^ Cheap, to me, is inexpensive AND poor quality. I think IKEA is cheap.
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CWEnder wrote:BL211 wrote:Moorlander wrote:Never been to an Ikea. Why does this place make everyone so "randy?" What's the draw?
Cool, smart stuff, cheap.
IKEA is the Old Navy of furniture stores...decent looking for a season or two, if it lasts that long.
Pretty much. I've never understood why anyone beyond a college kid with no money would buy anything from there.
I agree that a lot of IKEA stuff is poorly made.
Hey, if you are going to buy cheap stuff, you might as well buy good looking cheap stuff.
Hey, if you are going to buy cheap stuff, you might as well buy good looking cheap stuff.
The cabinets are nicer than anything you can buy at any big box stores in the area. The lighting is contemporary and well made. The textiles (rugs, fabrics, etc) are great for updating a place even if they don't last forever. The best thing about shopping at an Ikea is picking up small things like kitchen utensils or cotton ball holders or whatever. It's more contemporary than stuff you would normally buy at Target. People tend to look at the upholstered furniture as the epitome of Ikea and that stuff is strictly made for dorm rooms.The Central Scrutinizer wrote:CWEnder wrote:BL211 wrote:
Cool, smart stuff, cheap.
IKEA is the Old Navy of furniture stores...decent looking for a season or two, if it lasts that long.
Pretty much. I've never understood why anyone beyond a college kid with no money would buy anything from there.
Right. Depends on what you buy there. Small household items are very contempo there, but furniture is best bought at World Market - in my opinion.
Rubber Tree = Fancy name for inexpensive full Maple furniture made by hand.
Rubber Tree = Fancy name for inexpensive full Maple furniture made by hand.
As a retailer of contemporary accessories and furniture, I would love to have an IKEA in town. IKEA serves as a great entry entry-level retailer for those who might not want to jump into the higher price points of better quality designs. Once they live with and experience the great designs IKEA offers, most consumers will be more comfortable with the higher price point and superior quality of the designer contemporary products.
IKEA has amazing cabinetry of varyinig quality. Most items (excluding cabinetry) are designed to be throw-away or short term fillers that will last a few season at most. IKEA has introduced some higher priced items, such as their Stockholm line, that are better quality and more competitively priced.
St. Louis needs more contemporary options!
IKEA has amazing cabinetry of varyinig quality. Most items (excluding cabinetry) are designed to be throw-away or short term fillers that will last a few season at most. IKEA has introduced some higher priced items, such as their Stockholm line, that are better quality and more competitively priced.
St. Louis needs more contemporary options!
Northwest Plaza. Good geographic location, but I'm not sure that would give them the highway visibility they crave.
backthecity wrote:http://www.ikeafans.com/forums/chats/12 ... louis.html
After the whole downtown Schnucks fiasco, I'm not buying it until officials from IKEA are standing with the St. Ann mayor at the corner of Lindbergh and St. Charles Rock Rd.
Maybe it is just me, but I have been noticing a lot more Ikea commercials on TV lately, or maybe it’s just the fact I switched from charter to directv. Seems like a good idea to run ads awhile before you open up a store in a new location.
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Apologies if someone has already linked this:
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.c ... furniture/
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.c ... furniture/
Apparently our central location prevents us from getting an IKEA store (keep in mind that inland cities like Minneapolis, Dallas, and Chicago have this chain), So the great suburb of Charlotte gets one .
CLOSEST SHOP IS IN ATLANTA
IKEA breaks ground
on Charlotte store location
University City site set to open spring 2009
JEN ARONOFF
jaronoff@charlotteobserver.com
Swedish home furnishings giant IKEA broke ground for its new Charlotte store Wednesday in University City, paving the way for a spring 2009 debut.
The 356,000-square-foot store on City Boulevard, next to Interstate 85, will be the first in the Carolinas and the 36th nationwide. It's expected to employ about 400 people.
