Would I be mental to attempt a trip to IKEA tomorrow?

[GoldRhino]

Do we think it will be rammed?!

Other question-what is their houseplant selection like?

i am mulling over going this week, but waiting for news as to just how very bad it is first.

last year I went about 2 weeks after lockdown ended. there were no vehicle queues, but a ten minute queue on foot to get in, which TBH was fine by me.

Won’t many people be working during the day?

I’m going in 2.5 weeks. I think that that is pretty risky!

I need to return something but they have a 1yr return polciy so basically im not going to rush to be in a long arse queue. I'll go on a day when people are running to the beaches lol

We really do need to go, but will probably leave it for a week or so.

We moved house at the beginning of January and need quite a bit of stuff (DH is planning on being there for the whole day )

Yeah, I'd leave it a few weeks. We want to get some things but we're going to wait until it's calmed down a bit!

I live near an IKEA and after the last lockdown you couldn't get near the roundabout that leads on to the retail park for a fortnight.

If you are desperate go in the last hour or even better the last twenty minutes.

Having said that there is a lot of stuff out of stock at the moment. If you use the app it tells you where in the country an item is available.

I went to notoriously expensive local garden centre last week for an aspidistra. Decent sized ones were min £33 (plus p&p) online - £20 at garden centre!
So def worth looking locally, and def not worth a trip to IKEA!

The only reason I go through the entire shop is if I need to check the quality or comfort of an item. Otherwise I look everything up online, measure it up at home to make sure it fits, note down all the aisle numbers I need to go to and then skip everything and go straight to picking up my items.

so much faster!

IKEA has had click and collect ..... why wait for it to open and queue up?
And if it’s a lot of stuff online order? Delivery may be steep but cost per item it would be worth it!

I remember the click and collect queues were just as long

@Unoriginal43

IKEA has had click and collect ..... why wait for it to open and queue up? And if it’s a lot of stuff online order? Delivery may be steep but cost per item it would be worth it!

It costs me about a fiver in fuel to go to IKEA - no way is it worth paying their extortionate delivery charges!

I went to IKEA today: pretty quiet.

@RainingBatsAndFrogs which branch was that?

Croydon.
Dunelm was also queue free. All the shops down there were.

I went to Reading IKEA around 12pm yesterday. Plenty of parking, no queue, reasonable number of people inside. Took me about 35min to get a new bed for my son as his broke about a month ago and he's been on a mattress on the floor.

I think Saturday will be busy, but most people are working surely?

Ooh I was looking at going to either Croydon or Thurrock so that’s good news!

DH went to the one in Greenwich at 10am yesterday - he was in and out in 20 mins.

I don't want anything so badly that I would put up with the hell of Ikea. And that's in normal times.

One good thing about Covid is it's opened my eyes to the mindless pursuit of Consumerism and of Needing Stuff.

I say that as someone who used to be a bit of a shopaholic.

Thinking of going on Thursday 1st thing, well it opens at 10 so to be there before that. Is this sensible? Probably lots thinking they'll do the same thing!

Our nearest one is about 45 mins away and DDs want to go into Bristol city centre / Park Street too..........

edwinbear

Thanks for that, I'm going to the Greenwich one later

I was up town yesterday, totally empty everywhere (West London) tube/bus/train/all dead quiet

Peter Jones quiet too - best day out, was worried it would be a nightmare

I went yesterday afternoon to Bristol and it was probably the best experience I’ve ever had at IKEA! No queues at all and fully stocked.

Are you me op?
The only reason to go to IKEA is for the houseplants.
There are absolutely loads and loads of houseplants in my local B&Q - bug I'm going to support my local independent garden centre as they will have lots in I'm sure.