IKEA

I have been shopping at this store for years now and keep coming abck due to their designs and models of peoples «homes.» I love their design of being either traditional, modern or just plain wacky. The materials for the furniture is basically designed in Sweden but manufactured in China (kinda like the Apple concept). I have bought several furniture from this place and assembled on my own with little frustration from following the directions.
This place is an experience alone and one can EASILY spend hours here and grab a lunch as well, reasonably priced. They offer from salads to their famous Swedish meatballs (all for $ 5).
I would recommend this place to anyone who has an open mind to European furniture, dont mind spending a lazy Sunday walking and tasing what they offer in foods. Other than that, they offer plenty of home goods at an exceptionally low price.

Ikea–
I have a love/​hate relationship with Ikea. Overall I’m a huge fan. Started my Sunday morning with «Oh man, I need to grab more closet-​system shelves». Time to go to Ikea! BTW, only an insane person would go to Ikea on a Sunday and brave the ½ day trip, but I put on some shorts and a comfortable set of shoes and set out to the land of Sweden (and in this case, Ikea Tampa which is close to Ybor City).
So, Ikea pro-​tip #1: Make a list. Go online, find what you like before you go. OR make a list while you walk around (if you don’t use pro-​tip #3) otherwise you will forget what you came to get once you get to the checkout area.
pro-​tip #2: If you spend more than $ 100 go get yourself some free food afterwards in the café. I recommend the Swedish Meatballs or the Chicken Fingers. It’s fairly fresh and they also have some nice salads too.
pro-​tip #3: walk in reverse — this is frowned upon, but if you have a list, you can go in the out door and straight where you pick up stuff! If you don’t know where it is, they have little kiosks you can look stuff up on right there in the warehouse! You can thank me for saving you 4 hours later on. Unless you happen to be a fitbit user and have run low on steps during the week :)
pro-​tip #4: Don’t go on the weekend. I know… sometimes this is not avoidable, but like any huge destination store, during the week things seem less busy.
pro-​tip #5: there are secret passageways in Ikea. If you look off the path of some areas, you can see shortcuts through areas. So for example, you’re not into bath towels and curtains, you can just cut through and go straight for the lamps or the checkout isles.
Oh and from previous Ikea’s in Michigan, North Carolina, etc this is by far my favorite one. Staff is friendly, people are willing to help and things seem to move pretty fast even on a Sunday afternoon. They also offer free child care while you shop as well.

IKEA is good for cheap furniture that you will never move (because it won’t hold up) or for other cheap household items that you don’t want to splurge on. They carry a wide array of products from furniture to light fixtures.
My biggest issue with IKEA is navigating the store is a chore. It’s basically a maze that you have to weave through until you find yourself at checkout. Yes there are some short cuts but it’s definitely not easy, especially if you are unfamiliar with the store.
They do have a two food options. One upstairs which is cafeteria style and one downstairs which is a better deal (think Sam’s/Costco style: hotdogs and soft serve) but less options.

Love coming here to get ideas for rooms and décor. The showroom is fun to play in… I mean to look at. Some of the furniture is not so bad and seriously, if you are on a budget, you can’t go wrong with IKEA. Their more pricier furniture pieces look nicer but is still a lot cheaper than going elsewhere.
You can get lots of inexpensively priced random household things. $ 2 trash can for the bathroom?! Heck yeah! They carry pretty much anything you might need for your house or office. As well as items you DON’T need but get anyway because it’s cute. Their children’s section is adorable. I would have definitely come here if I had lived in the area before I had my son. They sell lots of plush toys at a low price.
Food court here is cafeteria style. Food is not that bad. I had the Swedish meatballs and an almond cake on the last visit. $ 1 frozen yogurt cones by the exit. An easy way to spend a few hours. It was actually nice visiting during the week because it wasn’t as busy as it usually is on the weekends. Would definitely recommend coming during a weekday if possible.

Damn you ikea! Why are you so awesome!!!
Yes, the furniture isn’t expensive, or of the greatest quality. Once you build your furniture piece. It must stay in its place forever. It’s not made to be moved or it will fall apart. But you pay for what you get and for the minimal price. It’s good design.
I love how the company makes efficiency of all types of space. They give people great ideas on how to maximize. Even the food waste is managed properly. Honestly, we and all restaurants should implement similar values to help our planet.
Sweden is one of the top 10 cleanest countries in the world and that is something everyone should learn from. I love their great prices, innovated designs and easy assembly items.

