IKEA

IKEA we cannot escape you. No matter where we go or what we are watching on Netflix… there is something from IKEA! I swear I saw something from IKEA on Downton Abbey in the background…
As much as we love to take the IKEA twisty turny walking wonderland adventure I sort of feel like iKea has gone down hill in its furniture product quality over the years.
I have been shopping at iKea in Calgary for home and business since it was in it’s old location in NE Calgary to its the new location. The fabrics and product construction just don’t last like they used too and I also don’t like how some wooden components are now replaced with cheap plastic parts. But I digress! I still love you IKEA… I really do.
We do enjoy a walk through iKea at least once per month to pick up little organizational items and finishing it off with your truly addictive Swedish Ice Cream.
We also like buying various furniture and shelving items and hacking them into new purposes. And we love that you have kept many items affordable for today’s middle class … So for that — you are all stars.
But we just purchased a new sofa there and in only 4 months the fabric is stretched, the springs are pushing through, and the plastic legs (formerly wooden) are loosening up. We are lightweights and we only sit on it a minimal amount of time so it was surprising. We purchased a pile of Ikea cushions and made it more cozy and plan to have the cushions refilled with some custom materials because we do like the look of it.
See you next month!
Sincerely,
Shane

As with most people, I think, there’s a certain love-​hate relationship with Ikea. Its like going to Costco, you know you’re going to save some money on things but you dread going there on the weekends because you know the store is going to be a nightmare to navigate and find parking.
There’s certain things I buy at Ikea and others I stay away from. Most storage and desk furniture has stood the test of time for me, but I wouldn’t buy my couch or mattress from Ikea. Same with their pillows; their fillers are cheap for the toss cushions on the bed, but not for the one I’m going to sleep on every night.
The one surprise always going to Ikea is the as-​is section. 98% of the time there’s nothing to find, but when you do find something as a significant discount its like winning the lottery.

I really like Ikea and was excited to order my kitchen there. Thought the in house kitchen planners would be knowledgeable and helpful but they weren’t. The initial person who signed you up to use a computer was very unfriendly and snappy. This continued when I went back to say i was ready to order my kitchen. Then the planner came over and didn’t really offer any useful suggestions and ended up missing several items on my order and had some items totally wrong. When this was pointed out they were defensive and blamed me.
The guys in the furniture pick up were also not helpful and just wanted your items out of the way, wanting you to sign that you had received all items (180) without giving you time to check them. Also they loaded up three carts then you have no assistance meaning you had to leave carts unattended unless there was three of you while you took a cart to your vehicle.
Had to go back the next day after I discovered they had completely missed adding legs to my cabinet and shelves for one of the upper ones.
Not impressed.

I’m a country bumpkin and I adore IKEA!
Since I live in the boonies, I try to go whenever I’m in «the big city» yee-​haw…
I love their textiles, especially the curtains, which are fun and adorable! I just splurged on a beautiful linen set today, can’t wait to hang them up.
Lots of staff around, but they all seemed pretty busy/​distracted. I had to ask where the tea towels were hiding and the one woman I asked didn’t even really know! I ended up finding some plain ones in the showroom.
I really like IKEA kids items, they have cute animals and colours without being overly branded junk like other places (Dora, Frozen, Princess etc) The stuffed toys are always a hit, I wish they had more items like the trains and play food!
There was no one around to cut fabric today, but I found a remnant in the pattern I wanted, so that was okay.
I like the IKEA app very much, it’s very handy to make a shopping list to have ready and to hold all your «wish list» items if you only get there once or twice a year like I do!

