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Letter to the editor

For Ikea newbies, tips from the pros

By Times staff writer
Published November 10, 2007

Last week we invited readers who are Ikea veterans to share their shopping tips. Here's what they told us, plus tips from a recent store preview:

-Visit Ikea's Web site first (www.ikea.com) and view the online catalog or order a printed copy, several readers suggested, so you can get an idea of what they have and what you're interested in. (Ikea mails about 250,000 catalogs in Florida.) This is particularly useful if you're shopping for furniture. However, not everything is pictured in the online catalog; not everything can be ordered online; and it can take a while to get a printed catalog.

- Make a list. "Do not go into Ikea to browse unless you are extremely disciplined and/or have no money or access to money," said K. Irene Young, now of St. Petersburg, who used to drive to Seattle from Portland, Ore., to shop at the store.

- Be prepared to spend three or four hours shopping, say Diane and Fred Deichmann, former Chicago residents who now live in Hudson. (The store says shoppers typically spend two to three hours.) The Deichmanns admit they've driven from Florida to Chicago to shop at Ikea. They scheduled a recent vacation in Miami to coincide with last month's opening of the store in Sunrise. (They waited a year to replace a chair until they could get to an Ikea and will head to Orlando soon to refresh their stock of wine glasses.)

- "Know that you'll be parking and walking a loooong way," Young, the former Portland resident, e-mailed. "Come prepared and try to keep a positive attitude because the place will be a madhouse," especially on weekends.

- No shopping carts are available in the second-floor showroom, where you'll find model rooms and furniture displays (i.e., big stuff you couldn't put in a cart anyway - you'll pick it up in the self-serve area just before checkout). You can pick up a big yellow bag for the small items - candles, picture frames, throw pillows, cards, toys, etc. - that you'll want to pick up as you walk and look. Carts are available when you descend to the ground-floor Marketplace: home decor, home organization, rugs, cooking and eating, bath.

- But Young, the seasoned - and disciplined - Ikea shopper, warns: Don't grab a cart immediately "or you will pick up everything with the belief that you just gotta have it . . . and you will regret it later if you didn't need to spend the money. We always went to Ikea with specific needs and would rarely go off the list because it would have been way too easy to go broke!"

- Use your camera phone to take a picture of the big items you want (now, what did that Ektorp Jennylund armchair look like?) so you remember when it's time to load up your purchases. Or you can send it to a stay-at-home spouse or partner (or even one who's at the other end of the store): "This is the table I'm planning to buy, okay with you?" A photo can also be helpful if you just want to remember a good furniture arrangement or a way of displaying accessories.

- Back home, when you're ready to assemble the furniture, sort the parts and count them to make sure you have what you need, Zena and Ed Bradley of Lithia suggest. "Use an electric screwdriver with a hex head, the same size as what is supplied by Ikea," they said, referring to the hand-operated hex wrench Ikea provides. "It will save wear and tear on your fingers and save time."

- Some shoppers complain that parts or pieces are missing or damaged, and getting replacements isn't always easy. The store has a 90-day return policy, and a spokesman says shoppers are likely to find too many fasteners rather than not enough. Expect a cottage industry to crop up of local handymen and women who advertise themselves as capable and experienced Ikea assemblers.

- You can rent a truck at the store to bring your purchases home. Delivery is offered, but at additional charge.

- You can, in fact, shop online, at www.ikea.com, but only about a third of the 10,000 items are available. Ikea says shipping charges for online purchases would increase shoppers' costs astronomically, violating their policy of good design at low prices.

- The stores are least crowded first thing in the morning (they open at 10 a.m.) or between 4 and 6:30 p.m.

[Last modified November 8, 2007, 18:22:07]