No kidding, calm kiwi. I would have expected at least one IKEA in NZ. Are there any IKEA-like competitors?
After a bit of search, I finally found another thread that helps us understand IKEA product names.
I have IKEA chairs I bought about 20 years ago. After a few years the wooden frames were coming apart from people flopping into the chairs. I took them back to ask how to repair them and IKEA took them and refixed the frames. Some years later it had happened again. I took them back and they offered to fix them for free again. They couldn’t align the frames perfectly so they gave us those two chairs back plus 2 new ones to replace them, even though the orinals must have been 6 or 7 years old by then. They have consistently provided me with great service.
No! No there aren’t.
I long to frolic in Ikea 
Ah well I shall save it up for the next Sydney visit. Not that they happen often. Bugger you Mr Ikea!
Damn those Ikea buggers not even posting here! (and we asked last time we were there 
)
Burlington, actually. Not that there’s any clear divison between the two cities, but the Hammer can’t lay claim to their own Ikea. Yet another item on the “close but not quite” status list of this city 
I’m going to Ikea next weekend with my mom, aunt and sister. It’s a bit of a yearly tradition. I want to buy the Leksvik TV stand, another bookcase, and possibly the buffet (not sure if we want to spend that money yet or not). We’ll get a coffeetable if we find one we like, but I think that will come from another store. We just bought a whole set of couches for the living room (from Leon’s, though), so our apartment is gonna be SOOO PURTY!
I have last year’s catalogue and I still flip through it on a near weekly basis to get ideas or to stare at the items I wish I could get. Although now I can get a lot of them, so I’m excited. I want to pick up the new catalogue so I can have different images to stare at for the next 12 months!
What a great story! I’m always stoked to hear a good customer service experience. They seem so rare. 
GAH! Thanksgiving is SO far awaaaaay!
Ikea: furniture by mummenschanz.
I don’t get the attraction. I’ve been to many Ikeas both in the States and in Europe, and never thought much of either the products or the prices. Seems I’m in the minority, though.
After a couple years of roadtrippin’ to Chicago, we finally got one in the Twin Cities. It doesn’t seem as special now since it’s going to be in a lot of local homes now. Shrug. I still like 'em tho.
IKEA’s opening in New Haven CT on Wednesday!
There’s a road trip in my future…
TeaElle, one just opened in Paramus off the GSP, and one opens next week in New Haven.
The Montreal store isn’t that much farther - really - and the prices are lower given the exchange rate. Further, you can get the sales tax back in cash when you come back across the border.
Montreal!?! Here to Montreal is… lemme check… six hours by car. In the time it would take for me to drive there I could get to New Haven, Paramus or Elizabeth, shop and get back home, cook a delicious meal from scratch, do two loads of laundry and have sex with my husband. To save a few bucks? Nah, not worth it. 
We have one here in Jeddah. A good source for nice pots and pans.
Wow. I didn’t know IKEA had so many stores around the world. They must have been real busy in the last few years. Well, good for them (and you)!
Myself, I’m a bit tired of the design line, but noone beats them on quality x price x looks. Plus, it’s a great way to end relationships if you go there on weekends (darling, please don’t trample on that woman’s head, it’s only a piece of kitchenware … hmm, why did we want to move in together … )
Anyway, about the name of the product in the link: Though I’m not Swedish (but I’ve lived in Sweden), “FartFull” is usually used to describe a fun, exciting action-packed event (rapidly moving around), as in: "We had a “fartfull” trip to the mountains last weekend. In this case I think “crazy” or “lively” could cover it. There doesn’t seem to be an adequate word in English, at least not according to my very expensive 100 000 word dictionary.
and btw Sweden is not the land of the fjords, that’s Norway, don’t believe them if they say differently
Yep, we just got ours a couple weeks ago, like stpauler here says. It’s right next to the Mall of America. I haven’t made it down there yet, but they promoted like crazy and, on opening day, people waited in line for hours on one of the hottest days this year. I don’t get that; sure, the first 100 people got a free chair, but why’d everyone else do that? Weird.
I have to go down that way sometime this week anyway, so I might stop by and check it out.