IKEA is fun to visit. The nordic food offerings by the entrance include smoked fish, lingonberry items and Wasa crackers. Sven and Olé would be proud. They also have reasonably priced $ 1 cones.
IKEA furniture is mostly cheap particle board from China that falls apart soon after assembly. They also have a wide selection of home décor items.
It’s an experience shopping here and interesting to browse the large exhibition spaces. Sadly they don’t source or invest much in the local community or buy anything (as far as I can tell) from local artisans. Giant parking lot and giant store. If you’re like Brett and love mega-​chains this is the place for you.

Always a fun place to visit. It feels like an amusement park. I swear unless you are only buying one thing, you will spend a few hours browsing here! I am a loyal customer and even did my kitchen with ikea cabinets. the Soderhamn couch is very comfortable and I love the versatility. My only advice for kitchen design is to be more thorough about rough costs before someone gets started. It seems the prices vary widely from what i originally expected to pay for such a small kitchen. In the end, I am overall happy.

What can I say? I love IKEA! I moved to the Tampa area almost 4 years ago and needed to furnish an entire 2 bedroom/​2 bathroom house. Coming from the NY area, I was very familiar with IKEA and the different levels of furniture and home décor items they offer. I love the layout of the store and that you can see, touch and feel all the furniture and decorating options you have. The prices are great and the showroom makes it easy to distinguish good furniture from the «cheap». The prices for the nicer Hemnes line of dressers vs. the particle board Malm dressers are not that different and they are both much more economical than going to a furniture store that delivers your items put together. I feel like you are saving money at IKEA because you have to usually spend an hour to two hours putting everything together yourself, which if you’re a determined woman like me, you enjoy!
When I’m in a hurry and I know what I am looking for, they have great little cut-​thrus on the main level so you don’t have to maneuver your way through all the droves of people that are in the store on the weekend. Also, if you check online, they give you the location in the warehouse where things are stored, so you can essentially skip the entire upstairs if you are in a rush.
The instructions in the boxes are pretty self explanatory and I have had no issues assembling my furniture with the packaged instructions. All in all, IKEA is awesome. The prices are great, the quality is good, and I love the food at their café.

What’s not to love about this place? The food is inexpensive and fast. Its always the same. Its kid friendly. I brought my service dog in with absolutely no trouble, several times.
Today, they were out of iced tea and never made any more for 20 minutes. Minus a star for that and the other thing I will get to later. The ice cream with berries is approximately ¹⁄₃ of the size of the one they sell at Sam’s club, for the same $ 1.50.
The products are IKEA. If you have been to one, you know what I mean. I am not a fan of pressboard but their actual wood products like the Hemenes series are nice. I got a white iron bed frame for like $ 130 a few years back that has been sturdy and durable through the abuse of a collection of kids using it in my spare room.
Its always fun to come here and look at all the stuff. Their set up kitchens are nice, makes me want one, and I’m sure that’s why they do it. The mini houses are interesting. I just don’t think I could live like that but its cool to think about.
You have to pull your own boxes and that can be a challenge. I didn’t buy anything like that today so it was not an issue but in the past I have found myself with a pile of boxes on a cart barely managing to move the thing. You can get help if you ask but it sometimes takes a while. Shipping is expensive, probably not worth it.
The other problem, other than the inevitable long lines at the checkout, is that to get the sale prices you have to have your «family card». So I left mine in the car. No problem right? Not. They cannot look it up at the checkout like every other store on the planet. The cashier suggested I go to a kiosk and quickly print out one, (with the giant line behind me) so I did, only because I had a bunch of stuff so it was taking her a minute anyway. Guess what? Printer out of paper at kiosk, so after all that it didn’t work. I ended up having to go to customer service to get the prices adjusted AFTER the same. The customer service rep was not really nice, and demanded my ID to do the price adjustment after I had gone to another kiosk and printed out my temporary member card. I didn’t have it. She refused to give me the price adjustment. WHAT? I have the receipt AND the debit card I just used 5 minutes ago WITH MY PHOTO ON IT… I complained, asked for the manager. The problem is that the hotel I was staying in took my ID for checkin and forgot to give it back. So no ID for me. Wow. Eventually I showed them a picture of my ID that I keep on my phone and they grudgingly accepted that after waiting 10 minutes for a manager who never came.
So all in all, I still love IKEA, but you have to come prepared…