Can I say first though their quality is what it is, on average it’s not the worse not the best.
With that said we bring our kids here often for dinners because on a budget with 5 kids they are super big family/​kid friendly. They offer a free jar of baby food with an adult meal, a microwave and bottle warmer station, kids meals now come with yogurt, and apple slices.
As for the furniture it was what it is, everyone should pretty much know ikea furniture by now. It’s not high quality, our couch from here is our downstairs family room one because the fabric is horrible. You can’t wash it with out leaving water marks. I’m not getting into that, basically I’ll buy tables, stand alone chairs, little odds and ends, shelves etc from here just never again a couch and never an adult bed. Though my sons toddler beds been pretty good, and two of the other kids have the bunk beds but they sit high in there rooms so they hit their heads it seems. But they work overall.
Summary, cheap eats, kids friendly and interesting place to walk around when bored and decent for odds and ends.

Great place IKEA is.
Wide range of quality products and great price. Huge selection of home furniture and service is fantastic!
Always busy but both parking lot and inside are huge naturally.
Return policy is nice. Great place to make home look moderate and in style!
Plus cafeteria food is great and even a toddler area for kids!

I try to only go to IKEA once or twice a year. It’s all I can handle. Screaming kids, long lines, rat race maze aisles which I always do backwards… just to annoy everyone else.
I spent half an hour in line yesterday as our cashier was really slow and barely spoke any English. The bald guy in front of me, who had also waited half an hour, almost lost it when the cashier had no idea where he should order a sink. I thought it was pretty ironic that four tills over there was a toddler having a really loud conniption.
One of my biggest pet peeves involving IKEA is that there is never anyone on till in the food section. How am I supposed to buy meatballs when I am stuck behind the line of tills?
But I went home with $ 295 worth of cheap Swedish crap. Sigh.
The only reason I gave IKEA three stars today was because of Irina who works in the fabric section. She was really helpful and helped me choose some great fabric for an apron.

I’ve been a long time Ikea customer — I furnished apartments through my undergrad and law degree with its stuff. Recently, my girlfriend purchased a bed from the Deerfoot Meadows location. The kit came with wrong parts (¼ shorter bolts than needed for assembly), which after a frustrating hour or two we realized. We called the Ikea hotline and were told we had to return to the store. Complicating matters for her is that she doesn’t own a vehicle (being new to the city). She took a Car2Go the next day, but when she got to the store and talked to a few clerks she was treated to variations of «it’s not our fault» and «what do you expect us to do about it?»
My girlfriend asked to speak with a manager. He («Ryan») advised that it likely wasn’t the wrong size bolt that was the issue, but rather a bore issue with the frame itself. She explained the situation and asked that IKEA deliver a new bed frame (as I mentioned above, she was renting a car to attend at the premises) because she had no means of getting the old frame back to the store (we borrowed a truck when we first made the purchase). Ryan refused, and said that if we wanted to try a different size bolt that IKEA would mail it to us instead. Eventually he relented and provided longer bolts, which she took home and we found worked.
I wrote a letter in response to the poor service, indicating that it was not what we had come to expect. Shortly after I had a voicemail from «Sarah» — Ryan’s manager. I returned her call and left a voicemail. I followed up with another a few days later when I had not heard back. A couple weeks later I had another missed call from Sarah, and she left me a voicemail with her cell number to reach her at. I called her back and left a message, again with no response.
Its a small thing, but I’ve taken the time to express my dissatisfaction with the customer service and the manager of the store can’t even be bothered to return my calls in a timely manner. Overall, I’ve always had a good experience with Ikea, but they won’t get any business from me in the future as a result of the way they handled the above situation.

