259 replies to this topic

[Rob Randall]

We bought a kitchen island from IKEA recently. We love it. It's hard to find an affordable kitchen island that doesn't look like it came from either a prison cafeteria or George Washington's homestead.

[jonny]

What does George Washington's homestead look like?

 

I haven't been to an Ikea in years, but their kitchen and bath stuff does look pretty slick. I stayed in an airbnb recently whose kitchen was all redone in Ikea stuff and it looked sharp. 

Edited by jonny, 09 September 2016 - 12:02 PM.

[aastra]

Kitchen Island sounds like a reality show.

[VicHockeyFan]

What does George Washington's homestead look like?

 

[aastra]

 

Perhaps they are concerned with cannibalization.

 

Geez, man. It's the year 2016 and you're dusting off that old Scandinavian stereotype re: Grendel?

[aastra]

 

Since Vancouver Island Ikea customers are already purchasing Ikea furniture from the Richmond and Coquitlam locations, any expansion onto Vancouver Island would simply result in a correlating decrease in sales at the Richmond and Coquitlam locations.

 

Yeah, I was going to post something last night about how comparing market areas in Canada doesn't really work but I decided to let it go.*

 

Suffice it to say, the physical area of the lower mainland and southern Vancouver Island combined is still smaller than your average Nova Scotia county, even though you're talking 3+ million people in that tiny corner of southwestern BC as compared to barely 1.5 million over a vast area of Atlantic Canada. But I guess Ikea is thinking a Halifax store = one store for 1.5 million people in the vast maritimes whereas a Victoria store would = 3 stores for 3 million in compact southwestern BC. Then again, maybe another lower mainland store is in the works? If so, it would blow this notion right out of the water.

 

*just when I think I'm out, they pull me back in

[Rob Randall]

What does George Washington's homestead look like?

 

Actually, I have no idea. But we've been steering clear of abominations like this.

 

This is what it looks like. Lots of shelving space and room for barstools on the other side.

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Edited by Rob Randall, 09 September 2016 - 12:28 PM.

[aastra]

That looks pretty good. I'm obviously out of touch with Ikea stuff. I wouldn't have guessed it.

[Rob Randall]

It's hard to tell in the photo but the shelves are stainless steel and the wood is painted black. And it only took 17 hours to assemble. No, just kidding. I wouldn't decorate my house with the whole stuff but if you look carefully there are some great items.

 

Now all I have to do is head over to Gabriel Ross and pick up a couple of barstools. Heh heh.

[VicHockeyFan]

http://news.national...re-to-find-love

 

Finding love amid crowds of furniture shoppers and the smell of Swedish meatballs might seem unlikely, but for Shanghai’s elderly, Ikea is the place to search for Mr. or Mrs. Right.

 

For years, hundreds of people, many divorced or widowed, have descended on the store cafeteria in the city’s Xuhui district on Tuesdays and Thursdays

 

But given that most were seeking light flirtation rather than a hot dog or a glass of lingonberry cordial, it was only a matter of time before management grew tired of providing a cut-price singles club.

 

So last week, during the seven-day national holiday, when hordes of old people who had not purchased food occupied seats and blocked walkways, the store introduced a strict “no-food, no seat” policy.

 

[thaicobb]

It's hard to tell in the photo but the shelves are stainless steel and the wood is painted black. And it only took 17 hours to assemble. No, just kidding. I wouldn't decorate my house with the whole stuff but if you look carefully there are some great items.

 

Now all I have to do is head over to Gabriel Ross and pick up a couple of barstools. Heh heh.

I dunno, but ordered a whole condo's worth of Ikea furniture and only paid $169 for them to pick it off the shelves, truck to the island, haul it up the elevator and thru the front door.  Took about 3 days of fairly leisurely assembly time.  True won't last as long as my mother's antiques, but just about the time it starts to out of style or I just get sick of looking at it, it self destructs into dumpster-sized bits for easy haul away.

[Rob Randall]

Now all I have to do is head over to Gabriel Ross and pick up a couple of barstools. Heh heh.

Finally found an affordable pair of bar stools for my IKEA table (at Canadian Tire of all places).

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[VicHockeyFan]

^ Those are cool.

[Mike K.]

Those are great!

[Bingo]

Because of the depression in the legs those stools will stack nicely. Yes/No?

I like your antique Pyrex mixing bowl, which if you have the set of other colors, also stack nicely inside each other.

[Rob Randall]

Thanks. It's a knock-off of the famous Marais stool, the main difference being the CT version has a wood seat which I kind of like better even though it's not "authentic".
http://www.dwr.com/d...html?lang=en_US

That's what I mean about mixing items. No stools in the IKEA showroom appealed to me so I had to search elsewhere to find something industrial but not cheap-looking. They were $100 for the pair, and yes, they stack perfectly.

As for the Pyrex, we've gotten great vintage or name brand kitchen wares by keeping a sharp eye out at garage sales.

[johnk]

Yeah, I was going to post something last night about how comparing market areas in Canada doesn't really work but I decided to let it go.*
 
Suffice it to say, the physical area of the lower mainland and southern Vancouver Island combined is
still smaller than your average Nova Scotia county,
even though you're talking 3+ million people in that
tiny corner of southwestern BC as compared to barely
1.5 million over a vast area of Atlantic Canada. But I
guess Ikea is thinking a Halifax store = one store for
1.5 million people in the vast maritimes whereas a
Victoria store would = 3 stores for 3 million in compact
southwestern BC.Then again, maybe another lower
mainland store is in the works? If so, it would blow this notion right out of the water.
*just when I think I'm out, they pull me back in

Halifax-Dartmouth area (store was in Dartmouth) was one of IKEA's first Canadian stores. We bought some stuff there in 1978 to furnish our first house and still have 2 nightstands in the guest room. The store didn't last that long, it was closed a while before we left in 1984. Sales were obviously not where IKEA wanted them to be. Population of NS at the time was just shy of 800K. Next largest city was Moncton about 80K people and 3-4 hrs by car, Fred'ton another hour west and only 25K pop. All PEI had only 110K, no bridge at that time and unreliable ferries in winter. So I don't think they envisioned the whole Maritimes as their market

[VicHockeyFan]

So St. John's NFLD has a pick-up point.  It's kinda silly we do not have one.

[shoeflack]

So St. John's NFLD has a pick-up point. It's kinda silly we do not have one.

It seems like their expansion plans are moving East to West. All sorts of new pick up points in Ontario and Atlantic Canada, and new stores in Halifax and Quebec City.

I get the feeling that a Western wave of pick up points (or stores) would be next in line in their announcement schedule.

[kafkaesque]

Once upon a time, there was a small Ikea outpost in Victoria.  I remember hauling a small Billy bookcase on the 14 bus from around Cook street to UVic res.  Maybe their past experience here has traumatized them deeply.

 

A pick up point would be great, but as has been said, browsing, marketplace stuff and meatballs are all kinda awesome. I am still bitter that the red cabbage is gone though.