IKEA queues?

MichaelR · 21-07-2020 2:31pm #1

Hello,

When IKEA reopened, there were reports of massive queues outside it.

What is the queue situation at present? And does it differ for workdays vs weekends?

Alicano · 22-07-2020 11:33am

Queues are a joke. Have been since it reopened. I've had 4 drive by attempts and turned around. Tried as recent as last Monday 1.30pm. Security chap told me queue time was approx 1hr.. When I gasped he said it was a 2hr wait previously that morning. So in a word. Relentless.

annoyedgal · 22-07-2020 12:38pm

wondering about this also. I wonder would it be better an hour or so before closing time?

ongarboy · 22-07-2020 3:33pm

Do not turn up at or just before opening time as the queue for the first couple of hours after opening time will be non moving as the first couple of hundred early birds who got there before you and who have reached the store's maximum pandemic occupancy will be browsing/shopping for a few hours. It's only when they start leaving 1-2 hours in, that the queue starts moving again as the store starts letting one customer in as one customer comes out. I'd leave it to mid afternoon.

colm_mcm · 22-07-2020 3:34pm

Apparently it gets quiet around 5.

L1011 · 23-07-2020 6:05pm

Queue was rapidly moving at 420 and gone at 5 when we left today. Inside was busier than I expected

jackofalltrades · 25-07-2020 2:04pm

I went there an hour before it closed on Wednesday around 2 weeks ago.
Queued for around 15/20 minutes.
Queue seemed long, but was constantly moving.
A lot more tills open than usual, so paying was a lot quicker than normal.
I'd imagine it's even quieter now.

SmashingPilot · 25-07-2020 2:08pm

I went on Thursday evening. Arrived about 6:30 and walked straight in, couldn't believe it.

Muahahaha · 25-07-2020 2:24pm

Still no restaurant open? Have they said when it will reopen? I want my meatballs

L1011 · 26-07-2020 11:42am

Muahahaha wrote: »

Still no restaurant open? Have they said when it will reopen? I want my meatballs

Its actually a full restaurant, has a drink licence etc so would have to be table service only and take contact details etc etc now. So probably after August 10th

26-07-2020 4:07pm

L1011 wrote: »

Its actually a full restaurant, has a drink licence etc so would have to be table service only and take contact details etc etc now. So probably after August 10th

I think i'm missing something here. Why would it have to be table service only or be limited in any way by the August 10 rule? You can go and have a buffet in a restaurant in Dublin city centre today, with or without alcohol.

Hugo_Whoriskey · 26-07-2020 4:33pm

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

I think i'm missing something here. Why would it have to be table service only or be limited in any way by the August 10 rule? You can go and have a buffet in a restaurant in Dublin city centre today, with or without alcohol.

I'm curious, where are you able to get a buffet today in Dublin?

1hnr79jr65 · 26-07-2020 4:34pm

Was goin into ikea today, 2 hour wait time in queue to get in, NOPE, stayed 15 secs and fkd off home.

All i wanted was a frying pan, zip lock bags and some meatballs to bring home, not worth the wait.

26-07-2020 4:49pm

Hugo_Whoriskey wrote: »

I'm curious, where are you able to get a buffet today in Dublin?

Mongolian Bbq, Tempe Bar. They serve alcohol too.

A few more on the North Inner City up around Marlborough Street (Asian).

L1011 · 26-07-2020 5:37pm

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

I think i'm missing something here. Why would it have to be table service only or be limited in any way by the August 10 rule? You can go and have a buffet in a restaurant in Dublin city centre today, with or without alcohol.

Buffets are meant to be out currently due to the lack of distancing, potential for cross contamination etc.. Company like IKEA is not going to be seen to even pick at the corner of the rules, would be disasterous for PR.

Sanitising the tables between customers would be a nightmare too with the throughput there - very hard to keep notice of what tables have been used.

Realtine · 27-07-2020 12:03pm

Went to Ikea in Ballymun yesterday, 1.5 hours queue, daughter needed something for her bedroom so we waited. The queue moved quick enough, well it seemed to, still though I felt every minute of it.

I'm wondering if's it quieter say of a Monday morning? Does anyone know. Will need to go again soon as in the market for a kitchen.

L1011 · 28-07-2020 9:21am

Every morning is bad; as pointed out the first group gets let in then nobody leaves for at least 20mins; with no large amount leaving for even longer.

JupiterKid · 28-07-2020 11:11am

There is simply zero chance of me queueing to shop in Ikea. Absolutely zilch.

I have a couple of IKEA shelving units in my house and a few other smaller bits and pieces and they are grand - but after shopping in IKEA a few times for things over the past 8 years or so, I really think their stuff is very overrated and certainly not worth standing outside for an hour or more waiting just to get inside.

L1011 · 28-07-2020 12:38pm

The problem with IKEA is basically - what are the alternatives?

For furniture its particularly stark. Woodies, Homebase, Argos sell poorer quality flatpack for higher prices

The few remaining general furniture stores sell anything from poorer quality flatpack through to high quality, hardwood furniture, but at vastly higher prices and with less range. There are sofa specialists and bed specialists but not much else, even Harvey Norman is basically a sofa and bed specialist now.