Honestly, if you don’t like IKEA, there might be something wrong with you. Stylish, modern furniture that’s cheap! You can’t go wrong. The furniture is super easy to assemble, even for those of you that aren’t handy. Hopefully you come with a big truck because you’ll want to leave with everything. Everytime I come to IKEA I want to redo my entire home lol.
The food in the cafeteria is pretty savory too, and they always have special deals going on like Kid’s Eat Free and free meals for IKEA family members (on select days). Even if you don’t go on a free meal day, the food is pretty cheap. Downstairs by the registers, they even have a small grocery section if you don’t want to have to drive out to IKEA for some Swedish meatballs. And again, everything is at a great price. There’s also another cafeteria downstairs too but it only serves quick food like pizza, hot dogs, pretzels, frozen yogurt, etc.
I really appreciate how they have family parking off to the side, which are wider stalls. It makes coming to IKEA with the kiddies so much easier.

If my review were just about their products and the portion of the store prior to checkout, I’d give Ikea a solid four stars. However, the ancillary services and checkout really drag them down to a place that makes me not want to come back.
First, the products. Some are great; five stars all the way. However, some of their furniture/​décor products really are garbage, so that detracts from the experience. Fortunately, those are usually easy to spot and avoid.
Regarding the store itself, let’s focus first on the showroom side. This place is massive, and if you’re just there to browse and want to take it all in, you can easily spend an hour or more just walking the store and checking everything out. It’s organized logically so you’re able to focus on specific rooms of your home as you work your way through. Upstairs is mostly large items; furniture, beds, mattresses, kids, etc. Downstairs is mostly the smaller home accessory and organization products.
As you work your way through, if you want something, make sure you note down exactly what it is you want, including dimensions, and the red tag numbers below the item name, size and price. Many of their items come in a variety of sizes, such as desk tops, and vary considerably in price if you get the wrong one or don’t remember which one you wanted. The red tag tells you which aisle and column you can find the one or more pieces you need to put that item together. Beware that some items come in multiple boxes and it may not be immediately obvious if you don’t notice the (1) and (2) on the boxes. In the warehouse area, there will be a box count listed on the item tag on the storage shelving.
Everything is downhill from there. Ready to check out? Good luck. The store has about 20 or more rows of checkout lanes, and, if you’re lucky, four will be open. I’ve been on week nights, week days, and week ends, and this store is simply horribly lacking in checkout personnel at all times on all days. Just last night (a Tuesday evening at 7pm) I spent 20 minutes in the show room looking for a kids chair for my daughter, and 30 minutes in the checkout line. I came back this morning around 11a and spent 25 minutes in the checkout line. If you’re hungry, it’s even worse, because as you serve your 30 minutes in the penalty box, you’re going to be staring at the deli area on the other side of the checkout lines. You’ll be wishing you could leave your belongings in the line and watch them creep towards the register while you enjoy a hot dog or some Swedish meatballs.
Hey, there’s an idea IKEA, if you refuse to properly staff your checkout area, then put an automated cart mover in that gives you a number so you can go relax and know when it will be your turn to come back to the register to pay.
Just when I think the checkout area is the only problem, I start to assemble the Norsborg couch I bought for my office this morning. One of the four threaded retaining receivers for the couch legs is the wrong size, so the leg can’t screw in. Hmm, what do I do about this issue? The couch base box was huge and I box cut the cardboard and strapping to open it up on the floor, so no easy way to put everything back in. Call the store. I remained on hold for 20 minutes without an answer, so I gave up. I guess their customer service is staffed about the same as their checkout lanes. I then sent an email; it’s been about six hours, no response. I’m going to have to make a trip back to the store on the way home, probably wait in line, just to find out how to handle the exchange since I don’t want to haul the one bad piece back if I need the entire box, and don’t want to put the box back together with tape if I don’t need it. I’m sure this will end up with another round trip tomorrow once I get the answer to my customer service question tonight. So all in all, my two purchases are likely going to involve wasting about three hours of my time, between the two checkouts and the resulting round trips to the store for customer service. My time is more valuable than what I saved by purchasing the couch there, so this likely means I’ll never be back.
One last update: I sent an employee back to the store with just the couch base to exchange it. After 30 minutes in the customer service line (Saturday morning), an employee walking by asked what the issue was. He told this person the issue, the person said he could take the couch base and put a new screw receiver in. My employee said well, I was supposed to just swap the piece out, to which the IKEA employee replied well, it will take me five minutes, but if you want to wait to swap it out, you’re at a point in the line where you’ve got about an hour to go. Seriously?! 90 minute customer service line?! He took the former option and was out in 35 minutes overall.
Oh yeah, I got a reply to my customer service email three days later…