Customers can expect 10,000 affordably priced, exclusively designed home goods, a supervised children's play area and a 300-seat restaurant serving Swedish specialties.
That combination is expected to draw shoppers from across the Carolinas and southern Virginia. Though the closest store is in Atlanta, the company says it already has 150,000 Carolinas customers; IKEA has long operated in the northeast and in California.
Work has begun on the 25-acre site, and construction equipment bustles around the expanse of grass and red dirt.
The IKEA will be the centerpiece of Crescent Properties' 175-acre Belgate mixed-use development. Other retail, including a Wal-Mart Supercenter, is also set to spring up nearby.
After the groundbreaking ceremony, the Observer spoke with IKEA representatives about coming to Charlotte. Questions and answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.
Q. Why Charlotte, and why now?
Joseph Roth, public affairs director: Since (opening our Atlanta store in 2005), we've been very keen on growing our presence in the Southeast. We also had a distribution center planned in Savannah, Ga., which now is up and running. So now, we can cost-effectively distribute goods in the Southeast. That means we can open a couple more stores.
Michael Maier, real estate manager: This is the largest metropolitan area between Atlanta and (Washington) D.C. Within 100 miles of this site are 7 million people. It's centrally located to serve the Charlotte metropolitan area as well as outlying metropolitan areas (like Raleigh, Greensboro, Columbia and Greenville, S.C.).
Q. How far away do you expect the store to draw people from?
Roth: We expect everyone in the Carolinas to shop here, as well as even the south side of Virginia.
Q. Who do you see as your competitors?
Roth: No one. Everything we sell is only an IKEA product. So it's not like you could get it at any other store at a higher price or a lower price, or in a different color. ... We'd say our competition is really any day outing for the family. So, miniature golf, movies, sporting events.
Q. So if I had a furniture store operating in Charlotte, should I be concerned that IKEA's coming in? Roth: You should be concerned if you do not offer affordable prices. But if you offer a good product at affordable prices, you will benefit. Typically, when IKEA enters the market, we actually elevate the profile of being able to redecorate affordably. We think we will complement what else is out in the market and fill a void in the market, both in terms of the unique styles and the prices.
Q. How would you describe your customers? Roth: They value good design, good function and affordable prices. And that's something that's true whether you're in China, Russia, the U.K. or the U.S. Or whether you're in Atlanta, Detroit, Austin, Texas, or Charlotte. ... I'm not saying average, but the most common customer you would probably observe would be a female in her 30s or 40s shopping with children.
Q. Do you carry the same products at every store, or is it different by country?
Roth: The only thing different is that we don't have the metric system here. And the currency. Other than that, the same products, worldwide. That's how we keep our prices affordable. That's why on a map you won't see stores in St. Louis, Kansas City or Denver. Because we're not to the point where we can cost-effectively distribute goods there yet.
CLOSEST SHOP IS IN ATLANTA
IKEA breaks ground
on Charlotte store location
University City site set to open spring 2009
JEN ARONOFF
jaronoff@charlotteobserver.com
Swedish home furnishings giant IKEA broke ground for its new Charlotte store Wednesday in University City, paving the way for a spring 2009 debut.
The 356,000-square-foot store on City Boulevard, next to Interstate 85, will be the first in the Carolinas and the 36th nationwide. It's expected to employ about 400 people.
Customers can expect 10,000 affordably priced, exclusively designed home goods, a supervised children's play area and a 300-seat restaurant serving Swedish specialties.
That combination is expected to draw shoppers from across the Carolinas and southern Virginia. Though the closest store is in Atlanta, the company says it already has 150,000 Carolinas customers; IKEA has long operated in the northeast and in California.
Work has begun on the 25-acre site, and construction equipment bustles around the expanse of grass and red dirt.
The IKEA will be the centerpiece of Crescent Properties' 175-acre Belgate mixed-use development. Other retail, including a Wal-Mart Supercenter, is also set to spring up nearby.
After the groundbreaking ceremony, the Observer spoke with IKEA representatives about coming to Charlotte. Questions and answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.
