I don’t think so.
Ikea is great for poor people. And their meatballs are worth going to the store for, even if you do not want to shop there. And if you look closely, there are usually ways to cut through most of the maze-like twists and turns. I almost bought a couple of their dressers this week but I would have to have them shipped to me since I do not live near an Ikea any longer and they are backed up so the delivery was going to take nearly 3 weeks.
So the guest rooms are going to remain dresser-less.
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I read the whole book.
For poor people?
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Absolutely. Everyone I know that shopped there did so in their youth when they were poor. None of us shop there often now. If you have money, the idea of building your own bed or kitchen cabinets or dresser makes a lot less sense. I would buy a dresser there but the timing did not work out. And their inexpensive rugs and kitchen tools are reasonably good. I liked my Ektorp couch but I would not keep it after I could afford a better one.
Poor isn’t a pejorative, it is an adjective.
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I dunno, I kind of like the process. We got bookcases from Ikea a couple of years ago, despite being not young and having a little money. They’re nice bookcases.
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I agree, it makes less sense but it still works some times. Hence why I tried to buy a couple Hemnes dressers a while back. They are not perfect but they would have worked well if Ikea could have shipped them to me faster. I bought a lot of Ikea stuff when I had a lot less money but I still look at them for certain things. Like Swedish meatballs if I am near an Ikea at lunch time.
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IKEA is the best argument that hell exists. And their delivery system sucks.
Your understanding of “poor” is quite a bit different from others. For many people, “poor” isn’t shopping at IKEA. For many people, poverty isn’t a temporary status that happens in one’s youth.
None of us shop there often now. If you have money,
That’s really quite the line to go right before you write a mini-lecture:
Poor isn’t a pejorative, it is an adjective.
I’m sure you don’t feel this way in your heart, but your comment reads to me as quite out of touch, snobbish really.
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Not always. At least, not always where I am in the world.
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I think we all know Ziv didn’t mean harm.
It’s not an easy time for anyone right now. Please try to read everyone’s comments in the most positive voice. I come here for a break or an escape. I think most of us do.
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I do. At least I try to.
It’s important on forums which have an international community to be particularly careful in choice of language. And I know how difficult that can be. What may be acceptable words or phrases in your own country may not be acceptable in another. I can recall two occasions on forums (one on Chowhound, the other on a military history forum) where folk had used words which they regarded as innocuous but, in the UK, are significant racial slurs, both on a par with the “n-word”. In the latter case, it was my politically very progressive American pal, Paul, who was horrified when it was pointed out to him.
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I agree on intent, but when even a kind soul walks into a room and unintentionally jabs someone in the ribs, knocks over some decor, and trips over someone’s feet, it’s completely allowed to ask them to be careful.
Ikea is a great option when you’re young and trying to make your money stretch as far as possible.
Its also a great option when you appreciate a good value.
(Confession: i like shopping there a few times a year)
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You don’t need to “confess” this because the entire premise of this thread is false. Everyone knows Ikea exists, thrives, is still thronged, and expanding into countries in which no one thought they could have a hope in hell (they recently expanded further in India, land of custom handmade everything).
It is perfectly fine/good to go to ikea as often as you want 
Shopping there has nothing to do with being poor or rich, sophisticated or unsophisticated, highbrow or lowbrow. We have threads here about thrifting at goodwill, spam, and baloney sandwiches, so getting uppity or judgy about Ikea is a bit rich (yep).
Just the meatballs are so popular that they published a recipe during the pandemic when people couldn’t go to the stores to eat or buy them. And yes, we’ve got threads here discussing that too.
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What would you call our financial status in that portion of your life when you have more debt than money? I lived it for years, my parent did as well. They worked up from poor to middle class, as did I.
One of my Dad’s sayings that made no sense to me until I was out on my own was, “There will always be food in the cupboard.” I did not realize at 16 that there might not be. But both he and my Mom had lived that life. They were poor.
I lived that life for a time both in college and for a time between and after colleges. Where I bought a 10 pound bag or rice and a 2 pound bag of lentils or beans and that was my food for a couple weeks. I was unable to pay my utilities on time. And this did not end immediately, not for some time.
There is no stigma to being poor, or rather, the only stigma is the one we assign it.
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Me too…
I’ve also used both IKEA and Goodwill furniture for “staging” purposes when selling a home.
I refurbished one home with a very-small third bedroom, I knew this was going to be a problem. So, I painted the room “baby yellow”. I found a crib at Goodwill and staged the rest of this nursery with IKEA furniture (changing table, etc.). A stuffed animal “slept” in the crib to play the role of an infant.
It worked… one young couple fell in love with my version of a “Nursery” and purchased the home. Apparently, they had wanted to start a family and a ready-made nursery was on their checklist.
As a side note, I like the word “frugal” over “poor”.
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They are not synonyms, though. You can be a frugal millionaire.
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What a good idea. We use our small third bedroom for storage. There are IKEA bookcases and cupboards there and a pile of clothes waiting to be ironed (stored in IKEA boxes). But the way we use it might well detract from its possible use as a child’s room if ever we come to sell up.
Yes… I had some scrap metal 2X4’s that I used to make in-set shelves (into the interior walls) for storage. I made “fun” geometric shapes triangle, rectangle and hexagon. I put a stuffed animal or diapers/wipes in each shelf to show easy storage of necessities.
I distinctly remember the young woman emphatically saying to her husband “I want this house!!” My response was “Great… but I do have another couple coming to look at it at 3:00pm, today.”
The young couple went out to the realtor’s car and came back a few minutes later with a “full offer” contract.
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I’m not interested in arguing about it, but I’ll clarify. My main point of issue was this:
About 17 million Americans have income that’s 50% of the poverty threshold. About 11% of us are food insecure. That’s who I’m thinking of - people without a familial safety net to help them eat if it gets that hard, not college students. When you have limited resources like that, you are poor and you are not shopping at IKEA, not for furniture and not for meatballs.
Especially in this season of holidays, with the pulls of thankfulness but also crass consumerism, I think it’s good to not erase these people and their very real struggles. By equating “shopping at IKEA” with poverty, we’re making the actual poor invisible. I don’t think that’s what you were trying to do, but I felt that sentence lands a bit wrong.
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