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Categories: Home Decor, Furniture Stores [Edit]
Neighborhood: Mission Valley"We went in a few months ago to get a new bed frame...left leaving 100000% satisfied!! Not only are they super helpful but they have a…" read more »
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At Ikea you have to understand that there are two types of furniture lines; "college" ikea and "adult" ikea. When I read review of previous Yelpers it becomes apparent that many of them have elected to purchase items from the college line.
Aside from quality, the price tag varies greatly from college to adult. You can purchase a night-stand from the college line for $50 or less. The adult collection offers night-stands from $75-$200. "But why would I buy a $200 from Ikea?" you ask. You shouldn't, because you'll have to assemble it yourself. However if you do, you'll immediately recognize the quality of that night-stand. By assembling the stand yourself, you save about $25-$50 from the price tag.
Anyway, stop buying the cheap furniture so you'll have less or maybe nothing to complain about.
Also, how hard is it to put things together from here anyway? I never read the directions. It's easier than a puzzle. I can see you needing to follow directions if you're building a model car, but a desk or bookshelf?
This Ikea seems a little on the small side. I prefer the layout of the Covina location, but I was in the area so I stopped in to make a few purchases. I can spend hours in here and not buy a thing. However this location needs some serious staging upgrades. I'm definitely a fan of the chain but this store needs a makeover.
What it look like...
These are all my thoughts about Ikea (This might be long. You've been warned):
1) If you are going to Ikea for the first time, it will be more exciting than you think it will be. Somehow Ikea has mastered a way of making furniture shopping more hip than it really is. You will spend hours in there and you will find yourself staring for long periods of time at the various surroundings.
2) All of you Ikea first timers will make it difficult for those folks who really just want to buy one item and get the f*ck out of there. You will crowd all areas and stop in front of us while we are just trying to get through. We will say to each other, "You know what you came in for, just pick a bed already and get out of our way."
3) Ikea is only really good for those of you who are starting adulthood not for lifetime furniture. They make reasonable bookcases and various types of chests and dressers, but their bed frames suck. You know the ones with the wooden slats on the bottom? Their beds are great for those of you that sleep alone, but not for anything else. And those loft beds? You think for awhile that you're so clever for buying a bed that allows you to put your desk underneath it, but then you realize that you have to climb up and down a ladder just to go the bathroom in the middle of the night.
4) Ikea has a reasonable delivery service. Out of the three times I had to deal with getting furniture delivered, I've never encountered any problems. But, getting stuff delivered will cost you unless you live close to the store. I was never that fortunate.
5) I've never been to the restaurant and the snack bar is not worth bothering with. I think it's terrible, but that's another review. Those Anna's wafer cookies over in the food store section are good. I even think they're vegan if you're into that.
I really like you Ikea, but why must your furniture be SO DIFFICULT to assemble? Your instruction booklets seems to only come with pictures with no words..
I love your swedish meatballs and your lingonberries!
I think it's one of the best places to find accessories and check popular designers' projects. I can't name in particular what amazed me (,cause it's simply impossible to remember anything after seeing thousands and thousands of cool staff), but overall experience stays positive. There many routes through the store, and this is fun to go with somebody whom you can get lost while staring at the plastic and wood pieces.
everything i buy here breaks and taked 4 hours to assemble.
best part of ikea: as is section. get an idea of how everything breaks, go look around as is.
NO HELP! staff is non existant on the floor. bought a bed and had to pickup a part after being rung up. had to wait 25 minutes for thye inept blueshirts to go find it and bring it. i was feeling clever when i handed him the paper with my product info on it that when he said it'll be 20-30 min.... "do i get fires with that?" i ask. not amused.
friggin a.
go to consignment classice. little more green, higher quality product.
This is the first Ikea location I have been to that is not freestanding by itself in the middle of some vast parking structure. Its okay you get turned around inside and lost. The cafe area was kind of small. I bought a bed from Ikea in 1998 and I will never do it again-the slats of wood connected with fabric do not a box spring make.
They do have cute things it is fun to look; especially when it is over 90 degrees outside.
Disposable furniture on the cheap!
Despite the pieces not being as sturdy as one would like, it serves the purpose and does the job well enough for me. My taste has always run on the more minimal and masculine side so it suits me perfectly. That and it can easily be sold on Craigslist if you get sick of it and want to graduate to more "grown up" furniture.
The icing on the cake? 99 cent breakfasts and 50 cent hot dogs if you get the munchies. Woot!