I am not sure how I lived in Tampa for so long and am just now discovering IKEA. My husband and I just opened up our own business and needed lots of furniture that was sturdy but inexpensive. I was in heaven when I finally checked out IKEA. The prices are amazing and for the price, the quality is decent. I do find the layout annoying as you are forced to pretty much wander through the entire store to get to any department. This forced marketing is probably effective for them as I inevitably run into something that «I had to have but never knew I needed.» This makes going to IKEA a laborious process as you can never just run in and out.
I was told by my business minded husband that IKEA keeps their prices low by making the customer assemble all of the furniture themselves. The Swedish company makes the furniture, boxes them up into easily shipped boxes and then they are on display in their expansive warehouse stores. So each time I buy a piece and open it up, I am greeted by a cartoon man who in place of written instructions shows me how to put things together in very animated cartoon actions. Sometimes he has a very angry look on his cartoon face and a there is a big X on the a part of the lamp that I am putting together. I know this means I shouldn’t do something but what exactly is sometimes a mystery. Whatever, it is, it makes the little cartoon man very upset so I really try not to do whatever he is trying to tell me. It can be stressful.
All in all, I love this store. The prices are great and the quality is good enough depending on what you need the items for. However, if you are looking for luxury pieces that you can pass onto the next generation, I probably would not get those pieces from here as I don’t think they would last through decades of use.

Went to Ikea at 6:00 on a Friday evening. Surprisingly empty. This is definitely the time to go if you do not want to deal with the crowds found on Saturday and Sunday.

I’ve been to many IKEAs, this one’s a little bit off the beaten path coming from Clearwater. Every IKEA of course is different, I think it’s hard to mess up a show room, so essentially just boils down to the cafeteria and the amount of foods available for purchase down by the cashiers.
The lines were too bad but then again I went on a Monday night. My only complaint is that a lot of the bulk candy they were out of. And there was no way to ring me up in the food section so I had to go over to the cashier deli part where they serve hot dogs and ice cream and be rung up.

I LOVE IKEA! What a concept! Look through half the store, feed me, look through the rest and make me work a bit to fill my gigantic cart… feed me again — and this time it’s cinnamon rolls. warm. with extra icing for .25 and a way to take home more for the family so I don;t have to cook dinner OR breakfast tomorrow while i’m setting up all my cool furniture with directions that have no words. AND I CAN DO IT! You just exude cerebral intelligence when you walk out. Literally. People must, they MUST see you as a Master… of…ummm…something! But, you don’t care what they think because you just had an amazing day long experience and lived to tell about it!
As an added bonus, at the end of the food aisles (toward the bathrooms) there is now a candy dispenser that you can fill and weigh out Swedish candies! The Swedish licorice is to die for. Seriously. I have a very good friend in the Netherlands that sends it to me and, well, I’m still going to let him, but I have backup!
DO NOT MISS IKEA! But… try to go during the week so you can walk into all the faux rooms and actually pretend they’re yours without being bothered by the strangers that keep popping into your party! ;-D (unless that’s your thing…)

