UKH

Some of the media are carrying photographs of people queueing for FOUR hours at IKEA yesterday. Are some people really that insane enough to shop in IKEA?

I dread the thought of shopping in Ikea at the best of times. the mind boggles.

Me too

youtube.com/watch?v=pMhywI7ZznI&

Maybe some people really needed a desk? Those working from home at the moment may not be returning to the office for months yet. It wouldn't be much fun if you were on an improvised set up.

Maybe they needed an office chair? Or shelves to store their work admin?

You've heard of internet shopping? I even believe Ikea offer this. 

From my improvised home office.

Indeed. They've had record sales of home office equipment over the last 3 months. 

I think it's more likely folk have spent lock down doing diy indoors and now want some new furniture or fittings to go with it. Something you need to see, feel, sit or lie on.

I like Ikea and most of my furniture is from there, but I can't imagine being so much in need of a bookshelf that I couldn't wait a week or two for it to calm down.

The Hotpots are funny.  But IKEA must be able to laugh at themselves, as there's so much copyright material in there that they must have OKed it.

I suppose, as another well-known low-cost blue and yellow company well knows, there's no such thing as bad publicity...

I tried for something, there's a month long wait for a delivery slot.

Most people are staying at home so if you need a sofa/desk/dining table I can see why you might have made the journey after 12 weeks.

I needed a desk chair as my old one broke, I ordered it off Amazon and it showed up the next day!

But then, people are bad at thinking outside the proverbial box (even an oversized Amazon box), this can be seen by just how many are crowding into tourist honeypots when there's other countryside that's far quieter.

Here here. Dreadful shop although I hate shopping at the best of times but IKEA? <shudders>

Live and let live.

My normal feelings on such things but in this case it may be more like live and let die.

The same people probably have houses packed full of bog roll.

Now they're panic buying meatballs and table lamps.

Maybe just desperate to move into their own place, now?

youtube.com/watch?v=w4t652Usg10&

More seriously, I utterly hate going to IKEA - but lots of people love it, to the point it's pretty much a hobby. And the more that are there, the easier it is for us to social distance on the crags and hills..!

I queued for nearly 2 hours at the tip. They don't even sell 60p hotdogs at the tip. 

Tried ordering anything online from IKEA? Might rock up in 2 months

The queue was 1.1 km long, estimated for 500 peole at the original UK  IKEA in Warrington.

They're a dowel short of a full shelf unit.

Probably take longer to assemble than the length of time queuing 

No they don't. I think that's why there are now massive queues.

My Dad might have said that after 12 weeks not having one another few isn't going to make much difference, it's about different reactions to the same situation I guess.  Spending a lot of time in the same rooms could highlight the need for things.

I wonder how many people are there because they need something and how many people are there because they are desperate to see some sort of normality. 

They do just a little wait, think they also do click and collect. I think I’d rather sleep on the floor than go to ikea now. 
 

ive managed to order home office equipment from other sources during lockdown I think people are just weird I don’t hold that against them but it doesn’t mean I understand either.

I think Ikea will deliver straight to the tip. It saves assembly time and reduces the carbon footprint a little. 

I get dragged down to IKEA occasionally by the wife and kids.  I go straight to the cafes for beer, but I wouldn't even queue for 60 seconds to do that.

People do the strangest things that your average UKCer think are totally bizarre and stupid.
They ain't doing me any harm, so, good luck to them.

I waited in a queue for two hours to get some shelving. 

When I got home there were some bits missing.

You couldn't make it up. 

The first weekend Ikea opened in Reading, it took some people 3 hours to get out of the car park!

I think they are brilliant for kids stuff, but I don't really like much of the rest. 

We will probably end up with their wardrobes in the kid's rooms when we move house. The built-in wardrobes in my sister's house are Ikea ones that were custom fitted by my Dad - they look really good.

Dunno about queuing but it takes me two hours to find what I want, and then two hours to find my way out again, plus an hour in the cafe rehydrating on coffee and the free cake, studying the map and the list of required items.

I don't know about the current re-opening, but in normal times it is ALWAYS possible to avoid the queues by going at the right time. Generally that means as soon as they open, or pretty close to when they shut in the evening, and midweek.

Other tips:

• Most IKEA layouts (order of stuff) are similar, if you're familiar with this it helps.
• If you're buying anything significant, then if you can, separate your visits into 2 - a choosing visit where you decide what you want and where in the building you get it from - this can be leisurely, and then a buying visit when you just nip round buying everything you've previously sussed out.
• When buying (and you know where stuff is), go in via the exit straight to all the stacks.
• Or alternatively, take the short cut straight through to the marketplace.
• As much as possible, use the online resource to find where everything is in the stacks and whether there is stock of the items you want.

Over the years we've bought loads of IKEA stuff. Generally it's been ok (as long as you're ok with an Allan key) and good value for money. IKEA filled the "good, simple, inexpensive design" niche that Habitat left when they blundered up-market. If you want top quality then go elsewhere, what were you expecting.

Some of the kids stuff is inspired, unfortunately ours were too old by the time IKEA unleashed most of that.

You can never have too many tea lights!

A modern classic from Viz. Lots of tea lights

http://viz.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/026_viz238_Ikea_Game.jpg

Ha ha ha, fantastic! 

Brilliant, thanks for that.

The queues from McDonalds were also crazy! Surely no burger is worth that length of wait, and particularly not a McDs one?! 

Which is the whole point of the (admittedly rather weak) joke...

If it’s any consolation, I got it and thought it quite good. Timmd’s unnecessary explanation rather diluted it ! 

IKEA have some good stuff but I wouldn't queue for four hours for any shop.

Though not only IKEA. I saw this yesterday - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-52894613

Dave

Cheers!

IKEA have some good stuff but I wouldn't queue for four hours for any shop.

Though not only IKEA. I saw this yesterday - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-52894613

Dave

I love IKEA. Not enough to queue but still, what's not to like about affordable, often rather cleverly engineered design.

Jk

That's stuck in my mind as a reason. Without seeming to cast aspersions on what people chose to do with their time and money, some friends have been sharing things on facebook about how covid could be a time for us all reevaluate what we need from life, along the lines of consumerism and the time/work/money equation which people were living with before. I think they imagined some kind of new era dawning with people only spending money on what they actually need and living life more thoughtfully. While it could be a good thing for the environment, I can't help thinking they might be disappointed, what with there being long queues for the McDonand's drive thrus too. 

No

Thanks, but sorry, Tim

It's back to near-normal next month

Back to normal soon after that

Did you miss this part? 

'...I can't help thinking they might be disappointed, what with there being long queues for the McDonand's drive thrus too.  ' 

Thanks, but no, I didn't miss that part (and I liked your last sentence).... I was just adding my voice to the debate

Unfortunately I think you will be largely correct.

I think home working (either totally or part-week) will increase because it will ultimately be driven by reduced office size/costs. Luckily that will usually be a benefit for the worker as long as there are mechanisms in place to ensure people don't get too isolated.

I reckon daily London commuting for office workers won't be back - more likely it'll be 2-in-5 or 3-in-5.  This is a really good thing that barely has any downsides at all - it'll even save the railway money because peak capacity costs a fortune and while season ticket prices seem high they don't cover all the costs.

I need to go to IKEA to buy some shelving units for a kit room, i think i will wait until November...

Good idea. The back of today's queue should have reached the tills by then

More likely we'll be in nationwide Euro-style lock-down by August, not like last time.

jk

Aaah, right, fair enough. 

Reading the thread title I was misled into thinking this was about a weird bookcase branded “Insanity “