IKEA - So if you have never been or you don't go... how do you get through life?

[DaddyCoolNippingAtYourNose]

I mean, not all of its good. some of it is kack but surely life without ikea would be awful. Surely you need ikea to fill in some of those gaps around the home ie: that spare bedroom that you want to look nice but don't want to spend alot of money or the great kids room stuff for super cheap.

... not to mention the meatballs and new potatoes in the cafe.

And.... how can you have never been!!?

mieow, we will go soon. i promise. janurary sale? get some bits for your new house?

i used to work in IKEA tower in Brent. Was great - could pop into ikea at 10 am on a tuesday when all was perfect peace. Their Christmas buffet was great too.

but will never go again with anybody else following huge row with xh all the way round the building, and hideous trip with my father when he just looked at me like 'why have you dragged me into H*LL'

and the cafe.. i like it because its always got something healthy and decent for 2 yr old ds and notts ikea has just expanded the cafe so there are always plenty of tables even when its packed.

Shopping in IKEA - never shop at weekends or bank holidays, best time is week day mornings or after 8.30pm in the late opening stores

-Don't drive for 2 hours to pick something up because the website says they've got it in stock. Computer inventories are always wrong, and the call center people don't know what they are talking about! Ask to speak to the actual department and get someone to check it's actually there.

-Day time staff are miserable but knowledgeable, night time staff are friendly but out of the loop (noone talks to us!)

-Customer service co-workers are sworn at and threatened on a regular basis so they tend to be touchy, play nicely please, they didn't invent the returns procedures!

Yep, it's Nottingham for us. Been stuck in a few jams going to Ikea - dh hates it. He won't have the same excuse for Cov!

Don't think I know anyone with an accountant for a dh...hmmm...idly flicks through address book...

nice post serenity

yes, i've learned the 'don't believe the internet stock check' thing the hard way.

i got duped into getting an ikea card the other day. actually the women who snipered us was incredibly helpful and saved us £20.

i'll never use it. i just wanted the introductory 10% off on me cooker.

I think IKEA is great-dd has a fab very sturdy bed from there and yes,it's a hellhole but it's bloody cheap and there is some well designed stuff.

Friday night is a good time to go.

Wouldn't touch the meatballs though-reindeer bollock and earlobe.

You say that now....we did the same thing for our dining room table, and swore not to use it again but it's just too tempting! But then again, I'm only 10 minutes away and often go up just for the £1 breakfast after the morning school run and end up wandering around Market Hall buying all the things I'd been checking out the previous evening

Avalon - my DH is an accountant!

When we lived in north London we used to go the the Brent Park (?) one and DH loved it! We'd go around, fill the trolley, get to the checkouts, look at the queues - say "sod this", dump the trolley and leave!!! Perfect shopping trip for an accountant!!

When I lived in Bulgaria we used to drive 5 hours to Greece to go to Ikea!!!

Now we have Ikea here in Budapest.

Love it. Hate it at weekends though so usually go in the week - get there at opening time. No problems.

We bought some sofas from there last year - paid for them at 12.30 and they were deivered at 6.30 that evening!!!!!!!!!!!!

lol at reindeer bollock meatballs. How very festive.

I have been to Ikea twice and have drawn the conclusion that I hate it! bought some glasses and a couple of other little bits as I travelled about 1hr to get there. Ours is opening soon - I will be avoiding that area of town like th plague now from the traffic I've seen outside others!

There's nothing in Ikea that I like, it's completely stressful, too busy, rude staff, if hell exists then I'll be spending eternity in Ikea. YUK!

A 5 hour drive to go to Ikea??? That is extreme.

Oh - Serenity - thanks for the post about new openings - I have to take my family (from Dublin) there whenever they visit as there isn't one in Dublin - knew there was one opening - shame it's two years away!

They have had to change a law to do it apparrently! There was a law on Irish statute books limiting the size of a store, Ikea needed bigger, government weren't keen, Ikea apparently said "OK we'll open one in Northern Ireland", Iirsh government sees lots of revenue flowing over the border. Changes the law!!!!!

the cider they sell is wonderful!

And why do you get suckered into buying things that you really don't want or need, just because everyone else has them in their trolley? Ooh, it seemed such a bargain.

Gingerbear- the shopping in Bulgaria was limited to say the least so we would do a girly overnight trip to Thessaloniki taking in Ikea, supermarket, large toy shop, M&S etc.

Oh Expat - haven't see the cider but their GLogg is great! And they do a great non-alcohol one too!

They also did nice Xmas hams last year - we can't get nice ham here generally so that was good - checking it out again next week to see if they have them again!

Oh dear, you lot need therapy! The only time I have ever been to Ikea was with the BBC when they persuaded us to 'splash out' on some furniture for our house. I was not impressed. I hate walking around furniture places anyway, I mean, boooooring! And I wasn't too impressed by what I saw, everything looked cheap, like it would fall to bits the minute you got it home, but the prices were not very cheap at all! You could get really top quality second-hand furniture for half the price of the Ikea stuff!

In the end we got 2 plants that I felt sorry for, and a bookshelf. The Beeb then contributed to buying us a cheap-looking plastic drawer set for the kids, a throw for the sofa and a collapsable toy box that will never stay up now and looks untidy.

I mean, I could do better myself with some cardboard boxes and a roll of sellotape! Still, if that's what turns you on........... (saddos!)

I have an idea for how to make it less painful. If you just want one thing, look it up online or on the catalog. Then, go in the "out" doors, ask someone at a desk for the aisle etc numbers for the object, pick it up and go.

I haven't tried it yet, though.

I want to, though. I hate Ikea, except we have loads of their stuff at home. Those kid's egg chairs are really cute.

Who are (were?) you Cliff???

Ooh, I have been to Thessaloniki - my mate went to Uni there. (Big industrial city, lots of Byzantine churches IIRC)

Oooh met a lovely chap from there once gb.........

I wish I had kept in touch with her Moondog, Her dad owned a Greek island, and she invited me to come and stay one summer. Doh!