IKEA Hits Brooklyn! What's The Big Deal????

Hello Everyone! I can't believe all this commotion about Ikea opening in Brooklyn. The worst part is most articles make it sound like they moved into Vietnam in 1968. Brooklyn is beautiful and many great stores are there and I am happy to see the addition of Ikea, but this criticism has to stop. You would have to be a fool to believe Ikea didn't do their marketing homework before going there. I wouldn't be surprised if that location does better sales than Long Island or N.J. They sell modern furniture at affordable prices to me an obviously Ikea it makes sense to put such a store in a middle class working area. It just seems like a shock to everyone that they didn't open in Manhattan. What is your opinion???

Some Papers Are Warning NYC IKEA Shoppers To Expect To Be Robbed???

I saw this article in GAWKER and had to post it! It's like the same old stereo type of the Big Apple is coming back!!

Prepare To Be Robbed, IKEA Customers

The first-ever IKEA store is opening in the borough of Brooklyn tomorrow, a development which has the local media all atwitter. Close to 40 people have lined up for the chance to be the first ones in the rapidly gentrifying Red Hook neighborhood to buy mass-produced Swedish furniture. To celebrate the occasion, the gruff and hilarious Park Slope guy who goes by the name of Blognigger (just to make you uncomfortable) has posted his own Onion-esque take: "Red Hook Blacks Line Up to Rob First 100 IKEA Customers." But he doesn't forget to make the scheduled robberies a multicultural endeavor for the Curbed.com-reading gentrifiers themselves, too:

Surprisingly, not everyone camping on line is African American - two white Park Slope residents, Rob Tanzer, 24 and Jake Feingold, 23, have also joined the group.

"We read about this on Curbed, and we just thought that being on this side of the fence seems like a far more authentic Brooklyn experience," explained Mr. Feingold, "We basically want the black community to know that not all white people are here to displace them; That really, we're part of the solution. And of course we're also down to get paid."

Can You Believe People Are Camping Out For IKEA Opening in NYC????

So the new IKEA store Brooklyn officially opens two days from now, on Wednesday June 18, but as of 11 AM today, Monday June 16, there were already 18 people waiting in line with sleeping bags. Yes, they are planning on camping out. (Does IKEA make sleeping bags, by the way?!)

Sure, IKEA is a popular store. But it’s safe to say that one reason for the enthusiasm is the fact that the first 35 people in line will get a free couch (too bad they can’t sleep on them before the store opens). The next 100 get a free armchair. And the first 100 kids (separate from the adults waiting for the furniture) get a toy.

Anyone having flashbacks to the iPhone mania last year outside the Apple stores?

IKEA's line is clearly driven by the company's incentives to get shoppers to exercise the same sort of cult-y excitement that once was seen only when tickets for rock concerts first went on sale. Now that sort of excitement is seen for brands, not bands. Last year, everyone was wondering how to mimic Apple and its lines outside its stores. Before that, it was how to mimic the fan queues for the new Xboxes in late 2005. Maybe IKEA has figured out how to have the sort of cult-y brand that usually is only found in the tech sector.

But what is particularly interesting is how the IKEA lines differ from last year's iPhone lines. Last year, people could ostensibly afford a $500 phone. This year, with the economy gloomy, they're camping out for free furniture at a store known for its inexpensive goods.

But what both IKEA and Apple share is, of course, their reputations for simple, appealing design. In the case of IKEA, is that what's driving the brand loyalty? Or is it simply the low prices? Would love to hear your opinions.

The IKEA Faactor

The Ikea Factor

The IKEA Factor

The Ikea Factor is a project created in hopes of creating a collective of ideas from anyone who thinks they can improve upon Ikea. Whether it be the designs themselves or the stores, everything's up for grabs. What would Ikea be like if done through the eyes of the people who shop there?

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