I've tried for years to block the memories of assembling "Billy" bookcases (I know you have one too!) for my first student room. A friend (after that a very vague acquaintance) gave me an IKEA gift card a long time ago and a part of my ego did not want to waste this money so a couple of my furniture pieces comes from IKEA.
Or actually came, because the stuff they sell is not very long-lasting so I had to go back recently. I reassured myself that this was going to be an in/out operation. So with my Ipod on volume 106 in an attempt to overwhelm the screaming, out of control children that run around in this place like hyper animals, I followed the arrows until the living room section. Am I the only one that thinks it's insane that a map needs to tell you where you're going in a STORE?
Anyway, I kind of liked the living room section, the showrooms look pretty neat (probably because they superglue the items instead of assembling them) and since it's so cheap, I found myself in a state of excitement: maybe this IKEA thing isn't so bad at all... there is stuff here I can use for other parts of my house.... I don't think I will ever be a fan of their whole Scandinavian name system though- I rather lounge on a "Brad Pitt" than on a LEKSVIK or LIATORP but maybe that's just me.
Some people seem pretty excited that they sell food. It's a furniture store that sells food. Off course they do this! By the time you found the exit alive you're freakin starving! Especially knowing that you have quite a workout coming up by dragging all the stuff home and assemble it. Any Swedish meatball would taste good knowing that.
I managed to make it out alive to the warehouse section and after my workout to find my stuff between all the hardboard boxes (not all the employees obviously exude the same spirit of Ikea friendliness as the "Need help? Just ask!" signs hanging overhead) I finally got to the check out line among about 10,000 other people. The adult:kid ratio here was still 1:10, but kids seem to bounce off pretty nicely to the front of the IKEA carts so I had to control myself not to attempt to reduce this ratio a little bit. There is a designated playground for a reason, parents.
After the wait in line, an employee told me that one of my items was not in stock. IKEA always tortures you to come back at least a second time, if it's not for returning something, picking up a crucial screw that is missing than it is because they don't have your stuff. Which meant I had only five days to blackmail someone to pick my stuff up.
You have to go to the other side of the terminal (it does resemble an airport) to make this pick-up possible in the first place, and while waiting in this area, IKEA tries to make you enthusiastic about your future work: : ....we don't charge you for things you can easily do on your own. So together we save money...for a better everyday life. I do not feel more connected to my coffee table just because I have made it with my own hands. If it were rewarding, it were another story but five months down the line, the stuff is starting to fall apart and reason why I had to come back here in the first place. Closets can't handle a weight-load of more than four t-shirts and if you try to move an item like a drawer, it pops up because it's only secured by gravity, not the little screw things that are supposed to keep it secure. Returning of assembled items is no option.
There is a reason why IKEA is cheap: not hiring enough help, no assembling or delivery, lack of service and the stuff lasts averagely a couple of months. Combined with the spoil of gas, waste of time, effort, cursing and shopping torture it's not even that much cheaper. It just seems inevitable for a variety of reasons to have to go to an IKEA at least twice in your life. I should have known better. There is a reason IKEA is located in Mission Valley.
They get two stars for the glasses, towels and cheap stuff you don't have to assemble- yes that is a pretty good deal. And also for the one and lonely picture frame on my wall that still hangs. Once it comes down I hope it lands on my head and brainwashes me to buy from Craiglist, second hand stores or maybe even Wal-Mart in the future.
I love Ikea.
I have been going to school for interior design and I still love Ikea. I don't care. They have practically everything you need. I would be hesitant to walk into someone's place to find it Ikea'd out, but for things here and there, its perfect. I find this is a good place to mix and match certain things. Plus, if you break a dish or bowl, who cares it was like .59c! I have my expensive items, and then I have the more everyday items, and those I have found at Ikea.
Plus, Ikea is best for maximizing space in small places, which is great. So many apartments I have been inside in Europe is like an Ikea showroom, and they work that shit like a part time job!
I went there today, and have been searching for a while for a decent priced, plain non tacky curtain rod and I found it here. I love the Swedish Kitch design, and the bright colors, and I think its rad that they sell fabric too! I am so going to make some curtains for my living room, one day...
The only thing I hate about Ikea, and why they didn't get 5 starts from me, is that I have to assemble everything. Sure, that's what makes it cheap, but I end up getting so mad assembling things that I want to break what I am putting together.
Can I tell you how STOKED I am that they now let you take the shopping carts into the parking lot? It's about time IKEA.