Where else can you find reasonably priced furniture and really reasonably priced food options in one locale? The answer: IKEA. IKEA is akin to a toy store for adults. There are countless home furnishings and everything from lighting to batteries and kitchen supplies to plants all at your fingertips. You can walk into IKEA and find something that you didn’t realize you needed or wanted and you don’t feel bad about buying it in the end. I like their range of styles of furniture and kitchen components and variety.
One of my favorite things about the store is perusing their kitchen design/​areas. I enjoy seeing the layouts and models of kitchens at the store. These Swedes were clairvoyant when they started this company and knew their different concept furniture store would be a global hit. I must warn you, however, that furniture you buy from here must be put together yourself. If you aren’t good with tools or directions then this clearly would be an issue for you. I believe IKEA still offers a assembly crew to put together your items for $ 99, although I’m not sure how that works if you have multiple items to be assembled but I could see that $ 99 charge being for each item.
For items that don’t have the box right next to the display, there is a labels location with an aisle and bin number so you may locate the item/​furniture piece that you’d like to buy. I know in the past IKEA has offered cards and golf pencils to write he locations but id you find yourself devoid of writing materials you can just out the location coordinated into your smart phone as a memo or note. The said aisles are found at the end of the store before the checkout area so be sure to bring a cart with you to retrieve your selections.
I have gotten a wide variety of things from this store, like lighting and plants to name a few. The bedding and pillows seem to be very comfortable however I have ever purchased those from there. There is an assortment of artwork/​wall hangings and rugs as well as other home décor like frames and candles that is worth checking out as well.
Another facet of IKEA, the (upstairs) café: on the second floor and to the right, upper part of the store once you ascend the stairs, the café has something for every taste and hunger level. There is the traditional cafeteria setup where you grab a tray and move through the line. The cafeteria has many diverse offerings and pretty much stays true to the Swedish style of food. Smoked and baked salmon, salads, vegetable based soups are some of the more healthy offerings. They also offer hot meals like chicken, Swedish meatballs, chicken «balls», and vegetable balls. Recently they have added more vegetarian entrees on their menu. First up are the cold case items, smoked salmon plates, smoked salmon salads, salmon wraps and cold desserts to name a few. Next, you find the hot food line. On my most recent visit I had carrot and ginger soup and I sampled the vegetable balls which came with a cauliflower sweet potato sauce and some steamed vegetables. These items were delectable and my dining partner who was new to the IKEA café scene was impressed. We also samples the cornbread which was very airy and good. By way of desserts, there are some offerings in the cold case but they also had a hot apple crisp if you were interested. We tried an apple cake and vanilla cake bomb type thing found in the cold case. These sweets were a great ending to a satisfying meal and we couldn’t even finish them. All these items including soup, cornbread, two entrees and two desserts was under $ 15 (we only had ice water as our selected beverage).
The drinks are fountain style and provided at the drink stations in the seating area. There are straws available and other condiments such as Cholula in this area as well. The seating area is first come first served and make sure to grab your silver wear before you begin to eat (there are flatware caddys near the cash registers).
Downstairs Snack Area: To the left of the exit of the store there is a little snack area near the exit past the cash registers for those people who made it throughout the whole IKEA experience and could use some nourishment by way of slices of pizza, cinnamon buns, fountain drink, or frozen yogurt for $ 1. This is a popular spot for shoppers to come and relax and take a load off from your what I imagine was a lengthy shopping experience. I feel that time just melts away when you are in this store, there is jso much to see and peruse.
Adjacent to the snack area there is a little food store which houses some IKEA delights. There are frozen food offerings as well as shelf stable items like pasta and crackers and jams and sauces. I feel like this is worth browsing if you are a fan of their food.
All in all, there is so much about IKEA that is great. If you are wanting to furnish a new home or dwelling space and want the best price on new furniture and home décor, IKEA is worth checking out. Parking lot is huge but expect to walk.

This has got to be my favorite place to buy furniture. My boyfriend and I have furnished the House with most things ikea. One thing I love about the store is you can match colors throughout the house.
There is a selection of everything you can think of and if you are a family card holder you get some really neat stuff. My favorite is when you can eat for free at their restaurant.