Absolutely nowhere has the same range of homewares and a lot of what the big homeware stores have is either extremely tacky, extremely expensive or both. Homesense sells whatever they can find with zero consistency. Lots of the brands in other stores are very poor quality.

So people end up going there because its easy. They sell practically everything in one place and its all of acceptable quality and price. Before they came here it was a lot harder and a lot dearer to get what you wanted. I remember wobbly black ash flatpack costing megabucks from Woodies, and peeling melamine coated computer desks in every house.

Muahahaha · 28-07-2020 12:57pm

L1011 wrote: »

The problem with IKEA is basically - what are the alternatives?

For furniture its particularly stark. Woodies, Homebase, Argos sell poorer quality flatpack for higher prices

.

Yeah would definitely agree with that. Ive checked flat pack in Woodies and Homebase and it really is the most terrible and cheap pieces of tat. Just to touch it you can feel the cheapness in it, like you could snap it in half with your knee. And then you see the prices :eek: I dont know how they get away with selling that crap but obviously some people go for it.

I thought the Ikea queues would have died down by now but clearly not. Maybe families are using it as a day out for the kids or something. I only want 4 or 5 small items and under normal circumstances I could get in and out in 20 minutes by going in backwards via the tills and then using shortcuts for the market hall. In any case I'm not going back until I can get my meatballs and chips dripping in gravy.

Fr Tod Umptious · 28-07-2020 1:00pm

I was there on a Sunday a few weeks ago, 12th actually.

Started queuing at 11:40

Was in the door in about an hour.

The hour went quickly enough.

29-07-2020 11:09pm

JupiterKid wrote: »

There is simply zero chance of me queueing to shop in Ikea. Absolutely zilch.

I have a couple of IKEA shelving units in my house and a few other smaller bits and pieces and they are grand - but after shopping in IKEA a few times for things over the past 8 years or so, I really think their stuff is very overrated and certainly not worth standing outside for an hour or more waiting just to get inside.

Literally just had this conversation with someone earlier. IKEA was a bit of a novelty when it came to Dublin. I was renting a dingy apartment in a converted house at the time, and it was a cheap way of getting rid of 1990s furniture. But a lot of the stuff there isn't the kind of furniture you'd want to be looking at for the next 15 years or so.

It reminds me a bit of the cheap, disposable clothing we're all told to avoid, from the likes of H&M. Better to look for something that will last, and probably work out cheaper in the long term.

Not that many of us will be buying furniture in the near future. Need to see what's going to happen with the gathering economic clouds!

annoyedgal · 30-07-2020 12:46pm

Went to ikea last night at 7. Couldn't believe the size of the queue to be honest. Moved pretty well but not super fast by any means.
Was busy enough inside too and feck all social distancing although most had masks on.
No time queueing for the till thankfully and no queue outside when i left at 8.30.

Pacifico · 30-07-2020 1:09pm

If you use click and collect do you have to queue in the main queue or is there a separate one?!

Ferris_Bueller · 30-07-2020 3:26pm

annoyedgal wrote: »

Went to ikea last night at 7. Couldn't believe the size of the queue to be honest. Moved pretty well but not super fast by any means.
Was busy enough inside too and feck all social distancing although most had masks on.
No time queueing for the till thankfully and no queue outside when i left at 8.30.

How long of a queue are you talking? I was going to pop up midweek next Tuesday or Wednesday, presumed by like 7.30/8pm that the queues would have died down. Just need to brace myself!

annoyedgal · 30-07-2020 3:53pm

It was over across the overflow part in the 2nd section of carpark. I gave up after 10 min and pleaded pregnancy privilege to skip as wouldn't have managed it otherwise.
Think i was unlucky, some others here said was quiet at that time. If your able bodied you'll be fine, was moving, just not very fast.

adrian522 · 30-07-2020 4:07pm

Walked straight in at 7pm last Sunday, 1 hour before closing. Checkout was really fast too.
There was a bit of a queue to get in an elevator when leaving but still less than 5 mins.
I didn't bother with the showroom area, went directly downstairs to the self service furniture area.

mikekerry · 27-08-2020 11:50am

Are the queues as bad as ever?
was thinking of heading there 5ish today

Dial Hard · 27-08-2020 11:50am

My mum and sister went on Tuesday and came straight home, said it was like Disneyworld in August.

Foweva Awone · 27-08-2020 12:15pm

mikekerry wrote: »

Are the queues as bad as ever?
was thinking of heading there 5ish today

I haven't braved it yet... From what I hear, your best bet is to nip in as close as possible to closing, assuming you know what you want and where to find it!!

mikekerry · 27-08-2020 12:17pm

thanks.
not sure if I am brave enough to handle the queues just yet!
thought it might have quietened down by now

Muahahaha · 27-08-2020 12:22pm

Was up on Sunday, arrived 3.30pm queued and entered the store at 4.03pm. Maybe I got lucky especially for a Sunday but it wasnt too bad at all. One thing is the queue looks absolutely massive and it snakes for ages but that is because people are spaced well apart. But when you join it then the queue moves quick enough, you're shuffling forward every 30 seconds or so.