I am so psyched about this. Now IKEA is a 35 minute trip instead of a 2 hour one. Which means I can go on weeknights instead of having to go to the Newark one on a weekend, which is chaos defined. Whcih also means I can go more than once a year. Yay!
I love Ikea.
We have to drive either to Chicago or Pittsburg to buy stuff there. Last time we went ( Pittsburg) we left the kiddies with my in-laws, folded down the back seat of the van and loaded it to capacity with an entertainment center, dresser for one child, assorted other furniture and a bed room set.
**Which Leads me to a vastly amusing anecdote that I shall now subject you too as it is one of my most brillant lines evar. **
All these flat boxes are loaded into our full size van. We have one 2’x2’x 5" box that doesn’t fit anywhere beneath into the jigsaw puzzle of packing. It cannot fit under my feet, not on the dash board, nor between our two seats. It is a nightstand. So, up it goes on the top of all the boxes. Where it is unfettered, a cannonball waiting for a push downhill. A grenade with the pin mostly out.
You get the picture.
We are so loaded to the brim in our van that we cannot recline the front seats at all and can barely see each other between the captains chairs for the boxes and bags. The axle on the van is nearly maxed out and we have to put in more air/or maybe less, I forget, into the tires.
Within fifteen minutes of departing the Nirvana that is Ikea, Mr. Ujest has to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting someone. We stop in time, due to the force of the stop, the unfettered box squirts along the cardboard boxing like a greased pig, nearly hitting Mr. Ujest in his head if it were not for my cat like reflexes to deflect it.
" Wow." He says in quiet awe, “That was close.”
“Yeah.” I cracked, “You were nearly killed by a one night stand.”
I always think of Ikea fondly for this moment. Nearly killing my husband and giving me a great, great line.
I’m a bit stunned by how few IKEAs there are in the US, relative to the population size. I just assumed that there was at least one in every city, since we have one here and Ottawa isn’t that big (c. 1.1 million). What I really don’t get is why they don’t open another one here, because the one we have now is so god-damned busy all the time that they could easily open another one right beside the first and still make a huge profit.
That said, I’m starting to sour on IKEA. They definitely have style, and character, and they definitely are cheap, but the quality seems to me to be shoddy often times. I want furniture that will last a long time, and that can be passed down to others, but it just seems to me that average IKEA stuff is like “for the moment” furniture, meaning that it is good right now, but will wear out after a few years. But I definitely appreciated their prices while I was in school.
I don’t get Ikea. It looks like another big-box retailer to me. I hear their furniture isn’t intended to last terribly long. I think anything held together with cams and screws is bound to get wobbly. What kind of wood do they use? Is it veneer over particle board? Is it any better than Target furniture?
Is it that it’s European? They’re playing the Swedish thing up to the hilt here in the Twin Cities. If the company came from Alabama instead of Sweden would there be the same interest?
My favorite furniture stores are the unpainted places. I’ve bought at least 40 things in those. I have a lot of solid maple furniture in really nice, modern designs that I will be able to pass down to my kids or grandchildren when I croak. Sure, you have to finish it yourself, but that’s not so hard. Ikea stuff all requires assembly anyway.
Hey now, let’s not let jealousy distort the facts: those locations are 85 miles apart…but the College Park, Md. location is between them. 
I love IKEA. I have a bookshelf, 3-piece entertainment center, curio cabinet, and microwave cart from them, plus a wicked cool picture of the pre-9/11 NYC skyline. I even liked the food, but then I’ve always loved Swedish meatballs. I was really impressed with IKEA’s delivery service, too: the fee wasn’t unreasonable, they delivered everything the very next day, and my friend and I didn’t have to lug all of that flat, heavy stuff up 3 flights of apartment stairs (he’s a good friend, but that might have killed him!).
As far as the style goes, there are many things I don’t like, but there are enough things I do like that I enjoy looking through the catalog/store/website. Assembly is a snap, and you can rarely beat the price.
My only complaint is that they are currently holding my coffee table for ransom, and are demanding $300 for it. They won’t even negotiate. Bastards.
Well, hell, the *hallmark * of English is its penchant for absorbing words from other languages. Here’s a great example just waiting to be adopted - let’s have at it!
IKEA is a totally fartful store.