine Age takes in well-maintained heirlooms that families don’t want to simply give away or donate to a thrift store, but also can’t continue to hold onto for one reason or another, Mainville explained.

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If items are worn with age or damaged, Mainville said the business will work with specialists to refinish, touch up and reupholster them to ensure they’re sold in “mint” condition before they hit the showroom floor.

The business then finds good homes for these mid-century modern treasures among new people who are eager to own or use them.

Mainville said some items have even cycled through Machine Age’s showrooms multiple times as buyers later look to have their cherished items find their next best home and have entrusted him to help them.

One notable aspect of the business has been providing vintage pieces for TV and movie productions. Mainville cited the biopic “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody” as one example.

Some celebrities, such as actor John Malkovich, have been customers, too, over the years, Mainville added.

Machine Age has been at its current 5,000-square-foot space near the South Bay shopping center and Andrew Square since 2016, according to Mainville.

The business originally operated out of a 27,000-square-foot space at the intersection of Congress and A streets for 16 years and then later a space on Summer Street in today’s Seaport neighborhood for another nine years.

Before starting Machine Age, Mainville worked in fashion and owned a store called Parachute on Back Bay’s Newbury Street in the 1980s, he said.

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Later, when he began taking an interest in and accumulating mid-century modern furniture for himself, Mainville decided to make a career pivot and open Machine Age.

Mainville said the rise of the internet and online shopping and the growing time gap between the present day and the mid-20th-century has made sourcing inventory harder than it once was.

“Every year there’s less and less and less,” Mainville said. He added there have been fewer options at formerly more reliable sources like thrift shops, auction houses and estate sales.

Combined with factors including his own health and the property’s owners choosing to sell Machine Age’s building, Mainville made the decision to slowly shut down the store.

In retirement, Mainville said he may use his three decades’ worth of knowledge, discernment and appraisal skills to help at auctions selling vintage furniture.