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Child Item

IKEA - wonderful or overhyped?

JupiterKid

I was out at the IKEA store with a friend with a view to buying a couple of chairs and some kitchenware. I had never set foot in the place until a few weeks ago and I wondered what all the hype was about. It's very like any furniture/kitchen store but on a bigger scale.

Anyway we got the chairs in flat packs and assembled them but I thought to myself if you were buying something bigger like a wardrobe or table it might be a bit of a challenge to assemble.

So - do AHers think IKEA is the wonderful everyday or greatly overhyped fare?

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TheDoc

circadian wrote: »

I can't stand it. Having to follow the path through the store, which is always rammed, to get one or two things you know you're looking for but want to see in in the flesh, to be sure of what you're buying.

It can take an age to check something out, get to the warehouse to pick it up and pay for it.

There are side doors that act as shortcuts to every department, you don't ever have to trapse around the track. Granted me and the misses do as we just like having a "pooch".

For certain things ( typically if its for me, most recently some things to house my consoles and games, or last year a new PC desk) I get the codes and locations through the website and when I get there I'm straight into the Warehouse, picked, self service, gone.

Thinking about it we hit up IKEA a lot, pays to kinda know the time to go as well. It's open pretty late, so anytime after 8pm Mon,Tues,Wed,Fri is ideal.
I'd never go on the weekend as it's packed. Mon or Fri night after 8pm seems to be the best, place is empty and you whizz around.

Bargain area usually gets fresh stock on a Monday after the returns/damages done to display stock over the weekend

Duke O Smiley

Mr E wrote: »

The little things on the middle floor are the killer. You go here not expecting to buy much, and leave with a pack of 3 scissors, 4 espresso cups, a bath mat, a few towels, a potted plant, ice cube trays, some glasses, some bulbs, a wall clock, some storage boxes, a laundry basket and some of those apple glazed chewy biscuits that your dentist would love....

Yeah, I love Ikea.

It's like a larger version of the middle aisles in Lidl and Aldi

positron

IKEA is indeed brilliant.

The furniture and beds market is otherwise full of snake oil salesmen who would tell you anything to get a sale. Or Hardly Normals or other self appointed "specialists" who would charge you an arm and a leg for a basic double bed and mattress.

Ikea sells flat pack furniture. Store is massive. Have plenty of choice and stock and a website witha working online stock checker. There's a place to eat, and there's a place to keep kids busy. There's free parking and it's accessible from M50 (I remember driving around and around Blanchardstown shopping center car park looking for a place to park - screw that!!).

Ikea even have their own forest that they manage and they use that to make these furniture. What more can you ask for? Their prices are lowish not because they sell poor quality stuff, but because they shift serious volumes. If they have one man design something, goes into production, that gets sold across the globe for years and sells in hundreds of thousands, small profits adds up for Ikea.

What is there not to like about Ikea? Unless they are hurting your own small scale furniture business, you got to love them for what they do!

Muahahaha

Woshy wrote: »

I really love IKEA

I just wish you could order the stuff online so you wouldn't have to actually go there. You can get stuff delivered but you have to actually go to the shop to purchase it.

Ikea shopping service
http://www.adverts.ie/other-home-garden/ikea-shopping-delivery-service/7580701

Rezident

I used to work in furniture removals so I disliked IKEA stuff as it breaks easier when you drop it. Then I bought a house and now have to buy furniture for it so I dreaded the thought of being dragged around IKEA for the day (I hear there's a one-way route!) looking at furniture, a fate many of my brethren have fallen to.

Then, I compared IKEA prices to the furniture prices at most other furniture shops in Ireland. Now I am a big fan of IKEA and I still haven't even been there yet.

LuckyFinigan

I got a bad dose of explody arse after eating their meatballs, so I can't say I'd recommend them.

shar01

Don't forget the napkins....

dee_mc

shar01 wrote: »

Don't forget the napkins....

And the zip-lock bags

Ghost Buster

Its grand but
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DO NOT EAT THE FOOD:eek::eek::eek::eek:

Cienciano

Ghost Buster wrote: »

Its grand but
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DO NOT EAT THE FOOD:eek::eek::eek::eek:

Don't listen to this.
The food is deadly, especially for the price. The dime sweets are amazing

Toots

zerks wrote: »

If you know in advance what you want,simply go through the returns area and pick it up at the warehouse.Saves traipsing through the whole store.

I got a massive Besta unit there and saved about €2k going by quotes I got locally.

I did that about 2 weeks ago and may have possibly broken some sort of world record doing it. Had one thing to get, and knew the aisle and location, went in about 40 minutes before closing on a Wednesday. 25 minutes from parking the car, to pulling out of the car park.

SMJSF

I wasn't a big fan at the start, but when I had to buy stuff for my first flat, it was amazing!
But I've noticed the more popular stuff has disappeared, like some of the 365 delve collection.
Plus, some things aren't worth the price tag and still look cheap, and the quality isn't what you'd expect. I say the best items I've bought from there is a oak effect coffee table for 20e, a floor standing lamp for 6e and metal office drawers for 12e (but unfortunately hasn't stayed intact, the clips to hold it together aren't strong enough). I've put together office chairs, shelving, bedroom drawers, tv stand from there for friends, and have been very easy to put together!

marialouise

rob316 wrote: »

The only thing that doesn't stop me buying more is I'm in Cork.

