IKEA to charge £1 parking fee at its new Edmonton store

[MM]

According to a round-up of the Sunday papers: "Ikea's newest outlet at Edmonton in north London, which opens next month, will be the chain's first store to charge customers for using the car park. Each driver will have to purchase a £1 ticket, irrespective of whether he or she buys anything, and - unlike at supermarkets - will receive no refund even even after spending money in the store. The reason, says Ikea, is that it wants to encourage shoppers to use public transport."

news also featured in a review of the papers on Radio 4's Broadcasting House this morning.

I wonder whether IKEA intends to introduce parking fees for all its UK stores? This, by the way, follows IKEA's introduction in all stores of a 70p levy when you pay for goods by credit card.

MM

[JM]

Most of the time I go to IKEA I'm spending at least £100, so unlike a supermarket a £1 fee wouldn't really bother me.

Anything to improve the car parks (e.g. so you can get within 1/2 mile of them!) would be nice.

John.

[T i m]

And immediate destruction / disposal of the cars of offenders parking in disabled / parent child bays ... oh, and those who park diagonally ... or over to one side of the bay .. or across the middle of two bays ... ;-(

" Customer announcement, would the driver of vehicle ABC 123 please make their way to the railway station immediately" ..

T i m ;-)

[John Borman]

Just have an image of someone on a bus with a flat pack bed, and matress!

[kafkaian]

I no longer go to Ikea. Most of their stuff, although well designe

conceptually, is tack IMHO. I spent a fortune on a kitchen from thei Wednesbury store. Parts were missing, the hardwood beech doors 'blow with the slightest damp (yes it should behave in a kitchen), thei pre-drilled holes are inaccurate leading to uneven doors (in th vertical plane so non-adjustable) whilst their customer servic attitude stinks.

The last item I bought was a 12 volt cupboard light, the transformer o which failed after just 2 days. Given the prevailing long queue on th M6 north of Birmingham which blights the store, I couldn't be bothere to return it for a refund, instead choosing to chuck it in the bin That was 3 years ago.

You get what you pay for with Ikea, great designs but poor quality.

Not for me, so they can charge whatever parking they wish as far as I' concerned

-- kafkaian

[MM]

Tell me about it! Nothing to the east of Nottingham, which is a very difficult cross-country trip of around 80 miles one way.

MM

[Huge]

Morons. Like some is going to carry a hundredweight of flat-pack on the bus.

[T i m]

Joking aside, do they offer free delivery? *Their* idea being that you choose / pay for yer bits then go home on the bus and the stuff get's delivered by them later?

When I had a 'sensible car' (the Sierra Estate) I wouldn't think twice about collecting nearly all my own stuff, now both the cars come gutterless (so I can't use my HD Thurle roofbars) I only have the poxy 'small hole in the roof' type bars that I wouldn't trust for one suitcase (well I would but you know what I mean ..).

All the best ..

T i m

[Mary Fisher]

Even their own?

Yes, I can't understand the furore. If we use a vehicle we pay for the petrol, why not for the parking?

Mary

[Mary Fisher]

Hurrah!

Mary

[Mary Fisher]

Not all shoppers buy bulky goods.

Mary

[T i m]

Onlt been there twice (Iron Bridge is it) and that was because I was passing. I rarely bother going into London (in spite of being consumed by it now being only 12 miles from the City) and would rather drive 50 miles North than 5 miles South ;-(

A mate drove one of the 12 Artics that made up the Eagles road tour and the leg he did was from Norway (or summat) into Russia. After a few hundred miles of nothing and on the final few miles into Moscow guess what was the first establishment they saw was ...?

Yep, Ikea ... then ...

McDonalds .. !

Moscow could still be quicker for me than the Nth Circ ... ;-(

All the best ..

T i m

[Markus Splenius]

You won't mind paying one pound if you have a hundred weight of flat pack. In certains shops car parks round here it would be good if they charged. You might actually get a space instead of wasting several quid on petrol queueing. Not to mention that time is money!

M.

[John Borman]

No but those that do will have a nightmare trying to get a mattress on a bus

[John Borman]

No free delivery, if they did then yeah it would be a great idea well worth paying the £1 for maybe with the introduction of paid parking then they could introduce a free reliable delivery service for bulky items you cant get on a bus.

[Chris J Dixon]

No.

Chris

[MM]

I reckon, along with so many companies IKEA is using the new store to gauge public reaction. If it is not a big problem, expect to see £1 parking charge at all IKEA stores within the year. This would bring in a massive extra amount - think of the thousands of cars and vans which park there every week. They said that the 70p levy would go towards lowering prices, but of course we have absolutely no way of verifying this. Next up: Charge a fee for the catalogue. Well, why not? I can't believe it's still free. How about a fee for using the lav? Many railway stations and public toilets now do so. Why not charge a fee for using a trolley? After all, no one's forcing you to trundle it around. And think of all the migrant workers they could save having to pay if the trolleys didn't continually have to be collected and put back in the tunnel.

MM

[MM]

No free delivery from IKEA.

MM

[MM]

Indeed. THEN I would not be too concerned, since a pound's worth of goods can always be bought at IKEA (though not much more than that...)

MM

[MM]

Go ahead! Pay your pound! I see you have excess disposable income, so why not donate something to me? £500 should be fine for starters.

MM