Pottery & Beyond

Huge selection, lots of variety and excellent prices. What’s not to like?

They have a lot of pots here.
When you go in, the guy tends to stick close to you. He asked that I not pick up any pots, but I think instead of looking at it as annoying or view the customer as thieves, I figure they do it so people don’t accidentally drop the heavy pots so they break, or drop it on their toes, or hurt themselves which could potential lead to who’s at fault.
Anyway, they have anything and everything and in many colors and sizes. I did order a few pots which will be delivered to me for an additional fee. It’s better than be carrying it.
They will deliver it, but they are not going to set it in the spot of your choice, in your garden.

If you’re looking for high-​quality glazed ceramics (e.g. Le Beau, Verandah, etc.) this is the place to go. Much better prices than you’ll find anywhere near the city, even on the tag. Indeed the staff will follow you at times, but they’re around to help move around things, and from my experience were not pushy. Whenever I said I wanted alone time or was just wandering, they immediately gave me space, and were willing to consider reasonable offers. If they don’t have it here, good luck wandering around 5 or 6 boutique stores in the city to find what you’re looking for.

A great place to wander around looking at all the various pots, fountains and buddhas as well as the area filled with banboo plants. The man who helped us stayed a few feet behind us and I was glad he was there as it would have been easy to knock over many pots while pulling out the ones we wanted. He also found just the right plates for the planters we bought. I will certainly be back when I need more things for my garden.

I love this place! Fantastic selection of colors and finishes and reasonably priced to boot. Nearly every time I come here I find what I need, and sometimes with a deeply discounted price. They always say hello when they see me and, though they may be a little over enthusiastic about this part, remind me to let them know if I need to have any pots lifted. I understand it’s a little atypical to have the staff tailing you, but I can completely understand why– these items are FRAGILE (sucks for them if you break it) and HEAVY (sucks for your back when you strain it). They just want to protect their stock and your precious body. Again, I can’t recommend this place enough for their variety and sweet service. I’m headed back here tomorrow to find some new planters for our design studio in SF and plan to source from Pottery & Beyond for future client projects.

Very well laid out extensive selection of pots. Glazed in an array of colors and techniques. Prices are posted usually at the front of the row. We found them to be a little too expensive for our use. We need to put some plants we’ve been cultivating into larger pots. We don’t need anything nearly as fancy as what Pottery & Beyond offers, so passed on their wares. But, if you have a specimen that you want to display dramatically, or want a clay pot water feature, this is your spot. Nice guys working there and from what I witnessed, they will load you pots into a truck for you.

I’ve bought many pots here over the years, and last year a fountain. I think their selection is the best for the price that I have seen; I also like their pottery better than AW and all the local nurseries. I think all the pots are from Vietnam, and I’m guessing the staff are as well. They’ve always been friendly, and a salesman does follow you around, but: so what? They’re there to be helpful, and maybe to make sure you don’t break anything.

This place is a little hard to find, but they have great selection and incredible markdowns. I got 4 large (3′ tall, 18″ diameter) lovely pots — 2 for the entrance and two for the deck, as well as two medium ones and one smaller all for under $ 300 including tax. Be patient and look at everything, and you will be rewarded.

The little hyper chinese guy that works sales here is the absolute worst. He was pushy, loud, and rude. We asked him where the indoor fountains were and he recklessly showed us a few and excluded the two best styles.
When we walked into the office they already ran our card and we asked them to do a price adjustment so we could buy a better fountain. I listened to the old chinese lady managing the books talk about us in Cantonese (I understood every word).
Next, the pushy guy rushed us out of the office with the wrong pump for the fountain. When we got home, it didn’t fit the model we bought. We returned again to get the right part and as per their instructions, brought the tube to assure the right size.
Once again, pushy guy takes the tube and throws a pump at us and rushes us out of the office, again.
We get home and realize HE KEPT OUR TUBE!!! okay, one more trip back to this house of horrors the next morning, and he tried to deny keeping our pump and tried to sell us the part instead.
We got our tube and got our fountain but we will never be back to this place.
These people are shady and rude. While they have nice things be very careful when doing business here. make sure you ask about every color and style they have and ASSURE it works before you drive away.