Love-hate relationship, that is my affair with Ikea. I love going here, I hate going here, I love… Read more »
I am a fan of Ikea, no matter how cheap it is I think they have the cutest designs for your household. I seem to always get lost here (mainly because I am too stubborn to look at signs) but since going here a dozen times within the last couple months I think the BF and I got it down. I always end up leaving here with things I dont really need which I dont really mind, excpet I always forget what I actually came here for. It gets one start taken away for not always having the stuff you want in stock. Its also a pain to put stuff together, but I just laugh because the instructions are ridiculous.
Basically its fun temporary furniture that is reasonably prices. And make sure if you come here to actually read the signs so you are not lost for half an hour or more.
I don't like IKEA.
This is a summary of all the silly, Swedish names they come up with for their furniture: Danka, heimun, gurden, frugle, fargen.
I don't get how people get their pleasure walking in over a mile-long store looking at tacky furniture that ends up getting beaten up in a couple of months. And right when you think you're done looking at their stuff, you go downstairs expecting it to all be over - BUT THAT IS ONLY THE HALFWAY MARK!!!
Yeah ... I also don't like being tempted to come again with their generic-tasting food.
I have been sleeping on a rickety-ass futon for 2 years.
TWO YEARS. And the year before that, I was sleeping on a dorm-style twin bed (in my FURNISHED studio apartment).
Finally, we picked out a bed. We already had a mattress that I got from a friend, so we just needed the boxspring. Got a boxspring with some legs that you put on it. It was easy to assemble, and I had the best night's sleep that I've had in a long time.
We have a lot of furniture from Ikea - a computer desk, a dresser and 2 nightstands. Since don't own our own home yet, it doesn't make sense to spend a ton of money on furniture that is either a) too fancy or b) too big for a teeny apartment in North Park.
Walking through Ikea is like being in a weird theme park..."Ooh, look! It's BedroomLand!" "Wow, the Enchanted Forest of Lighting Fixtures!"
But it's fascinating, because you will see all sorts of stuff that you forgot that you actually needed, in addition to the random stuff that you had NO idea that you needed, but all of a sudden, you DO. DESPERATELY. 20 piece set of tupperware-like containers? Pot scrubber? Fake plants? Oddly shaped plush animals? You are ALL SET.
When we went this past Sunday, there was someone giving out free samples of sparkling beverages - like the non-alcoholic champagne type stuff. I tried the Pear, and it was DELICIOUS. What amused me most though, was that the woman giving it out, said to us, "Try some sparkling beverages! They're all natural, and all non-alcoholic. My favorite is the apple-pomegranate...it goes great with VODKA!"
Always a good time at Ikea.
Not my idea of a good way to spend a Saturday, but at least I wasn't at work or at church.
Having recently moved and having a wife that sold off all of our old shit, its time to fill in the new place with some crazy furniture.
To my surprise, it seems that the quality of the furniture itself has gone way up.
I remember the first table we bought there was like gluing Popsicle sticks together.
We got a huge sturdy book shelf that takes up a whole wall.!
We also purchased a welcoming mat, lights, pictures, cabinets and a chest.
Shit, I even found my Mom a Mothers-day gift while in there.
I was also pretty satisfied by their tasty hot dogs at check out. $.50 for a hot dog? That's a deal!
The only downfall is that after buying all this stuff, now you have to put it together yourself. I guess that's what keeps some of the prices low, but my hands are sore from putting that shit together ...whew.
IKEA is a place that has been in San Diego forever but out of the loop people such as myself have finally ventured in to see years beyond years after it's been built.
The outside storefront looks intimidating with how HUGE this place is....
Upon walking in I'd like to say a 5 star section for the children's ball pit holding area while parents can shop. This ball pit had balls stacked up probably higher than I am tall. That rules. And rhymes.
Inside I wanted to run around but was informed that the arrows are meant to carrowl the cattle, I mean customers through the store. I am a big fan of the staged living areas but never quite realized how cheap this furniture is not to mention how awkward it feels to sit in/on.
You can score some awesome deals on floating shelves for less than twenty bucks and don't forget your random "Why does IKEA sell lint rollers?" item.
I now understand why countless people I have spoken to have had panic attacks upon going through IKEA. I damn near had one with the feeling of being trapped.
I think by the time I got to the cooking ware I was ready to dash out the emergency exit door from being suffocated by fine home furnishings.
