For many types and brands of window treatments, it really pays to shop around. The table below shows you the kind of price variation you’ll probably find. It reports costs quoted to Checkbook’s undercover shoppers when they sought prices for window treatments for four windows—including cellular shades, blinds, and Roman shades—at a sampling of local stores and online outlets.

For the cellular shades, we specified that we wanted four 3/8-inch single-cell, white, light-filtering cellular shades, 30 inches wide by 68 inches long. For blinds, we checked prices for four two-inch wood blinds (not faux wood) with regular cord lifts in any oak color (with no cloth tape). For the Roman shades, we again asked for four treatments, in white fabric. We also checked installation charges (for the local stores) and shipping charges (for online outlets).

We asked each outlet for prices for its least expensive brand that met our specifications and for several specific brands of cellular shades, if it offered them. Keep in mind that there may be big quality differences among the various brands offered by the surveyed stores.

The table reports the quoted prices for the window coverings, not including installation costs. The last column reports stores’ installation fees.

We indicate with bold-italic type the best prices we were quoted. For local stores, when selecting low prices to highlight, we considered stores’ installation fees. For the online retailers, which largely don’t offer installation services, we indicate with bold-italic type the lowest prices just for each window treatment option, plus shipping.

Here are some of our findings:

• Different brands tend to be sold through different channels. For example, Hunter Douglas is sold mostly through local independent stores, Graber at independent local stores and online outlets, and Bali and Levolor products are available at mostly just big chains and online retailers.
• For the name-brand cellular shades we shopped for (Bali, Graber, Hunter Douglas, and Levolor), the more expensive outlets offered prices that were hundreds of dollars more than those at the least expensive stores.
• When we asked sellers to provide prices for any brand that met our specifications, we found even larger differences—the most expensive local stores offered prices that were more than three times higher than their lower-priced competitors. For the least expensive brand available at each local store (not including installation), prices for the four cellular shades we shopped ranged from $380 to $1,320—a difference of $940. For the two-inch wood blinds, prices at local stores ranged from $352 to $1,320—a difference of $968.
• Among local stores, price winners include the big-box operations (Costco, Home Depot, Lowe’s) that you’d expect to offer low prices. But we also found very low prices at J C Penney and at some of the independent stores.
• For Home Depot and Lowe’s, we were surprised to find considerably lower prices available on their websites, compared to the price quotes we got from their local stores.
• But don’t assume buying online will always save you a lot of money. We found that some online sellers charge low prices and some charge high prices. Plus, a few of the pricey internet retailers were more expensive than local options. Among the websites we shopped, for the least expensive brand offered for our four cellular shades, prices ranged from $160 to $652. For the two-inch wood blinds, prices including shipping at internet sellers ranged from $213 to $1,432. And for the Roman shades, prices at websites ranged from $250 to $1,822.
• When using our price table and doing your own shopping, factor in installation costs. (On our table, we added installation costs when deciding which prices to highlight as lowest.) At some stores, installation costs are embedded into the price of the window treatments; at others, installation charges are extra, and at a few, they’re substantially extra.
• Keep in mind that if you do your own installation work, you probably won’t get the kind of generous guarantee you’d get from a top store that does installations.
• Depending on the seller, adding special features can substantially increase prices. If you are considering things like fancy trims or top-down and bottom-up operation, be sure to account for the possible extra charges.