What’s not to love about modular Swedish furniture? I got all my outdoor furniture from Ikea because the prices beat most other places, and it’s cheap enough to replace after a couple years if I need to.
Also, my dear Swedish fried said that Ikea’s Swedish meatballs are pretty authentic. For $ 5.99 (if you have the free Ikea family card), you get 15 meatballs in cream sauce, a scoop of mashed potatoes and lingonberry preserves. That’s not a bad deal.

As an IKEA veteran, I know you feel many emotions while shopping here. Therefore, I present you the five stages of shopping at IKEA.
Confusion: Why is this place so huge? Why can’t you buy any of the stuff on the showroom? Why is there food in a furniture store?
Love: wow. This furniture is so nice and functional. The food is so good! I love how you can get a healthy plate of chicken for $ 5. This $ 4 salmon wrap is the bomb. The prices are so low! I understand how IKEA works and its so easy!
Desperation: I can get rid of my current dishes for these new ones right? This cool ice cube tray is only 99 cents so its OK if I can buy it?! I can have 10 carpets in a room, right? I might need these sheets for when we have family over. I need 100 candles in my life!
Motivation: OK, aisle 31 bin 2. Got it. Aisle 15 bin 17. Check. I can’t wait to assemble this awesome furniture at home!
Shock: OMG!!! $ 2000?! I only bought new dishes, a new bed, a wardrobe, 100 candles, a down comforter, ice cube trays, a grater, orchid, new pillows, and a knife. I don’t think I can even afford that $ 1 frozen yogurt.

Sometimes places surprise you. You walk in not expecting to see the Virgin Mary appear on a taco and, lo and behold, she appears. IKEA is not one of those places. Every time I visit I see the same atrocious parking situation, particle board furniture and icing glazed cinnamon buns. I also see the same long line of impatient shoppers waiting to check out and must maneuver through the same maze of a showroom where a family of four lines up straight across the only aisle and slows your progress to a crawl. Needless to say, I’ve had plenty of time to look for the Virgin Mary at IKEA and I have yet to see her.
But that doesn’t mean IKEA is a bad place. I actually am okay with it for a couple of reasons. If you shy away from the high end, particle board stiffened furniture and take a look at some of the smaller pieces, you can actually find some things that are quite sturdy and last for more than a few months. I’ve purchased a couple chairs, easels and a table for my classroom and they are still going strong two years in. My wife and I also bought our bed there. It has been supporting our sleep for six years now, although we did have to rig it slightly because of a design flaw.
If you go even smaller than easels and children’s chairs, you can find some cool little buckets, kitchenware, wall hangings and storage containers. After a visit to Capital Tacos in which I was served chips from an IKEA bucket, I decided to go buy some buckets of my own. A few went into my classroom to store pens and scissors while one stayed at home so I could reenact my visit to Land O’ Lakes every night while watching the Wire on my couch. Something about tortilla chips from a bucket makes them taste so much better.
I also love the prices at IKEA. I won’t say they are dirt cheap but they aren’t far off. In fact, I’d say they are only a step above the dirt cheap label. I’ve googled «what’s the next step above dirt cheap» to get a fabulous descriptor for IKEA’s prices but all that search mustered is some bad Trip Advisor experiences and a St. Louis liquor store. For now, I’ll just say they are extremely reasonable.
Another thing I really enjoy about IKEA is their cafeteria. This place doesn’t serve gourmet food by any stretch of the imagination but there are definitely worse places to eat in town. IKEA’s cafeteria is full of fries, bread, pasta, cake and their famous Swedish meatballs. What’s in it for this vegan? Well, their newest menu item is VEGAN/​soy-​free and gluten-​free Swedish Meatballs. Yep, you heard me right. These guys are made from chick peas, green peas, carrots, corn, kale, and red bell peppers and served in a sweet potato and cauliflower sauce. The meatballs are not as good as what I make at home, but they are the best vegan meatballs I’ve eaten out since coming to Tampa (spoiler alert, there aren’t any other restaurants in town that currently serve vegan meatballs that I’ve come across). IKEA has also set it up so you can essentially eat for free. If you are planning a purchase of a hundred dollars or more and have some daily calories to spare, stop by the cafeteria. They will deduct the price of your meal from what you pay at the register.
Take my word for it, a full stomach makes checking out and leaving the parking lot so much less emotional.