It seriously takes alot for me to write a negative review, but here it goes - I keep getting lost EVERY darn time I go there. Im sure they made it like a maze on purpose so you cant get out and therefore you may shop some more. But what if there was a fire or major disaster? There is no way for any one who is panicking to find the exit to this confusing place. Sorry Ikea,but if you only were more concerened with the safety of your shoppers a bit more, I would have given you a higher rating.
OK, I know I am really, really late on this one, but I went to the IKEA last weekend for the first time ever and was amazed at what they had to offer for such low prices. I do think the kitchen stuff was more for everyday use than for people that collect things or like heavy duty/quality stuff, BUT for the price it's good.
I bought some glass plates (because I know they do not have lead in them), a cheese grader, a lamp, and some bowls. I was so excited to see all they had and I am now a fan of the place. Same cheese grader was about $30 somewhere else, so was happy to drop $4.99!!!
Not a place if you want to get in and out though because the place is a maze. You also want to go on a week day during normal business hours and DO NOT USE the self check out if you have more than 3 items! WHEW!!!
Cheers!
So as far as I am concerned IKEA can only be reviewed in list format so here goes:
BAD:
-The fact that there is basically one way in and one way out. I hate the maze effect. I get a little freaked out.
-Often times there are too many people wandering aimlessly around and getting in the way of those of us with an agenda.
-Sometimes things are too cheap and sometimes theyre too expensive. Odd...
GOOD:
-Much like my fave Costco...the food bar is exquisite. Swedish meatballs, hold the weird berries...YUM!
-They have really bright red stuff sometimes and it looks cute in my house.
-Sometimes things are really cheap.
-Have I mentioned anything about the snacks yet? Mmmmmm...
I am a cheap date.
I like Costco hotdogs.
I like walks in the park.
I like going to Ikea, walking around the store getting ideas, then ending the evening over meatballs and lingenberries.
Is the furniture the greatest furniture on earth? No. And you can probably find it cheaper on Craigslist (I know I have).
But it is in my top 10 date nights.
IKEA has anything you need that's perfect for your budget. You can splurge on a really nice bookshelf that will stand the test of time, or you can grab a $20 one that is perfect for a few years if you move around a lot or if you are a poor college student (like me!)
I actually enjoy assembling furniture, and the directions are easy to follow as long as you are a visual learner since they don't print any words (makes sense, otherwise they would have to print a 50 page instruction booklet for all the languages they would have to put on each form...just for San Diego alone would probably have six...English, Spanish, Tagalog, Japanese, French, and German...)
I especially like the bold colors that I can splash around my apartment, whether it be a bright green rug or polka dotted mugs. Every year I change the color of my bathroom, and I have to do is change the color of m towels and get a new back rug, it's that simple!
For everyone who says they get overwhelmed when they shop at this IKEA, keep two things in mind: This is the smallest one in the United States (yes it's true) and there are shortcuts throughout the Marketplace (downstairs) you just have to look for the giant "SHORTCUT --->" sign. Yeah, there are signs.
Yes the furniture is horribly made and there is no customer service etc.
but the worst part??!
Its you fellow customers!! well probably not fellow yelpers since we are a special breed but the majority of ikea shoppers.
Most ikea customers like 90% have no concept of personal space, or where they are in their plane of existence. do u really not notice that you stopped in the middle of the narrow to just stand their? i mean seriously you other yelpers must notice how everyone walks through the store at .001 mph and jump in front of you and then just stop.
its probably because 90% of the people in this ikea dont speak english and in their culture its ok? no offense to anyone at all, that just really does seem to be a european and asian thing to do. the other 7% are douches from PB and 3% are us.
I snapped, guys. I fucking cracked. Like alot of the shit you will find here at Ikea.
In a panic and on the advice of a friend I ventured to IKEA a couple weeks ago in desperate need of a wardrobe cabinet (whatever the fuck that is) for my newly converted 4th bedroom. I basically needed a stand up closet to hide midgets and drugs. Sure enough.. you can find this courtesty of the blonde, tall, good looking scandinavians!I
I barreled into the parking lot with my game face on and blasted thru the front door. First stop... meatballs at the cafe. I pounded those steamy hot, cream covered balls down my throat and began the journey into hell...
Twenty minutes later, and completely out of breath after battling the swedish maze, I managed to find one that seemed to stand up straight and not wobble when I opened it.
Then I saw the affordable price.. "$299".. and nearly dropped a creamy load all over my own shweaty balls. I eagerly ran down to the warehouse/nightmare area like a drunk swede. I love this section of the store because this is where you totally lose your mind searching for shit with weird swedish names like "stupidamericanz".. which obviously means "stupid me, i'm dumb for shoping here" in swedish.