Q. Why Charlotte, and why now?
Joseph Roth, public affairs director: Since (opening our Atlanta store in 2005), we've been very keen on growing our presence in the Southeast. We also had a distribution center planned in Savannah, Ga., which now is up and running. So now, we can cost-effectively distribute goods in the Southeast. That means we can open a couple more stores.
Michael Maier, real estate manager: This is the largest metropolitan area between Atlanta and (Washington) D.C. Within 100 miles of this site are 7 million people. It's centrally located to serve the Charlotte metropolitan area as well as outlying metropolitan areas (like Raleigh, Greensboro, Columbia and Greenville, S.C.).
Q. How far away do you expect the store to draw people from?
Roth: We expect everyone in the Carolinas to shop here, as well as even the south side of Virginia.
Q. Who do you see as your competitors?
Roth: No one. Everything we sell is only an IKEA product. So it's not like you could get it at any other store at a higher price or a lower price, or in a different color. ... We'd say our competition is really any day outing for the family. So, miniature golf, movies, sporting events.
Q. So if I had a furniture store operating in Charlotte, should I be concerned that IKEA's coming in? Roth: You should be concerned if you do not offer affordable prices. But if you offer a good product at affordable prices, you will benefit. Typically, when IKEA enters the market, we actually elevate the profile of being able to redecorate affordably. We think we will complement what else is out in the market and fill a void in the market, both in terms of the unique styles and the prices.
Q. How would you describe your customers? Roth: They value good design, good function and affordable prices. And that's something that's true whether you're in China, Russia, the U.K. or the U.S. Or whether you're in Atlanta, Detroit, Austin, Texas, or Charlotte. ... I'm not saying average, but the most common customer you would probably observe would be a female in her 30s or 40s shopping with children.
Q. Do you carry the same products at every store, or is it different by country?
Roth: The only thing different is that we don't have the metric system here. And the currency. Other than that, the same products, worldwide. That's how we keep our prices affordable. That's why on a map you won't see stores in St. Louis, Kansas City or Denver. Because we're not to the point where we can cost-effectively distribute goods there yet.
Huh? So, wait, St. Louis needs to adopt the metric system and the Euro to get an IKEA? I'm confused...goat314 wrote:Q. Do you carry the same products at every store, or is it different by country?
Roth: The only thing different is that we don't have the metric system here. And the currency. Other than that, the same products, worldwide. That's how we keep our prices affordable. That's why on a map you won't see stores in St. Louis, Kansas City or Denver. Because we're not to the point where we can cost-effectively distribute goods there yet.
The market within a given radius of St. Louis is not large enough for Ikea's business model. Besides, St. Louis is within 4.5 hours of the nearest Ikea in Chicago. That fits their model of being able to attract customers from a larger radius for weekend trips.
But they can get them to Chicago? That's crap.
I wonder if they don't think St. Louis is progressive enough for their product line?
I wonder if they don't think St. Louis is progressive enough for their product line?
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Can someone tell me the draw of IKEA? This is a serious question because never at any point in my life have I gotten excited about furniture. Of course I would root for them coming to the city just like any of the rest of you, but I wouldn't be beating their doors down to get in.
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Juice13610 wrote:never at any point in my life have I gotten excited about furniture.
Just wait a few years.
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DeBaliviere wrote:Juice13610 wrote:never at any point in my life have I gotten excited about furniture.
Just wait a few years.
You want to aget excited about furniture go to Bova, then open up a CB2 catalog. That works.
Double post...
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The reason they mention not expanding in St. Louis is the lack of a central distribution warehouse. However they are planning on opening a facility shortly in the Midwest making expansion into markets like ours more likely. They also have 2 stores in Chicago and will soon have 4 in the NY metro so the 4.5 hour drive time doesn't necessarily apply.
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I think St. Louis would be a great place for the distribution center, as we have direct highway access to KC, Denver via KC, OKC, Memphis, and Nashville. Pretty decent connectivity.