Caranica · 27-08-2020 2:01pm

Was there at about 3pm on Monday. Queue took 55 minutes

Foweva Awone · 19-09-2020 11:16am

I'm thinking of trying IKEA today, any idea what queues are like now? I assume it's still open under level 3....

Anjunadeep · 27-09-2020 9:06pm

Foweva Awone wrote: »

I'm thinking of trying IKEA today, any idea what queues are like now? I assume it's still open under level 3....

did you make the trip in the end?
Im thinking about going this week and wondering if there are still queues these days..?

thanks

Muahahaha · 27-09-2020 9:59pm

Heading midweek myself and have heard the queues are still a daily occurance. 30 minutes if you are lucky but be prepared for 45-60 minutes and sometimes even longer.

We're making this the last trip to Ikea as we dont want to be standing in an hour long queue outdoors in the winter. So will be stocking up on everything that is needed to avoid further visits, we wont be going again until at least April.

Foweva Awone · 28-09-2020 4:20am

Anjunadeep wrote: »

did you make the trip in the end?
Im thinking about going this week and wondering if there are still queues these days..?

thanks

Not yet, from what I've heard though, now is a good time to go while we're on level 3 so less people coming from out of Dublin. I've heard there are still queues but much much shorter, like 20 minutes or less usually.

HeidiHeidi · 28-09-2020 5:27am

Was there on Friday, arrived about 11am and the queue looked long but moved fairly quickly, I was in in about 15 minutes.

The store itself was fine, but the market hall area was fairly bunged with people.

w/s/p/c/ · 28-09-2020 11:19am

Went last Thursday, arrived at about 10:30, took 21 mins to get into the shop, but the queue was constantly moving, so not as bad as expected. Store wasn't as packed as I thought it might be, but as someone noted above the market hall is where people forget to keep their 2 metres apart.

humberklog · 28-09-2020 11:04pm

I strolled in lunchtime Thursday with no q at all. Quite big q's for checkout though.

I've been refitting out my shops so have been in and out quite often over the last few months. I was bringing a crutch with me and walking (limping) straight in and another easier work-around the q is to bring something small from Ikea with you and a receipt (I use a pack of bulbs) and say to security at the top of the q that you're going to "Returns" and you don't have to q, you get waved straight in.

raheny red · 29-09-2020 7:17am

The missus went around 7ish last night. No queue. As is being said multiple times above the market hall area was a bit laxed......

lasair · 29-09-2020 2:07pm

we went on Thursday last, left home at 5.20, got there 5.45, no queue.
inside was jammed, all check-outs busy was queuing for 45/50 mins to pay.

Muahahaha · 29-09-2020 2:11pm

Sounds like the queues are more likely to be inside it at the checkouts rather than outside it to get in.

Dodge · 29-09-2020 2:15pm

Muahahaha wrote: »

Sounds like the queues are more likely to be inside it at the checkouts rather than outside it to get in.

This is what it was like pre Covid. There has pretty much always been a queue at the tills since it opened

Went last week and it honestly just felt like a normal IKEA shopping trip. No queue to get in. Fairly busy inside

horse7 · 01-10-2020 9:32am

Dodge wrote: »

This is what it was like pre Covid. There has pretty much always been a queue at the tills since it opened

Went last week and it honestly just felt like a normal IKEA shopping trip. No queue to get in. Fairly busy inside

What time was that,. Are all the tills open cause the queues seem to be at the tills.

Muahahaha · 01-10-2020 3:38pm

Was there yesterday at 4pm, no queue at all. Tills were well manned and the queue for them was only 5 minutes

horse7 · 01-10-2020 4:49pm

Did a drive by at 11 this morning, still lots of queues.

Muahahaha · 01-10-2020 4:56pm

horse7 wrote: »

Did a drive by at 11 this morning, still lots of queues.

Just taking a guess here but maybe on weekdays going at 3-4pm is a sweet spot to avoid queues. Id imagine there is always going to be a morning and early afternoon crowd and then likely another crowd going after work finishes at 5pm.

Caranica · 01-10-2020 6:51pm

horse7 wrote: »

Did a drive by at 11 this morning, still lots of queues.

They let in a crowd when they open, most people will be at least an hour inside so it will be 11ish before they start letting more people in so queues will have been building up in that time.

Foweva Awone · 02-10-2020 5:56pm

Was there today (Friday), arrived at 3.50, got in at 4.20. Would definitely suggest a jacket - even though it's dry where we were queuing, it's quite chilly. No major queues at the tills, we were in and out fairly quickly.

Dodge · 03-10-2020 8:35am

Caranica wrote: »

They let in a crowd when they open, most people will be at least an hour inside so it will be 11ish before they start letting more people in so queues will have been building up in that time.

This isn’t true at all. They don’t stop letting people in for an hour (or anything like that). It’s about 5 minutes max between groups that go in

IKEA queues?

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