Anyway, about an hour (and at least 450 calories burned) later, i built my Trojan Horse of boxes and stormed to the check out line.
Check out price! ... $550! HAHAHAHA... pony up an extra $250 asshole!! You've been suckered again by the Vikings!
Anyway.. two weeks later I'm standing in awe of this thing that god forbid is still standing like a champ! Obviously, I owe you an apology IKEA. So, I am bumping you up a star for the simple fact that I LOVE YOUR BALLS and I have not started the countdown to door falling off or cabinet splitting in half just yet...
STAY TUNED... i can't fucking wait for this thing to fall apart by the summer...
The name 'IKEA' is actually Swedish for 'you will never find your way out of this fucking maze'. I… Read more »
WARNING - NO RETURNS on assembled merchandise!
My wife bought a chair at IKEA 4 days ago. She brought it home and we assembled it, but It just wasn't right. So I disassembled it, repacked it in it's original box and today attempted to return it with the receipt. They wouldn't take it back because they said it was USED (it was perfect). They said this is their store policy.
I was very careful in assembling and disassembling it and repacking it. Didn't matter to them.
So beware.
It's interesting how my relationship with Ikea has evolved over time.
When I first moved to San Diego, I was broke and I didn't know where any of the furniture stores were. When I discovered the Ikea in Mission Valley, I thought, "Perfect! It's cheap and familiar. I'll get everything I need there." And that's what I did. So I bought stereotypical Malm bedroom furniture, Lack coffee table, kitchen and decorative items -- the usual stuff that Ikea excels in and everyone and their brother owns. Since all Ikeas are about the same, I knew that I'd be able to walk through a million football fields' worth of sample rooms and get some moderately cute decorating ideas along the way. And I did. All in all, Ikea did everything I anticipated.
Then the things started breaking.
The dresser was the first casualty. The lousy particleboard was so flimsy that it began to crack under the weight of the (small, 13") TV that I placed on it. So I tossed it out and invested in a higher quality dresser from one of the Miramar Rd places.
Next, my desk began to permanently deform and develop an arc to it because of months of me leaning on it while working on my computer. Bummer. I managed to give it away for free on Craigslist and, again, I invested in a higher quality one, that I'm much happier with.
The only things that have really met my expectations are the lamps, wooden kitchen spoons, and candles. Basically, the moral of the story is: **Only buy things that are NOT load-bearing.** Then you'll be fine. Now that I'm older and slightly wiser, I no longer plan on doing any more shopping at Ikea. But I understand that el-cheapo furniture has a niche, and Ikea fills that niche satisfactorily.
A lot of the reviews make a big deal about the sprawling, maze-like layout that only permits one way through the place. That doesn't bother me too much, mostly because serious Ikea trips require a lot of time anyway -- so what's a couple more minutes of walking? As everyone knows, the furniture is do-it-yourself, so what do you is write down the stock info about the items you want, and then locate their appropriate storage pallets in the warehouse area at the end. When doing furniture shopping here, bringing a large car (and a well-muscled friend) is a must, if you have any hope of getting out of there with your furniture (and yourself) unscathed.
THEY FINALLY DID IT....
They finally restructured the front exits so you can actually take your cart out of the store! Before, you had to leave your stuff sitting there and drive your car up! But now, it's all good!
I LOVE IKEA! They are always having their half yearly sales and their furniture (although has a bit of a Swedish look to it), lasts for a surprisingly long time! I think half of my stuff is from IKEA! Plus their furniture is pretty inexpensive!
Plus, have you ever eaten at their cafeteria! It's pretty cool and their meatballs are pretty delicious also!
I like some of your stuff, I really do. But when I scratch the surface, I am a little tired of your homogenized Scandinavian fare. That is not the biggest problem. No, no, no.
However, i have some product suggestions, including pseudo-Suomi/Swedo/Croation/OMGWTF names for them:
Stimkramm: Available for $.59, like your blue bags, this wonderful implement extends outward and inserts a small amount of pointy metal into the fleshy bits of that infuriatingly slow, meandering herd of human buffalo clogging your despicable rat-maze showroom displays.
Stimmkpopr: As above, but with additional cattle-rated prod and rechargeable battery. Also supercharges cashiers.
Inndrsving: A combination of a mountable stainless steel wine rack and impromptu gallows, I hope this flies off the shelves in Agunnaryd. Comes with "Tweinheng" cord.
