IKEA
Made the trek to the store of all stores.
Lots of stick furniture.
Dorm-room stuff. First apartment stuff. Stuff that takes weeks and an engineering degree to assemble.
What's so great about that?
It's a weird phenomenon. I mean, we Americans want big, bigger, biggest. IKEA sells little, littler, littlest.
I have no problem with downsizing. You could furnish a decent-sized condo with the stuff I've got moldering in the basement. Americans generally have too much Stuff. Our lives could use a yard sale.
But it goes entirely against who we are. Or at least who we've become conditioned to be. And yet before the IKEA opened in West Chester, I knew people who drove to Pittsburgh to shop there.
Explain to me the fascination.
posted by Paul Daugherty at 8:01 AM
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Post a Comment*Dude, you got me. My lady, has been there 4 times already. Has not purchased a thing yet, but never-the-less i am still ashamed. It seemed like turd furniture to me when i saw the pictures on the web site a month or so ago.
I refuse to go. (until she makes me im sure)
Carson Palmer will be floor associate of the year.
Mike from beenie babys and crack
IKEA had a great publicity campaign. That pretty well explains it. If there's nothing exceptional there, it will eventually become ho-hum, too.
You need to post a Reds thread. Looking at Bruce's .333 average, Bailey's 1.03 era, and 2 catchers hitting over .300, I've gotta wonder why we don't just go with a youth wave and rely on the mentoring skills of the older players to bring them along at this level.
I'm thinking that Griffey, Hatteburg, Harang, Patterson, etc., would be good for the young ones.
What does this have to do with IKEA?
Not sure....maybe ball players buy furniture or something like that.
Now that IKEA is here, there will be less interest in having something from the store in your house. I hear their Sweedish Meatballs are good though!
Another side of the Doc I didn't know existed....furniture maven.
Several weeks ago on your radio show, you had a sabermetrician (?) with all kinds of ideas regarding what players to play and where to put them in the batting lineup. His suggestions arose from his analysis of tons of baseball statistics. Many of his thoughts flew in the face of conventional baseball wisdom.
At the time, I thought you tried to make fun out of his 'geeky' approach. But he had a good answer for every one of your jabs. At the close, even you were listening seriously to what he had to say.
From what you've seen thus far, has Dusty adopted any of these ideas?
When I watch the Reds play, I am reminded of something Einstein once said. Paraphrasing: when one does the same thing, the same way, over and over...only an idiot expects a different result each time.
I got a bed frame with a headboard and footboard for $99 dollars that is of slightly higher quality than the chinese junk that is sold at Wal-mart and Big Lots. Also, it comes with slats (which were like $40) so I didn't have to move a box spring up to my third floor apt with narrow stairways. For younger, urban apartment dwellers it makes all the sense in the world. Why housewives who live in large houses in Mason would want to go there, I have no idea. Perhaps it is to fulfill their desire to recapture their youth.
I mean, we Americans want big, bigger, biggest. IKEA sells little, littler, littlest ... But it goes entirely against who we are.
It goes entirely against who we were. It's completely in sync with who we will be. There's a big population shift going on. People are staying single longer, and the baby-boomers are becoming empty-nesters. Fewer people are interested in owning a house out in Vinyl Village. The young singles, in particular, are moving back into cities. They want to be able to work, dine, buy groceries, etc. near their homes. They don't want to commute. Heard all about it on 91.7 yesterday.
I remember about five years ago, they were interviewing a developer on NPR. The guy was saying his company was building subdivisions like crazy because people were buying the houses like crazy. He said something to the effect of, "Right now, the American Dream is moving into a house in the suburbs. Maybe someday in the future, it will be having an a place in the city." Well, guess what.
What I mean is, more people are trying to live smaller. You probably noticed a lot of the furniture at IKEA is geared toward ogranizing the things. That's a big part of the attraction. Also, a lot of the stuff is colorful. I think fewer people are going with neutral decor. I credit the DIY-type home improvement shows. White walls and brown furniture just isn't as appealing anymore. Finally, I think it's safe to say "young + single = just about broke" is still true. The stuff is reasonably priced.
For people in Mason and West Chester though, I think IKEA's just flavor of the month. Russ may not be far off. Believe me though, I've been to the store in Pittsburgh, the hype's never going to go away completely. That place is still a zoo.
As a side note, the whole "let's all move to the 'burbs" thing was going to end sooner or later, and the housing boom right along with it. It was kind of like the dot-com boom or even the Alaskan Gold Rush, in that getting in early and out early seemed to be the trick. Come too late or stay too long, and you could lose your shirt.
--JR
A lot of people don't like overstuffed furniture or the style of stuff you typically find in the big furniture stores.
Yet they can't afford REAL modern furniture, so IKEA fits in there nicely.
It's a great place for things like highchairs. $20. I don't need to spend $150 on a highchair, which is what most of them cost.
We're going to buy my son's first bed. $100. And it's not cheesy looking, and is decently built. I don't need to spend $300 on a bed that my son will outgrow in a couple of years.
Ah JR the "let's all move to the 'burbs" thing started after WWII and is still going strong even w/ the current housing mess. And be honest in our case moving back to the city mean within Cincinnati Corp line. When is the last time you saw the city of Cincinnati gaining population? I'm guessing not in your lifetime. The middle class has been fleeing the corp limits for many years and that is not going to change.
JR - Just to clarify. Singles and young people in bigger cities such as NYC, Boston and Chicago have been living this way for years. It is the smaller metro cities where this urban revitalization is going on.
As for IKEA, I don't get the hype. You can pay $100 for a coffee table today, and $100 more for another one in two years when the thing breaks. Or, you could just spend the money on quality furniture that lasts for years from the beginning.
Brad
here's the secret formula for ikea:
1 warehouse + cheap deals = rednecks love it.
For all you city slickers who don't get it, the best way to get furniture is at estate auctions in the outlying rural counties: Ross, Adams, Brown, Scioto, Pike, etc.
Solid wood built to last from your grandfather's era.
And country auctions are actually a really fun and different way to spend a Saturday.
That's just it. The style at Ikea is different from all the stuff we are used to. That alone is enough to get plenty of people in the door--all the types that feel they need to break the mold. And then there are plenty of young people starting off who want some thing simple and cheap. I personally don't want a ton of big heavy furniture that lasts generations that I will have to tote around from home to home as a move throughout life, and feel obligated to keep it just because it's such high quality.
If you plan on staying in one place most of your life, then sure, fill your place with high-quality, heavy stuff.
Don't get me wrong, it's nice to have a few good pieces, (like bedroom set), but for small things like lamps and desk chairs(things I know I'll want to change), why not Ikea?
Also, Ikea has so much more than just furniture. They offer unique, affordable decor, and good organizers. I'd rather get some affordable, trendy decor anyway since I know I will want to change it within 5 years or so.
And Ikea is all about efficiency, and making the most of the space you have. I think with so many people into going "green" it makes Ikea a popular choice.
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