"You don't know anything about customer service!"

[chainedbarista]

we've bought some thing from them, and they're pretty nice, but for people to go rabid over that? ugh; i wouldn't pay $10 at a garage sale for it.

don't forget the dog...the dog needs his two tables, too!

[protege]

I don't know why they got so upset either. As much as I like Ikea's stuff, I think their kitchen tables are a bit too small. They seem rather cramped to me. Of course I've always had a large round table in the kitchen. Also, I'm not sure I'd put a wooden (or whatever the covering is) table in my house. A certain white kitty likes to sit on the table, and her claws would destroy it. Oh, and I sometimes build models in the kitchen... With that said, I have my grandmother's 1950s-style set. Gotta love that Formica and chrome

[chainedbarista]

With that said, I have my grandmother's 1950s-style set. Gotta love that Formica and chrome

those are nigh on to indestructable; my grandmother still had her set into the 80s (i'm sure it's still standing mighty somewhere today).

they're ugly, but do they last; nuclear war couldn't destruct those babies!

[Racket_Man]

I am really surprised there are no IKEA's north of Chicagoland. esp in Milwaukee or Green Bay or the Fox Valley cities with all of the "bedroom" communities of Milwaukee and all of the "yuppies" and such taking over all of the small towns up here

[Sliceanddice]

random question.... why is so much of ikeas furniture low? I mean once i sat in a couch that was soo low had so little seat that i actually slipped off ont he floor and it took me 2 minutes to realise it...

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

It's all Swedish design, which to me looks minimalist, for lack of a better term.

IKEA restaurants even serve Swedish food, from what I could tell.

[rerant]

IKEA restaurants even serve Swedish food, from what I could tell.

I don't know about other restaurants at other locations, but ours blows.
The main dishes are fish and chips, salmon, pasta (with or without meatballs), some shrimp thing I wouldn't eat if you paid me, a variety of wraps and sandwiches, salads, soups, desserts and sides like garlic bread, bacon and coleslaw.
On paper it sounds good, but in reality it's worse than cheap, garbage pub food from the cheapest, garbage-iest pub in town.

On the plus side we have a coworker restaurant with better food and a better selection than what the customers get.
I rarely eat at work, and when I do it's usually only a ham and cheese sandwich.
People love our $0.50 hotdogs, though. I, however, am not interested in them.
Yuck.

[Sheldonrs]

I always though it would be funny to work at the IKEA restaurant for one day.
I would love to take a person's order and then hand them a tray with all of the food items separate from eachother (and a few missing) and then hand them a sheet of paper with instructions for how to put the meal together.

[rerant]

I always though it would be funny to work at the IKEA restaurant for one day.
I would love to take a person's order and then hand them a tray with all of the food items separate from eachother (and a few missing) and then hand them a sheet of paper with instructions for how to put the meal together.

And when people come in and say, "Have you had the $1 breakfast? That catch is that you have to assemble it yourself! har har har" I wish very strongly that they would spontaneously combust.
To quote Lois Griffin in an episode of Family Guy: "Please, we can't take any more shtick."

[Tutorgal]

People come from the US to shop here. They actually drive a MINIMUM of two hours (if they're lucky) to get to my store.
A lot of people come from New Jersey, which, if I relate it to my drive to Long Island, is somewhere in the neighborhood of nine hours, give or take.

NEW JERSEY?!?!?! *boggles* Did they at least plan a vacation with this trip at the end or was this just a trip to the Toronto Ikea? Cause even back when there was a discount from the currency exchange, that's still a long drive and you 'd need a pretty big vehicle to haul the amount you'd have to buy to make it worth the effort.

There's also 2 stores in New Jersey and about 4 more in various states on the way to Toronto.

[Broomjockey]

Apparently Ikea is INSANE over choosing where to place new stores. They need to make sure it won't draw custom from other Ikea shops, they need to make sure that there's a suitable customer-base to support the shop, etc. etc.

[edible_hat]

Was it on a previous incarnation of this board or somewhere else that I read the following?

SC: "You don't give very good customer service."
CSR: "You don't give very good customer."

(it was a "if I could say what I was thinking" type situation)

[dawnfire]

It's all Swedish design, which to me looks minimalist, for lack of a better term.

IKEA restaurants even serve Swedish food, from what I could tell.

I alway have to have their swedish meatballs with ligonberry sauce. their desserts aren't too bad.

is that why they shut one down which was easy to get to and replace it with one that's impossible to get to. Here in Australia we only have 5 stores nationwide. For me that means any where from 1 to 1.5 hours drive depending on the traffic (driving from the city's edge to the edge of the CBD (central business district).

[ArcticChicken]

NEW JERSEY?!?!?! *boggles* Did they at least plan a vacation with this trip at the end or was this just a trip to the Toronto Ikea? Cause even back when there was a discount from the currency exchange, that's still a long drive and you 'd need a pretty big vehicle to haul the amount you'd have to buy to make it worth the effort.

There's also 2 stores in New Jersey and about 4 more in various states on the way to Toronto.

I've been to at least three in Philadelphia and the surrounding area. rerant, do us a favor and ask them why they drive so damn long, next time one comes into the store. I need to know.

[Boozy]

When the Canadian dollar was low and the US dollar was high, I suppose someone might have driven from Jersey to take advantage of the exchange.

Rerant probably doesn't see a whole lot of that now that the dollars are on par.