Shutdfarkup: This delightful face-warmer comes complete with a pacifier/silencer module that can be adjusted with straps to quiet and make more festive the presence of even the most talkative child. Available in adult size, and in graphic designs from "IKEA Blue/Yellow Klown" to "Flesh-colored Seamless/Featureless," making it a perfect and by-the-book example of Swedwood design.
Fartr: A wonderful cushion for your couches designed to buffer them from the gefilte fish- and cheap hot dog-driven emissions of your depressed, alcoholic Scandinavian friends. Available in the standard Prozac-compatible shades of wood and muted mono everything else you sell is... plus IKEA blue and yellow, for "wilder" souls. You should sell this for selling that pickled stuffed fish, you bastards.
As for the local store? Holy crap, the wandering herds of droolers and slow, bewildered-looking little Asian grandmas annoy me. And you are confusing the Chargers fans with your color scheme on the sign. No, they don't read. They follow coooolooooorrs.
People, avoid on weekends. Enter only with the above stimm accessories! It is a great place to abandon children, though. My buddy did. Twice. The brat kept coming home, though. Damn you, IKEA, he wants a refund!
Also, about that piece of flooring that says on its label, "50,000 pairs of feet walk across this surface every day." Yeah, okay. That was great when it was shiny for months at a time. Now it ain't so shiny. In fact, that brag reads more like an excuse for your shabby little stretch of faux wood. Replace it, idiots.
You know as much as I love the design of Ikea furniture there are just too many issues to give it more than 2 stars. Sure their furniture is great for the in-between stages of life, when your not ready to commit to a $3500 couch, but still, that doesn't mean it has to be crappy.
I find there is one thing you have to consider when buying anything from Ikea, how often am I going to use it? if the answer is anything more than once a week and every third Sunday then don't get it, because it wont last you long.
I have never been in any other Ikea, but this store is horrid. The bathrooms here are worse than a Tiajuana dive bar, its gross and small, if you have to go hold it. And I can never seem to find an employee if I have a question. Sure I see tons of their unmanned terminals where they should be standing so I can ask them if the futon I'm looking at comes in a color besides bright orange, but they are nowhere to be found.
I wish so bad there was a store pickup option. Then I wouldn't have to wade through the sea of unsupervised rugrats and battle the "I'm just browsing" crowd. If I could pull my car up, hand someone a paper and have my order wheeled out all ready to go then I would give Ikea 5 stars, seriously.
Dont knock this store because you know damn well that you probably have something from Ikea in you bedroom or living room or kitchen.
Its cheap here, no doubt about that. Its cheap quality also but people tend to look past that when they knowingly shop at Ikea.
Assembling the furniture is no joke. READ or at the very least GLANCE through the provided manual before you start sticking screws in random holes or making your own in your new table or whatnot.
Its funny when I go to restaurants and I see Ikea furniture. I think thats tacky.
If Ikea was every translated internationally it would probably be defined as products from "The House of Bauhaus", North American style. If you don't know anything about Bauhaus and only Peter Murphy comes to mind, boy better do ya homework and don't make me school ya!
Some people like me don't know a thing or two when it comes to interior decor and home furnishings. Therefore we need a place to experience the 3-D approach Ikea demonstrates throughout their scaled down display rooms...
...with pictures, decor, furniture, curtains, hangers, lamps, rugs, beds, sheets, pillows, flooring, fixtures, sink, counter tops, cabinets, mirrors, tables, spoons, knives, sporks, corks, glass, frames, candles, dressers, entertainment centers, sofas, snakes, ice cream and everything in-between expect trains, planes and automobiles.
Seriously, all the stuff you need that even the comedian Mark Malkoff was able to live in a bedroom set up. Despite that most appliances (clocks, radios, refrigerators, etc.) are not real, they are actually putting in real LCDs and plasmas running information on their products.
It is huge that it can take a minimal twenty minutes from start, up the stairs, snake around the second floor, breeze on through the snack bar, go down the stairs onto the first floor, exiting with seeing all the big stuff in do-it-yourself condensed sized boxes, fragile items, more stuff and a "As-Is" section with oddities-
(Oh my, let me catch my breath!)
-to actually walk the store.
Do yourself a favor. If you never gone here and need an Idea, bring yourself to Ikea will ya. It is worth the Swiss-Euro-inspired-fusion for all the people that desire the most funk for their buck!
That fat: A second chance to get an ice cream cone when finally leaving!
The skinny: Their magazine doesn't do justice!
