IKEA

Advantages: Stylish products at great prices
Disadvantages: No home delivery as such

...IKEA (a Swedish flat-pack furniture & home furnishings store) has now become a household name here in the UK. There aren't many stores dotted across the UK, but most of us are within driving distance of one, & they are huge stores which also include a restaurant & childrens play area, so are worthy of a day trip - there's plenty to keep the whole family occupied. If you are taking little ones, they will generally be quite happy with the trip round the store - everything is so beautifully laid out & the kids section is such a fun & vibrant area that they won't feel like they're actually being dragged round the shops. It does get busy, & even though there is a large car park, parking spaces can be difficult to find. I always try to avoid weekends & school holiday periods. The goods themselves are on the whole contemporary in style...

sambam000 08.06.2009 · Read review
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Ikea is meatballtastic

Advantages: Good variety of items, good shopping experience
Disadvantages: Can be busy

...I had never visited an Ikea until recently, mainly because I have never lived near one. I now live just up the road from the one on Wembley and so decided to take a visit. Ikea is a Swedish store that basically sells everything for the home from furniture to decoration. It is a huge store and is really obvious from the moment you see it due to its blue and yellow colouring on the building, which of course is copying the Swedish flag. Ikea is meant to be an easy one-stop shop to get all your furniture and items for the home in one go at a good price. People travel from all over the country to visit these stores especially as they are few and far between. At the moment there are 17 locations in Great Britain with two new ones being built at the moment in Southampton and Dublin. The one I visited in Wembley was easy to get to from...

wendz86 20.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of Ikea

IKEA Changing Unit

Advantages: Lots of space for changing baby, very well built, will last for ages
Disadvantages: heavy when assembling

...On one of my many trips to IKEA during my pregnancy I came across this changing unit and could not believe how cheap it was compared to other units I had seen elsewhere. I had read a lot about what makes a good changing unit and having looked at severa I realised one fatal flaw in them all - that the unit was only big enough to put your baby on which meant you had to purchase a seperate table to put by the side to house all of the equipment needed for changing, washing etc. Those that did have the extra space were extremely expensive. When I walked into IKEA in Milton Keynes, the first thing I saw at the top of the escalator was this beautiful light pine coloured changing table - at only 89.00. For this price you got the changing table which consisted of a three drawer unit, with a small shelf underneath the changing top which had...

EmBe 01.08.2006 · Read review
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Review of Ikea Baby Changing Unit and Shelves

  The IKEA Virus

Advantages: Cheap, modern furniture
Disadvantages: Bland, tiring, overcrowded, products often unavailable

...It?s taking over. No home is safe. If you haven?t already got an item of furniture from IKEA, you will soon. It?s a virus and you are particularly vulnerable on bank holiday weekends, like this one! I joke, but is there no street in the UK where IKEA hasn?t taken hold? I myself have succumbed to this virulent form of décor. But if you haven?t already, I?ve drawn up a list of pros and cons to help you decide if you want to welcome the virus into your life or whether you want to batten down the hatches and resist. WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO SUCCUMB TO THE IKEA VIRUS? (1) CHEAP IKEA is cheap and cheerful, when you compare it to other equivalent furniture stores. The reason it is so cheap is because it specialises in flat-packed furniture that you assemble yourself. This means that the store doesn?t need to pay for anyone to...

Maia 26.05.2003 · Read review
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IKEA & FAMILY = IKEA FAMILY

Advantages: More you visit more you get
Disadvantages: more you visit, more you spend

...I think everyone knows IKEA, that Swedish low-cost home products retail who has served us already over 60 years. But maybe with this review you learn something new, not just how to spend lot of money in that shop, I love. So here we go... ****************************************************************** *** Facts about IKEA: -IKEA was founded 1943 and first Ikea store open its doors 15 years later in Almhult, Sweden. Ikea name comes from initials of the founder Ingvar Kamprad and, the village where he grew up, Agunnaryd in Smaland, Sweden. -Crazy thing is that Ingvar was only 17 when he registered IKEA name and start business by selling pens, and packets of seeds. Amazing?only 17!!! Well you need to start somewhere, don't you? -Nowadays IKEA is not anymore Swedish company, even everyone think so, it actually owned by...