There's a guy who goes up to IKEA twice a week from Cork and delivers it to your house for like €50 or something.... Mum used him recently when we moved house, so you can look everything up online and tell him exactly what to get and he goes up and does it for a few people and brings it back to Cork!

Boom_Bap

LuckyFinigan wrote: »

I got a bad dose of explody arse after eating their meatballs, so I can't say I'd recommend them.

That's just the free colonic they throw in

fleet_admiral

shar01 wrote: »

Don't forget the napkins....

There is more IKEA napkins in my house than the Irish Merchants warehouse!

clever user name

Was talking to somone who us a manager there and apparently they make more than million euros every weekend. Mad money!!!

In saying that, I like the place and if I needed some sort of furniture it's the first place I would go. The cafe there is great too, cheap food

rob316

clever user name wrote: »

Was talking to somone who us a manager there and apparently they make more than million euros every weekend. Mad money!!!

In saying that, I like the place and if I needed some sort of furniture it's the first place I would go. The cafe there is great too, cheap food

Yep the Dublin store turnover is €1m a week.

dan1895

rob316 wrote: »

Yep the Dublin store turnover is €1m a week.

€1m on a busy Saturday and Sunday. Closer to €2m a week.

towelly

Aongus Von Bismarck wrote: »

I really cannot believe the number of posters around here who say they like the Ikea meatballs. Absolutely vile and disgusting pustules of cheap meat and filler dosed in violently oversalted gravy. They may be cheap but they are very bad value. The only use for them I can think of is if you suddenly felt a desire to have an impromptu game of handball in the Ikea restaurant and needed a rubbery sphere to use as the ball.
The artificially smoked salmon wasn't much better.

Agreed. I'd rather chop my balls off and eat them instead. The quality of the food compliments the quality of the furniture.

Macavity.

Never been, sounds like a car company to me.

Kintarō Hattori

towelly wrote: »

Agreed. I'd rather chop my balls off and eat them instead. The quality of the food compliments the quality of the furniture.

You see I don't get the bashing such as above. It's a shop which stocks a range of furniture at varying price points. Want an inexpensive sofa for a room you hardly use for €100, they have it. Want something better as your main sofa that's good quality and expensive.... they have it. Fancy a cheap wardrobe for €60 quid no worries. However you can pay hundreds for a high quality one should you wish. Point being that they don't just stock cheap disposable furniture, they stock higher price point equivalents too.

The cafe is a mixed bag too. I wouldn't blankly state that the food is muck... some of it is but some of their dishes are quite delicious such as the lamb shank.

It's a multi nation store which is massively popular. It stocks a range of varying quality furniture, at varying price points to suit their customers. If you are a student with little money in your pocket then you're just as welcome as the two income couple who have money to burn.

[Deleted User]

As a student with a home to make for myself, I was very grateful to have Ikea. I'd sod all money and even less space but was able to kit out a tiny flat with everything I needed for minimum outlay. I went in at the lowest price point they sold at, and while the furniture wasn't built to last generations, it certainly more than served it's purpose. I have excellent quality bedding and kitchenwares I bought in Ikea that still look good. I had more than one bowl of vegetable soup and slice of Diam cake in there too, can't knock it for price. I don't get the hate, it serves a niche and serves it well with decent design thrown in.

Cienciano

I despise the place, I really hate going there. But to say the furniture is terrible quality is ridiculous.

towelly

Cienciano wrote: »

I despise the place, I really hate going there. But to say the furniture is terrible quality is ridiculous.

With furniture, like with most other things, you get what you pay for.

[Deleted User]

It is a place for women.

toddunctious

Restaurant food is ok
I like the floating shelves
Outdoor lighting
And the plant section

dee_mc

Deleted User wrote: »

It is a place for women.

I thought it was for furniture and pillows and plates and meatballs and stuff, must have a closer look next time

ShoulderChip

Tigger wrote: »

ikea is substandard at a high price
i priced a kitchen and gt the same from an irish kitchen wholesaler for half the price

Oh please! "the same kitchen" so you have an Irish wholesaler who sells Ikea's own brand kithcens? or do you just think they look similar, this makes me so sick!

going_bald

anyone know if the following is correct

while ikea will deliver anywhere in the country , you must go into their store and pick out your desired items first and bring them to the collection area

effectively ikea will deliver but wont pick out the stuff for you ( if you choose to order online from home )

Woshy

going_bald wrote: »

anyone know if the following is correct

while ikea will deliver anywhere in the country , you must go into their store and pick out your desired items first and bring them to the collection area

effectively ikea will deliver but wont pick out the stuff for you ( if you choose to order online from home )

Yes, you can't order online or on the phone - you have to go to the shop, pick up what you want and then arrange delivery at their customer services