apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

As great as these vases are, it's still not worth dealing with I90 traffice to nab them! I'd rather head down to Chinatown or the Asian import stores at Clark and Belmont.

Since we're talking IKEA talk, I was wondering if anyone has noticed if the Schaumburg store is less crazy now that there is a store in Bolingbrook? Or is it still just as hair-pulling, panic-attack inducing?

no, i thought the schaumburg store got less-crazy than it used to be, especially RIGHT after the bolingbrook store opened. and, isn't the schaumburg store larger?

however, i still recommend my method of ikea shopping:
arrive at 8/9 when they open and have breakfast
and
*know what you're looking for before you go*

I don't know which store is larger, but it's comforting to know that it is a little less crazy.

good tips jen! also try to go on a weekday if at all possible. avoid the weekends!!!!! especially weekends before college students go back to school! SCARY!!!

They are working on the Schaumberg store, and [so] the construction is/was making it more crazy than usual. However, normal there is pretty hectic.

I recently was at the Bolingbrook store (on a weekday in the am, so very calm). All they had was the terracotta version of these vases, which, in my opinion, is the least attractive of the bunch.

These seem to be very hard to find in stores, although they do pop up on ebay (for almost twice the cost with the shipping).

Snarky comment begins here:
I think it's great that Ikea puts about 20% of their product online to look at.... I say look at because so very little of it is actually available to order. It seems like anything I like is only available in-store. I cannot begin to list the number of times I have rented a car (Yes it's true, I actually don't own one), driven the 25 miles out to Bumf*ck Schaumburg (or whatever it's called) only to find that the item is out of stock, and I spent all that money on a rental car for nothing.
When I ask about it, they say: "We would suggest you call the store before you come out here". Yeah right... Like I am going to call the store first, spend half an hour explaining an item in Swedish, and then rent a car and drive out there...
End of snarky comment.

That said, I love Ikea, and have spent literally thousands of dollars there since I began shopping at the Seattle store 12 years ago. Although, I am very cautious to not have that "Ikea display room set design" look in my home.

Devyn: you can check online to see if something is in-stock.

devyn,

the sales people are also trained and ready for people to butcher the names of the products. so calling ahead is always a good idea, especially in your case.