Winterangel76 21.02.2007 (04.03.2007) · Read review
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Review of Ikea

Ikea Southampton Store

Advantages: Cheap Swedish Furnature and Good Quality
Disadvantages: Busy

...Ikea in Southampton opened on the 12th February and as I have previously lived in Germany and like Ikea out there, I decided to go to the opening of the New Ikea! When got to Ikea the multi storey carpark was closed due to a technical fault, had to park in West Quey Car Park which is right next door to Ikea, bit of a bonus. The entrance to Ikea on on the top floor which is 4 floors up, yes 4 floors to climb just to get to the entrance! Atleast theyy do have moving flat escalators (like the ones at the airport) or lifts when they decide which floor they want to go to. Once upon the roof, you enter Ikea! There are toilets and lockers as you enter and the usual place for the yellow Ikea bags, Pencils, Paper and rulers. As walking around the first floor there are the lay out of bedrooms, living rooms, kitchens, etc etc on show so...

kimberley1986 23.03.2009 · Read review
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Ikea - Hell on Earth!

Advantages: the furniture
Disadvantages: the trauma of getting it!

...I've just got back from a trip to Ikea in Milton Keynes. The purpose of our visit was to buy two Billy bookcases for the spare room and we have returned home with nothing but vile moods and tension headaches. Firstly, the store is not clearly signed from the road, and we ended up having to access it via a Walmart Superstore car-park. It took about 25 minutes to get parked because the confusing layout of the stores and car-parks meant we constantly got jammed in knots of irate but directionless dad-drivers, aggressively revving but getting nowhere... Entering the store was like going into an old haunted cinema - a spooky lobby area with posters and adverts and NO CUSTOMER SERVICE STATION. An escalator takes you up to another floor and you are faced with tills to your left (barring entry that way) and a sign in front of you saying...

minkypolly 05.12.2009 · Read review
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Review of Ikea

  IKEA - WORLD OF THE SWEDISH FLAT PACK

Advantages: Good value, individual design, creche
Disadvantages: Queues, credit card charge, can't reserve stock

...The first time I paid a visit to IKEA, Wednesbury branch, I made the fatal mistake of choosing a Sunday, just before opening time. The queues stretched right along the front of the building and half way down the carpark. **************************** STORE AND PRODUCTS **************************** Once the doors opened and everyone piled up the escalators with their large, plastic, yellow IKEA holdalls, the crush quickly dispersed into the huge maze of isles on the first floor. IKEA is a Swedish owned chain of warehouse style stores. The IKEA principle is 'good design for everyone - without the need to save hard first.' On offer is a wealth of individually designed furniture, furnishings, kitchens, ornaments and utensils. Some of which is set out to resemble a complete room, with the rest displayed for easy comparison...

inycon2 15.10.2004 · Read review
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Review of Ikea

The Ikea Experience

Advantages: it's cheap - dare I say, it's fun?
Disadvantages: the crowds and therefore the queues.

...Ikea is one of those stores you either love or hate. I'm afraid I fall into the category of those who love it! My husband complains when we go there, but I do feel that secretly, he loves it too! We had to visit today as the swivel chair we use for the computer was giving up the ghost. We have had to tighten the back a couple of times a week to stop it falling off. We had looked around at other stores, but couldn't find anything we both liked in our price range. WHERE IS IT? There are 14 Ikea stores around the country, four in the London area at Wembley, Croydon, Edmonton and Lakeside, and other stores at Milton Keynes, Cardiff, Bristol, Wednesbury, Nottingham, Warrington, Leeds, Gateshead, Glasgow and Edinburgh. There is also a new store due to open in Ashton Under Lyne in late 2006. We went to the store in Valley Park...

Madge11 08.10.2006 · Read review
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Review of Ikea (Shop)

Incredible Ikea?

Advantages: Cheap, children's ikea is cool, sensible ideas
Disadvantages: BUSY, instructions with no writing, rubbish veggie choice in restaurant.

.... Delivery is expensive if you don't live really close to the store so I reccommend trying to fitit in the car first, easier said than done! Once you get it home, you are almost done, just the assembly to go. Trouble is that often the instructions don't have words on them. Not even in Japanese or french. You have to go by the little pictures which can get a bit confusing! As long as you don't take it too seriously though, you'll find it amusing for the first half hour. Ikea is great on a budget and especially for young children. The ball pond area means you can leave your kids for a while for some uninterupted shopping and the restaurant has all sorts of facilities such as bottle warming. There are numerous mother and baby rooms in store too. Ikea operates on a real hands on policy, they want you to fiddle with the objects and check they...

Alican 20.10.2004 · Read review
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Review of Ikea