I hate this store. Firstly it is set up like a mini-​golf so you have to zig-​zag your way through the entire store like a rat in a maze. Parents are encouraged to let their children run wild, and with no hand signals — It is worse than rush hour on the Deerfoot with one lane down and zombies everywhere. I’m not sure why but everyone is always sauntering. Today I bought a table top and some stools. They were out of the legs for the table. The clerk made me wait 10 minutes to print out a «Shopping List». «Take it to the cashier at the front and pay for it», he says, then instructs me to pick it up on the right after I pay. I waited 15 minutes at the woefully understaffed check-​out. The cashiers there seem to have a flair for anything but ringing up sales. Need a friend? They are always glad to oblige. Never mind the 2 dozen very annoyed paying customers behind you seeing red — just chat up a storm with the cashiers any time you want! You did earn at least that privilege after all, for your troubles.
Anyway I finally get to the cashier and after ringing in my stuff I hand her the paper. She says «Oh, I can’t take this you need a pick slip or something». Go to customer service in the warehouse and they will put a bar code on it, and then come back to the back of the line. Stewed, I reassemble all my stuff and maneuver backwards with my cart through double line-​up I find myself entwined in.
The lone attendant in the warehouse service desk has a long line up which of course is not moving. He was on the phone and computer and ignoring everyone else. This being the case I didn’t want to waste another half hour waiting. I decided not to buy the table after all. (They only had one piece of the two anyway and I’ll need to come back next Tuesday when the frames come in. This is getting no-​where. F-​it. Back at the cashier. A full 20 minutes or more longer I finally get through to a self serve where the bouncer tells me I can’t have the bag. It’s for in-​store.
If I had waited and got the requisite the bar-​code I’d have to stand in another line to pick-​up the paid-​for item from another clerk probably though some pick-​a-​ticket system. (If you are counting that is 4 check-​points) All-​in-​all it took me a little over an hour to get out of the store with several hundreds of dollars worth of other furniture I bought. This is nothing new at IKEA — It is actually quite normal and this store has always been understaffed.
I think I will return the chairs. I don’t have a good feeling about them and don’t feel good about my purchase.

Oh IKEA IKEA! Is it bad that we come here for the food more than for furniture shopping? I’ve bought furniture at IKEA for many years and find that the quality of the furniture is getting worse. If you are planning to move a lot and just need simple furnitures that will last a year or so, IKEA is good for that. One thing I found out recently, IKEA replaces parts FOR FREE! We have an old bed frame that was missing a few parts and was delightfully surprised when we were told «yes, we have the parts you need» and how much do they cost «they’re free»! Bonus!
The food! Don’t expect gourmet cuisine but it’s a great place to grab a quick healthy meal (compared to many fast food chains). Salmon for $ 5.99 on Tuesdays, I mean, where else can you get that?! If you have a Family IKEA card, you even get coffee/​tea for free. Yay!

Great furniture but what’s happened to the service?
I asked one clerk for help and he walked off without acknowledging that I’d even spoken. I followed and it turned out he was heading to a terminal to help me find my order… but he didn’t tell me that until he handed me a paper and said, «take this to the front.»
At the from there was one cashier open. One. Already a line 20-​deep. And the self serve… already lined up as well (something seriously wrong when you have to line up to serve yourself). I ordered my item with the help of the clerk at the self-help…and left unsure of where to go. I went to the dock, got my vehicle ready, and came back to the self-​help clerk and asked her where I should pick up my item. She blamed me for leaving too fast for her to speak to me about where I should pickup the item (she’s stood beside me, silently, while I ordered the item… but apparently hadn’t yet decided it was an opportune time to tel me where the item might actually be.
I had bought a large item so I went to the pickup counter for it. I had a guy not even break his chit-​chat with his coworker (local gossip) to reach out and gesture to me to hand him my paper. He then, in mid-​sentence to his coworker, advised me he’d call out my order when it was ready. Then he and the girl vanished into a back room… no hint to me as to how long this might take.
I finally got my item and manhandled it to the dock myself… and then into my truck… while another clerk stood 10′ away and watched.
I had more help from passers by than by this ikea’s staff this morning. I’m disappointed.

