The £100 shop.....

If you move pretty often, it is a lifesaver. If you have children still at home, it's wonderful. It's efficient space-saving well-built furniture and fresh-looking fabrics. The only problem is the sheer size, but you can learn to use the short cuts. Food is good and incredibly cheap. Once you have been a couple of times and know the system, it's great.

But getting out in under two hours felice! Now that deserves a medal.

We don't have one near, so have never been there, it sounds pretty awful though, reading the posts.

Why does he want to hold them up and run off with some free meatballs?

After only a couple of trip to Ikea Nottingham DH has said he will only go there again at gunpoint!

Thank goodness our nearest IKEA is so far away!

Last went to an IKEA about twenty years ago. The colander, sieves, glasses (they bounce) and other miscellany I bought are all still going strong, so I don't have an excuse!

Shocked SO at Christmas when I was in and out in 15 minutes after buying a black/white easel and wooden train set for DGS.
He had not even made inroads into the very large DIY store next door.
Need to go again at the beginning of June for an easel for DGS best friend for her birthday. Some how I do not think he will complain, oops, next time, I seem to have a list already.

We bought bedroom furniture there a couple of years ago when we redid the room in white and the original (Ikea) beech stuff didn't work. So we gave the beech drawers to my daughter, who was absolutely thrilled with them - they're like new after several years' use. We got the white stuff - a large, extra height triple wardrobe with loads of internal fittings, shelves etc, two large chests of drawers and bedside cabinets, for under £500 all in, and it is so well made. I know it will last and last. No complaints here.(Except for the other £100 we spent on bits and bobs while we were there )

I went to one in Belgium and it was exactly the same as the three I have used in the UK, I felt very odd when we emerged because I was confused as to which country I was in.

We spend about £200 every time we go. I think it's because we have a big car. I blame it on the car. I still have things from 30 years ago and they are in really good condition. We were only saying a couple of weeks ago, when we last went, that it is sad that we don't have a british equivalent. MFI stuff was appalling by comparison, we could never move and take their furniture with us the way we have been able to with the IKEA things.

The one we go to has a map and sort of cut throughs! We still spend a fortune. DH always says 'beware of the baskets!' as we enter!

DS and wife furnished their Australian home with Ikea.
When the time came to leave they shipped it home as it matched the Ikea stuff that they had in storage here! x

Try Ikea in Beijing. If you are really savvy then you get a pillow and duvet from downstairs and then go upstairs to the bed department and snuggle down for a good sleep. Or why not bring the kids to one of the 'rooms' and leave them there to play ?
I went with DD when she was very pregnant and she was looking to buy a wardrobe. As you do in the latter stages of pregnancy she went off to the loo leaving me to collar the next available assistant - it was VERY busy ! (They do queue to get into the store and it is one in and one out at busy times). She of course had to join a queue for the loo so by the time she came back I had ordered everything she needed correctly and bearing in mind that my Mandarin is limited to 2 words and the assistants English about the same I put it down to one of life's triumphs.
I do find the design features on Ikea things amazing and so easy to put together as long as the instructions are followed correctly.

I have found that the prices between France and UK tend to vary - sometimes one is cheaper and then the other. I usually have both catalogues or if it is a big article look at both sites to see the prices - when we were buying our kitchen here in France, UK was very much cheaper - the exchange rate affects it too of course.

I've been in IKEA in many countries, and yes, they are all the same. Except for the fact that the UK ones are the most expensive.

All the Ikea stores I have been in have a 'map' showing you the pathways and the shortcuts. It is easy to read and cut through departments and so not really any worse than a normal sized department store. It is also possible to get downstairs again to the 'Marketplace' quite easily if you need nothing upstairs.

Yep- so well designed to ensure that you go through every bit of the store picking stuff you had no intention to buy as you go. Even worse here- as the IKEA prices are in Swiss francs (but our pension in £)... doh. Fortunately 1 hour away, so not tempted too often.

I loathe IKEA, not the products, but the stores. You cannot go in, go direct to the relevant area, find what you want and get out. Instead you walk around a long mazy path, which if it was in a bluebell wood would be delightful. But you aren't in a bluebell wood, you are in a store with stuff and clutter and people everywhere, it is hot, claustrophobic and it takes hours to get to the tills.

I ended up dumping what I came in for and walking through displays to get to the exit and out as fast as possible, which means I have only ever been to IKEA twice, once in Switzerland and once in Croydon and I never want to go into another one ever again.

That is the only one that I have been in also and not for many years. I keep forgetting about it.

I am certain that "way out" notices have not been displayed so that people see more of the store than they planned.

Charleygirl I do wonder whether all Ikea are the same? That one has been the same since they built it although its been revamped on occasion, I've never been inside another one..

tanith I agree- I find that the "way out" is not sign posted properly at that particular branch of IKEA and gone are the days when I could wander around at my leisure- the distance is too far from entrance to exit for me.

My youngest two DGCs are still using the quilt sets I bought for DSs when they where small they must be about 25 yrs old now and the colours are still good and the cotton excellent.

We have one not far away but we only go there once in a blue moon, usually if one of my daughters wants to go but I do usually manage to pick up a few things I 'need' at the checkout.

I actually feel very claustrophobic in Ikea the layout of the shops makes me feel nervous and uncomfortable because it always seems a long way from the WAY OUT .........

Most of their curtain fabric is great quality - I made kitchen curtains many years ago and they washed so well. We had the very tall wardrobes which we fitted to our needs - stored so much. I don't think they move house more than once but if put together correctly you do get great wear from their items.

Our nearest is 50 + miles away at Lakeside shopping centre they are on a large retail estate which I hate negotiating. It also means paying the Dartford toll as well as the petrol, hence we haven't been for about 5 yrs.
I do like their stuff though.

I'm quite good with flat-pack furniture. A computer desk was assembled with only one screw left over and my bedside table is a triumph. Billy bookcase is feeling his age, but still holds most of my hard-backs safely after a good twenty or so years.Their lighting products are great value too.