June, 2006 Canton, Michigan ... another IKEA opens.
There was so much anticipation over this store, it was impossible to visit. Our local news showed video for the next few weeks of hundreds of people going to check out this new kid on the block. Parking in the lot was never an option. Most people parked 2-3 miles along Ford Road, in either direction, and hiked it in. It was all the buzz for the next few months. I never went.
Then, the 2006 holiday season started, again, definitely not a place I'd want to be. I don't do well when there is wall to wall people shopping, especially at Christmas time.
Yesterday morning, I recruited my sister Sandi to go there with me. Forty three miles from my house, and a 40 minute drive. I had high hopes of finding a picture for my bathroom, a small lamp for my dresser, and a couple throw rugs for my bedroom.
When we walked in, my first impression was to get through this crappy department and on to the good part. After following the signs, feeling like a rat in a maze or cattle being herded, I realized, there wasn't going to be a good part.
Where are the things that everyone raves about?
Where are the good buys?
Where is the damn EXIT?
I wasn't impressed.
They do have some good commercials, but most have been banned in the United States. I thought this banned one was funny ... selling the idea to organize the things in your room.
15 comments:
IKEA: great for small children's rooms, horrible for grown ups. I'm with you, sister.
Ah, Ikea. Be prepared to walk in circles and wait in a long line to pay. And pay you will. And things fall apart. But, in all fairness, the kitchen stuff is not bad and some of the linen. Kids toys are good too. I NEVER go there any more - learnt my lesson long ago....
Nope, not an ikea fan here either. The habitrail you're forced to go through drives me crazy and their stuff just isn't that good.
LOVE that commercial though - that's hysterical.
My friend took me on a 3 hour tour of ikea once. You'd think the freak had stock in the company or soemthing.
oh that commercial is hilarious! I HATE how the store is laid out, definitely rat maze like, but I have found some awesome and inexpensive items there.
I have never been to an IKEA in my life and after your less than enthusiastic, but honest appraisal; I think I'll keep it that way. Nice commercial though!
Aurrr, I love IKEA! My friend and I drove 2.5 hours to get to one on Saturday, and we had a blast. I was on a hunt for kitchen stuff, for The New BF's oh-so-poorly equipped kitchen, and shopping on his dime though, so maybe that was part of it.
The IKEA garlic press is the best!
AND we got to go to Trader Joe's afterward, another store we don't have access to in Champaign. Whee!
When my son outgrew his "little boy" bedroom, we outfitted his new room entirely from IKEA. He likes it. We, however, are keeping our solid mahogany and birdseye maple antique furniture because I've never seen an IKEA antique.
A store with no good part and hidden exits doesn't sound like a great shopping place.
I went to Ikea twice while I was in Germany. I swear everybody in the country goes to Ikea on a Saturday afternoon. Both times I left the stuff I wanted to buy at the kilometer long queue to check out.
Funny you wrote about this just now. I was thinking of driving over there to look at their closet organizers...they looked pretty cool online. Maybe I'll have to rethink that.
Ikea seems to be good for a dorm or first apartment.
Well the general consensus is disappointment in IKEA but Michael I think you summed if up perfectly.
"Ikea seems to be good for a dorm or first apartment"
if = it
::: forehead slap, duh me :::
i don't get it either. i've never fallen for the IKRAP fad either. tell me why i want to drive for two hours to this store just so i can be locked in, cattled around and look at and coerced into buying cheap-crappy swedish imported stuff again? no thanks...
that commercial is seriously hilarious!
I have a love/hate relationship with Ikea. I love it for some things (Christmas lights and curtains for example) and hate it for anything I have to build. The lines are always long on the weekends, so if you ever get unexpected time off on a random Tuesday - that's a good day to go. Also, you need to look out for the short cuts through the store - the more you go the more you learn the Ikea secrets... but is it really worth it?
I bought a coffee table from there and upon trying to assemble it I realized I didn't need a coffee table that bad. So many screws, so many screws--head spinning, self doubt creeps in...it was like a nightmare. Ikea=balsa wood crap.
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