Ever wondered what it felt like to be treated like a shop lifter? Now’s your chance!
Our experience: We arrive delighted to see a nice selection of pots. Immediately we’re followed by an employee. We tell him what we’re looking for and he got really hyper, screaming in Vietnamese or whatever, and was pressuring us to buy pots we didn’t want. I told him I wanted to keep looking and he wouldn’t leave me alone. He followed me down every aisle for a good 20 minutes. I was actually feeling a panic attack when I told my husband I just wanted to get the hell out of there. When we got in our car, a man from the building burst out screaming in another language to say he had some pot I didn’t want. My husband told him he would consider it another time and we drove away as quickly as possible.
In short, avoid this place unless you want an ulcer. Gardening is supposed to be a relaxing experience and that should be true for purchasing the materials too.

This place has a great variety of pots: design, color (teal, chartreuse, maroon, purple, etc), sizes (small and large ones depending on your space), shape (rectangle, round, cylinder) and well organized.
As to not repeat anything, I agree with John B completely and this place is worth visiting.
And to those who think the staff is watching them, they are not. It is a cultural thing where they are trying to be attentive and help you with prices, or to move or carry a pot for you. They were great!
If you pay cash, i believe they offer a slight discount!

I’ve driven past this place so many times and finally needed a few small pots for some house plants so I swung by. I was immediately greeted and directed towards the small pots… after being told not to touch anything. The man then proceeded to follow me around the entire time I was there and literally was directly behind me the whole time. Talk about uncomfortable. I then found a few pots I liked, but after being told that the trays that clearly went with the pots needed to be purchased separately and were $ 2 each, I put the pots back and I was outta there.

Terrific selection of Asian pots, fountains and benches. Prices are lower than Navlet’s and Orchard of Lafayette for similar pots before any discounts, and they were willing to negotiate. I went to purchase one large pot 26″ high and about the same across, and bargained down for a 30% discount on that one and two smaller pots.
Staff was helpful. Was interested to note the comments here about being greeted, which I don’t expect at a huge store like this. In my case, I was immediately greeted, and the staff was always present to help pull down pots so I could see them together. Here’s the thing. The pots are heavy, and I’m sure they don’t want their pots chipped and they don’t want their customers hurt.
Just got the pots back home, and they are truly beautiful. I couldn’t be happier I dropped by.

If you need in/​out door pottery, fountains, stone art work or benches go to this place. Not only is the selection is out of this world but the prices are so low. Staff is very helpful also.

Nice variety of pots — literally thousands — but I was disappointed that there were no rectangular pots. Among an absolute sea of pots, none were what I was looking for.

Agree with all that said this is a great place. Overwhelming selection of beautiful quality pots specializing in making them into fountains. We bought a beautiful natural stone fountain and bench and what my research shows was a good price. All people there were super friendly and helpful, teasing the grandkids etc. They will negotiate price. Highly recommended.

I love this place! It is right around the corner from where I work and I often wander down at lunch just to check out the good deals. They have fountains, ceramic pots, different types of pottery and all kinds of great stuff your garden. The people who work there really nice as well. They sell their pottery at a fraction of the cost of other nurseries and the quality is excellent! Make this a must stop when in Emeryville!

I don’t know a lot about pottery prices so I don’t know if the deals were great. I thought the selection was almost overwhelmingly plentiful, with a wide variety of styles and prices.
I did feel like I was being stalked by the sales people at first, but they were handy when I made my selections, and they offered some alternative styles when we asked questions.
In the end, I found what I needed, and they gave me a decent discount without request. I’ll be back when I finalize what I want to do to my patio.

My interaction there was not great at all. My partner and I walked around this place browsing without a mere ‘Hello’. Now, this wouldn’t have been an issue normally, I mean it IS self serve, BUT two of the workers there kept following us around, as if we were going to steal something or carry off some large pot.
Not to mention most things being overpriced.
I would skip this place, since even cracked pieces were on display. Tap the pots when you pick one out, if it resonates, good, if not, it’s cracked or broken. Overall i would just skip it, and never return.

Seriously, if you want some inspiration for your yard or patio? It’s right here! This tiny little out of the way spot features rows and rows of beautiful pots, fountains and sculptures. You feel like you’re walking through a vast maze of gardening inspiration.
The staff here are very helpful, and will load your car up with the most amazing loot to bring home & decorate your own little corner of the world.