Ikea is definitely a store I have a bit of a love/​hate relationship with. I love them because they have a ton of great items for decorating your home that won’t cost you an arm and a leg! I hate them because I rarely ever leave with just what I came for; when I say they have a ton of great items at reasonable prices I mean it, so much that anytime I visit, I leave with way more than I came for and a much lighter wallet lol… Although there really isn’t too much to truly hate about the store, there are some things to look out for, read on!
First of all, the service is mediocre at best and usually well below that. It’s hard to find well qualified employees anywhere in the store and even in their bigger ticket item areas where you’d want them the professionalism barely improves. Secondly, even though a lot of their items are affordable and look great they’re not built to last. The quality is definitely in a lower tier for most items that are saving you money which often translates to the items feeling cheap, showing wear early and even breaking easy. They do have some items that are built solid though (usually priced a bit higher), so I recommend having a close look when you’re on the floor so you know exactly what to expect. If you take great care of what you own and you don’t have too many careless visitors even the cheap stuff can stand the test of time! Third, the assembly… I think most of us know that Ikea has a bit of a poor reputation when it comes to instructions and assembly. Honestly, the instructions aren’t too bad despite being from Sweden lol ;)… but most items do take a fair bit of self-​assembly and it’s not the easy kind that can be done with true hand and power tools, nope it’s the kind you do with those annoying allen keys/​wrenches. Very time consuming and tedious… Fourth, be careful to read what’s included in each box, often you’ll see a complete item on the floor and not realize it’s broken down into 2 – 4 pieces you have to buy separate, so you may easily end up paying more than the cheap price you first see. Finally the store is a busy one! Try and avoid weekends if you can unless you plan on going near opening or closing. If you can make it to Deerfoot Meadows where it’s located during a weekday that’s probably your best bet!
Going back to my second point on quality, I’ve noticed some categories are better than others. Where Ikea shines is the small stuff: the accessories for each room, the accent pieces, the storage items, the textiles, the lighting and kitchen items. If you’re looking for these kinds of items I highly recommend Ikea. The medium sized stuff is good as well: closets, TV/​media furniture, living room storage, coffee and side tables, dining chairs and bedroom furniture are all worth a look. Once you start going bigger than this it gets questionable for me though; sofas, armchairs and sectionals are a no for me here, as are mattresses. They do have some pretty good stuff for bigger renovations of sinks, faucets, kitchen cabinets, fronts, countertops and islands. Just make sure you do your due diligence if you’re exploring these options as the assembly typically works a bit different than our usual standards. I would also stick to the major North American brands for your major appliances and avoid the Ikea offerings. Mainly because if you ever need to use warranty, get it serviced or order parts you’re going to have a much harder time with these foreign brands.
Ikea definitely has something to offer for everyone, I’d recommend checking it out for yourself if you haven’t. First time through its fun to follow the guided path that takes you through department by department which makes it easier to visualize a complete room. Then on subsequent trips you can skip to right where you need to go or redo do the department arranged pathway for some new inspiration. Lots of new seasonal items always come in, so it’s worth checking back every few months. Remember to shop smart not cheap, you get what you pay for!

IKEA seams to be almost the same all over the world. So no need to review that I think. Staff is available, helpful and friendly. What’s not necessarily the same is the restaurant. So my rating is for the restaurant! It’s not too clean, food is… okay. The breakfast is very good regarding the price. We tried dinner there ones, no desire to go there again for dinner.
To sum it up, the store is as good as all the others, the restaurant could improve a little.

I’ve been waiting for over an hour for two items: both small items. The identical item, in a different finish, is available on the self-​serve warehouse shelves. The employees move slower than molasses, the ones working at the furniture pick-​up counter are rude.
I’ve always been happy with IKEA’s products, but I don’t tolerate poor service. I will not return.

