Thursday, December 22, 2011

Ikea - You've gone too far!

Too soon?
Like most people, I have a bit of a love-hate relationship to Ikea and their furniture. On the positive side the design is usually relatively nice with reasonable prices but the assembly of the stuff usually end up with a lot of cursing and questionable results. In recent times we have started to go around this problem by paying some of the Ikea peons to assemble the stuff for us even if it cost a little extra.

Those not from Sweden might not know it, but Ikea is founded in an area in Sweden which is famous for the people there being extremely stingy. The founder of Ikea, Ingvar Kamprad, is notorious for being stingy even by the standard set by the local population (he's also a former nazi in case you didn't know). So Ikea is also famous for their lower than industry norm salaries, but for some reason a lot of people seem to want to work there (at least in Sweden).

But there has been one thing with Ikea that has had my unconditional love since they established themselves here in Japan; the Swedish food section. I've been to Ikea many times just to buy some of the Swedish food, brands and stuff that I could not get anywhere except at Ikea here in Japan. However, now the stinginess of Ikea has struck again and a decision seems to have been made to phase out all non-Ikea products and replace them with generic dull own made products. The new products have exciting names such as "Bread", "Drink" and "Chocolate" and are packed in exciting one coloured packages. To add insult to injury, they are also quite expensively priced.

I used to be able to go there and get some nostalgic Swedish food of brands which I grew up with and loved, but it's basically all gone now, exchanged with stuff that makes it look like a North Korean supermarket. For expat Swede's it's a huge betrayal and I'm not sure I will able to forgive Ikea for this stupid move in making more buck out of their food section...

11 comments:

aimlesswanderer said...

I once read a description of Ikea as "a cult, but a good cult".

I've put together a reasonable amount of Ikea stuff, and there was nothing that a set of screwdrivers and allen keys, or a hammer and a drill (to "adjust" things) won't fix.

Chris said...

I have never knowingly owened anything Ikea.

And it's never too soon to honor the great leader!!!!

Where's the pic of the state media mouthpiece? Is she still kicking?

Martin said...

Hopefully mr Kamprad is reading your blog. I´m sure he wouldnt approve this abomination.

Ibraheem said...

I'm sure as much as this sucks, it's better than not having anything "swedish" at all. I would still write a letter to the person incharge, why not ? you have nothing to loose and maybe they could even send you a "make good" package or something

Blue Shoe said...

Ahh...never visited Ikea abroad, so I haven't had the chance to compare, but been a few times in the U.S. Still have a leather(?) desk chair from there that I bought in college and still use all the time.

I never really sampled the food, though I have heard the meatballs are awesome. Wonder if they've phased that out in all countries now.

Anonymous said...

You mean no more Maribou? No more awesome almond cake? I'm crushed.

Floria in Tokyo (frequent lurker delurking)

Justin Fay said...

Relevant to the image: http://kimjongildroppingthebass.tumblr.com/

Relevant to the text: http://xkcd.com/993/

drich said...

I hope that isn't going to happen here in the US as well. I still stop by from time to time to pick up Daim to share in the office and the lingenberry concentrate for making soda at home.

F. said...

haha, Great Leader, want me to send you a emergency box of goodies?

TheOctopus said...

If it's any consolation, as of last Monday my life is 100% free of any IKEA items.

It was a long struggle with many relapses, but I have finally been cured.

Mr. Salaryman said...

Aimless - Obviously you're a more handy man than I am... I can say with quite some certainty that I am many things, but handy is not one of them...

Chris - Good for you! No need to start now either then! I'll miss dear ol' Kim Jong Il, just hope that the new "Un" guy will rise to the challenge, I do like the way he looks!

Martin - Indeed, I'm sure that Kamprad reads this and gets abit upset!

Ibraheem - Hmmm... I guess I could write a letter but I prefer to loudly complain online instead ;) Instead I use mail order companies from the old country, adds a little cost but worth it in the end

Blue Shoe - Don't believe the hype about the Ikea restaurant! It's basically a fast food restaurant, everything is frozen and pre-cooked! It's reasonably cheap though, have to give them that!

Anon - Yep, they cleaned out the Daim and replaced it with some generic version I couldn't even bother to try...

Usage - KJI is THE MAN

Drich - Oh, believe me, it will happen! Ikea always does these things on a global scale, I bet that the daim will be gone the next time you go!

F. - Thanks, but I'm ok... ... ... for now... might need to get back to you though

Octopus? I thought you had died, moved, had a sex change or developed an allergy to elictricity nice to see that you're still around!

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