Ikea is one of those fun places to go and spend time. The furniture isn't always the sturdiest and best quality, but it's good enough when you're on a budget.
I have been shopping at IKEA for home furnishings for a few years now and have always been a satisfied customer. Their show rooms provide sensational ideas on home decor and they have a wide selection of products at reasonable prices. Although, in exchange for their reasonable prices you must have an aptitude for putting things together (definitely need to know how to follow "picture book" type instructions - hopefully you got enough practice in grade school).
Word of advise: Best to shop at IKEA during the weekdays as it is a mad house on the weekends.
Ikea, is like the Devil's apartment on crack. But who are we kidding? We all love to come here, because the stuff is convenient and cheap. And we all love to run home and yelp about how that shit broke in two days. We all saw it coming.
Anyway, the things that need directions the most, never do. And no one can pronounce the name of the product they're looking for, if it's even still available. There is however, an almost version but two inches taller if you want that one to match what you have at home.
Ikea is a pretty great place, but has some good & bad points about it. I like that they are environmentally friendly in a lot of ways. I like that their products are pretty cheap (though like someone else said not EVERYTHING is all that cheap, and can be found elsewhere for cheaper sometimes). I like looking around their showroom area & seeing all the neat interior designs they've come up with.
On the downside, a lot of the cheap merch. is cheap for a reason. My new lamp from there doesn't have a bottom, for example, just a stickery thing that's supposed to suffice. OK... But it seems that everything else we got there is great. I LOVE our new outdoor dining set that was only $50 for 2 chairs & a table and is made of hardwood & steel. Great stuff!
It's also quite easy to get lost in there, and it takes FOREVER to make your way from one end to the other, so be sure and plan on taking hours in there.
Ikea is awful because
1) EVERYTHING FROM HERE WILL BREAK!
and
2) Your furniture will match Gabe Vega's and at least 10 other of your friends.
One day I needed a bookshelf. I wanted a thrift store or vintage bookcase, but I also wanted one with doors that hid the ugly colors of the modern books. So I drove to ikea and got their cheapest bookcase with doors: about $70.
I put the whole thing together, filled it with books, and then just let it sit there, hoping that with my books out of storage, time to read would magically appear. No one ever touched the bookshelf. One month later, I noticed that the back of the bookshelf had fallen off and two of the shelves had fallen and slanted, spilling books sideways.
I thought about selling the thing on craigslist, but it was so horrible I decided to give it away for free. Then I decided that even that was too horrible to do to anyone. So I left it in the hall closest of my old apartments, a nice present for my manager for kicking us out for having my mom over for more than 2 weeks.
Hopefully the terrible bookcase will haunt her forever.
Story two:
You walk into your best friend's house and know where she bought everything. That is when you realize that shopping at Ikea is MORE than a bad idea.
Story three:
I bought 20 giant wine glasses from here. Now I have none.
That's how cheap and breakable their stuff is.
The End.
But J., this is an Ikea review?
Peeps have asked me about tipping at buffets since I brought it up. For reference....
http://chowhound.chow....
http://www.soundmoneyt...
In summary, while it's a conundrum for many (again), the practice is basically 10%, which equates to $1 per person at your table; or similarly, tipping a bartender for each drink, which is again, $1 per drink/person.
Consider yourself learned. Bow down.
"How hard can it be? It's as easy as a bag of balsa wood airplane parts!"
A familiar mantra said by…
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You know the economy is bad when the parking lot at Ikea is half empty...at noon....on a Saturday....let alone the Saturday before Christmas.
Why do I love Ikea? Let me count the ways.
1) I know their designs are mostly knock offs, but that doesn't eclipse the fact that they have the some pretty swanky stuff. It's (despite being reasonably priced) usually well manufactured.
2) "Some assembly required" is elevated to new heights with Ikea. I personally love putting furniture together, it brings out the manly man in me.
3) Shopping at Ikea is a good way to spend an otherwise boring weekend afternoon. I love showroom shopping. Idea's are constantly popping in and out of my head as I stroll through the aisles.
4) The furniture may be great, but it's the housewares that I really love. I could easily spend my entire paycheck on the bottom floor alone. I love the ceramic dishes, the kitchen utensils, the lamps and lighting and the rugs.
5) You can bring out the interior designer in you, and usually for a really good price. They excel at creating cool living spaces in a relatively small footprint.
6) The upper floor is spring mounted I think, and every time I go there I think there's an earthquake going on. Kinda fun, (boo hiss to those of you that are going to tell me that real earthquakes are no fun, I KNOW)
7) The staff is always friendly and willing to help. PLUS you can actually find them in every department.