Fuck you Ikea.
Your return process is a hot mess. You should be ashamed of yourself.
A cue of 13 people waiting to return your shit on a Monday is a joke.
A cue of 21 people waiting to return your shit on a Tuesday makes me want to never set foot in this dump again. And it wasn’t even shit for myself that I was returning… it was for work and it was on my credit card.
It wouldn’t be an issue if they didn’t take 15 – 30 minutes per customer, or make sweet love to every box ensuring every bolt and washer was included, casually caressing and whispering sweet nothings to it while others watch in disgust.
I didn’t realize that returning this crap was like breaking up with a abusive ex. They want you to move on but, wait, not so fast… we can make it work… give it some time… and in your sheer frustration you decide to walk out, as I did TWICE. But wait you still have some of their shit so you have to see them again, as is the case here.
Seriously? And the return staff, I have never seen people move at a more glacial pace than these asshats.
One lady in the cue actually called the store and couldn’t get through to a manger without being hung up on, twice! She finally got through and was on the phone while the manager herself was putting bags away at the tills saying «I don’t have time or anyone to put on, sorry.»
Ikea — Swedish for «buy our garbage, but if you wanna return it, take a day off work»
I feel sorry for anyone working here.
Never ever shopping in this hell hole again. 1 star is too generous.

This place is always busy but finding parking is never a problem. They have lots. We are doing some renovations and found everything we needed for our new bathrooms. Will be back again soon.

Coffee for a buck! Not the best coffee but I do not know of any place in town where coffee is a $ 1 and it was nice and hot on a cool day.
I finally had time to be able to check out the showroom on the upper level. I am amazed how nice and clean this place is and how well a huge store like Ikea changes with all the up and coming trends. Reasonably priced too.
The kitchen, bathroom and office areas were beautifully arranged and really gives a customer some great ideas for their own home.
Going on a Wed afternoon was amazingly more relaxing than going on a weekend. What a difference! The staff were helpful too.
Shopped the whole space, picked up a few things but did not find any treasures this time in the clearance area. THAT is my fave Ikea zone.
The one thing I do dislike in any Ikea is the line-​up area. The lines to check out were just not moving today either! No self check outs. Bummer.
Love the candles, the prints, the lamps, duvets, shower curtain liners, just about everything. Kicking myself that we decorated our new home from the Brick product and never even thought to check out Ikea for dressers, coffee tables. I saw nothing but great quality stuff today — will return! Wish the north end had an Ikea!

The Swedes do funiture and food well for cheap.
If you can operate a hex key than you can build up an entire room from IKEA. I’ve been to a few locations in the past and this one holds up to what you would expect. I managed to get a nice couch on the cheap and actually fit it into my apartment (it came in 4 seperate pieces). Note that there are some items on the viewing floor that you must join a que to pick up after purchasing the item. This wait annoyed me as it seemed to be quite long when I wasn’t expecting it.
Another IKEA location with everything you’ve come to expect.

IKEA… the store you love to hate. You get the flyer in the mail or see a commercial on TV… everything looks so trendy and organized… it all looks so easy!
I actually do love IKEA, and don’t mind building their furniture. I made the mistake when living overseas of buying all of my furniture from them — from this, I learned there are only certain pieces that are worth saving a few pennies. Their wardrobes, dressers and TV benches are all great. The Hemnes shoe cabinet is my personal favourite. Personally, I would never buy a bed or couch from them again… they get too unsteady with frequent use, and it’s difficult to take them apart to tighten the screws. I recommend bringing a buddy if buying any furniture pieces, as the boxes can be quite heavy.
I also love their little knick-​knacks, prints, etc. The Market Hall is a dangerous place!
If navigating IKEA alone, I recommend going on a weeknight. The weekends are absolute H*LL with families thinking it is an appropriate place to drag their toddlers out for an afternoon outing (it’s a warehouse people, not a playground!)
So other than having to navigate around small children and some heavy lifting, IKEA does have great value for most of their items, and I’ll come back again and again!

Shopaholics and home décor lovers unite! I love IKEA, it’s not only a great place to get ideas on how to remodel and decorate your place but there is just everything and anything you could ever think of available!
I have to admit though when I first start out, I am SUPER excited and happy to look at all the mini little homes in different square footage and at all the new set ups and designs… but then by the time I get downstairs to the real fun part where you actually get to buy stuff I am a bit overwhelmed and kind of ready to leave… So to avoid this in the future I will need to take special Ikea tactics and do both levels separately.
Also, I can’t believe how delicious and cheap the yogurt is… I could consume one every day. They are THAT good.