8) The entire warehouse smells like cinnamon rolls.
9) You can eat a decent meal there for less than 5 bucks. I am a big fan of the Swedish meatball plate (even though mine are bigger and better). They even have .99 breakfasts with bacon and eggs. Nice to know, usually I get there to late for this. Good coffee too.
10) The bathrooms are spic and span.
Is it a coincidence that Ikea and idea are basically the same word? I think not. That's some marketing genius going on there.
How many levels does hell have? Well I was there for the better part of the day and I STILL don't frickin' know.
So Abby convinced me to go there today to pick up something that we "needed". I was convinced and we went. We already knew what we wanted so I figured this would be a quick easy 10 minute trip. I was so wrong.
"FOLLOW THE ARROWS! FOLLOW THE ARROWS! DO NOT WALK AGAINST THE ARROWS! LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE FLOOR! DO NOT LOOK TO THE SIDE! See an item you like? No problem! REPORT PROMPTLY TO AISLE 8 BIN 635 AND YOU WILL BE REMOVED OF YOUR PERSONAL ITEMS AND ASSIGNED TO WORK AT COMMUNAL FARM 287!"
So where's McCarthy when you need him? Cuz I know he never would have let this shit go down. Need help with an item? No problem! "ASK COMRADE IN YELLOW SHIRT AND HE WILL PROVIDE INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO HELP YOURSELF! Need a cart to push your items? NO! ALL CARTS HAVE BEEN PRE-ASSIGNED!"
I don't think I need to elaborate much further on how miserable my experience was. We spent most of the time wandering around the showroom looking for the item we wanted to purchase so we could be told where it was in the storeroom so we could pick one up. After that we followed the exit signs that lead you in circles and not really to the exit. And when we did ask a fellow comrade where the exit was? That's right, we were provided with instructions on how to follow the arrows!
I'm not going to get into what putting it together was like. Please don't ask because it's a very sensitive subject.
I do enjoy their meatballs with lingenberry sauce when they get rationed out to me. That's what gets the only star. Try the soup with the dry, brown crusts of bread, it really adds to the whole experience!
10 Things Science has Proven as More Fun than Shopping at IKEA:
(1) Snorting Dran-o.
(2) Skinny dipping in the Amazon.
(3) Base jumping, sans parachute.
(4) Eating syringes out of a hospital's biohazard bin.
(5) Flashing a gang sign of your choice in Watts.
(6) Making love to a great white's mouth.
(7) Making love to an electric fence.
(8) Judging the "World's Longest Finger Nails" for the Guinness Book.
(9) Novice Snake-Charming 101.
(10) Passing kidney stones.
Seriously, Satan created this hellhole. Don't go. For the love of all things sacred and good on this earth, just don't go.
This place bugs. You know what Ikea is? It's the Forever 21 of furniture...you ladies can relate. You know, when you and your chicas are doing girls night out, and you need to buy something new that you'll only wear once because the threads will unravel at first wash? That's Ikea. Crappy, particle board furniture that takes hours to assemble...and just days to begin falling apart.
Granted, almost everything in my apartment is junk from Ikea, because I'm not at *real* furniture level quite yet, but I know how much it sucks. For all the labor and the quality of the product, Ikea ain't event that cheap either! I feel like we're all being duped.
Silver and glassware can be pretty good finds...as are some of their mirrors, but the rest of the stuff should be used as nothing more than fuel to stoke a bon fire.
One extra star because they have awesome cinnamon rolls. Which is a little weird, BTW. Why does a furniture store feature a full kitchen?
I drank too much last night and ended up in Eagle with a bunch of very nice and good looking gay men watching Phelps win his Gold medal. My punishment for hanging out almost all night was a) The Dog House for about 20 mins when I got home b) I had to go to IKEA ....and shop for curtains.... why oh why?
I would rather have my titties twisted all day long at half hour intervals than go shopping in this hellish place.
Honey, I promise to not party all night with guys again...I have learned my lesson.
PS. there was a science experiment and apparently if you eat too many beans and sit on a piece of Ikea furniture while farting...the furniture falls apart. There, consider yourself warned.
Neighborhood: Nestor
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Neighborhood: Mission Valley
Category: Furniture Stores
Neighborhood: Mission Valley
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Neighborhood: Mission Valley
Category: Furniture Stores
Neighborhood: Linda Vista
Category: Furniture Stores
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