Update: Well, maybe not. Multiple reports out there today relate the news that IKEA has officially announced a store in Columbus in 2017. What that means for a potential Clevo location — not great news if you ask us — remains to be seen.
***
(Original story: 12/19/14) — The PD’s Michelle Jarboe McFee reported this morning that the Swedish furniture behemoth IKEA has purchased 16 acres of land from the Plain Dealer Publishing Company.
The site is off 480, just north of the PD‘s printing plant. Both PD and IKEA execs, however, stressed that a physical store won’t be coming for some time (if it comes at all).
Still, IKEA has been, quote, “eyeing” the market for years, and seems interested enough in Northeast Ohio: lots of twentysomethings, after all, who can’t get enough of cheap, shitty furniture.
IKEA currently has about 40 U.S. stores, the closest three being in Pittsburgh, Canton, Mich. (near Detroit), and West Chester, Ohio (near Cincy). A Cleveland store would be IKEA’s second in the state.
This article appears in Dec 17-23, 2014.
Who’s going to help Liz Lemon apartment hunt?
you should watch what you say about IKEA. their products are not cheaply made or shitty. All of their furniture is made of real wood – not particle board or pressed together cardboard.
They are well worth the trip to Pittsburgh if one doesn’t come to Northeast Ohio.
The KMart on Brookpark Rd. closed, so there’s a ready-made site for them where they don’t need to destroy any more green space.
Shitty why? Because you can’t manage to assemble it properly? I’ve had nothing but good experiences with IKEA products.
Sam, you are an uninformed fool. IKEA furniture is better quality than any local furniture, except for high-end retailers like Fish or Basista.
I rehab houses and I have bought everything from shelving to complete kitchens.
Just because something needs to be assembled, and some people can’t turn a screwdriver or pound a nail without breaking the precious nails of their typing fingers, doesn’t mean the quality is poor.
Also, when you have something in quotes, you don’t need to put the word “quote” in front of it.
Today’s pseudo-journalist are a black eye to the true writer’s of yore.
Same to you.
Best news in a long time! I’m sick of paying the damn tolls to get to dismal Pittsburg. I would welcome IKEA with open arms and two empty trucks ready to load!
You are wrong! Ikea kitchen cabinets frames are ALL laminated particle board, only some of the door designs are solid wood. They have no cabinets that are solid wood including the shelves. However, I would not put them in the “Shitty” category. They are just lower grade cabinetry.
The K-Mart on Brookpark is going to become a Menard’s. The City of Brooklyn announced this a short time ago, opening in 2016. They’re going to raze the existing building and build a new structure on the property.
Both the reporter and copy editor should be terminated for the choice of words used in this article. Or has the Plain Dealer reduced itself to nothing more than a cheap ragsheet
Have to agree with roskoph and almost everyone else. Yellow journalism at it’s worse…. Just because they don’t charge an arm and a leg and you have to put it together doesn’t make it bad. You don’t have to use profanity to get your point across and a better job of editing (quote) would help too.
I bought an Ikea kitchen and it fell apart in less then 5 years.. crappy made.. never again..
I don’t understand some people’s issue with Ikea. It’s not a high end store, it’s cute decent affordable furniture. Some people really expect too much from this store. I’d say on a store scale they are a step above say Target or Walmart, but by no means are they any where close to Arhaus or a high end store. They have some really cheap stuff and they have some decent stuff. You get what you pay for. You can’t go buy a can of tuna and then get angry that it’s not a good piece of fresh ahi.
If you cannot put furniture together, don’t go to Ikea, otherwise, its great furniture, for less money. I have bought from Ikea in Germany, England and in the US, good quality furniture for less money.
Journalism today is sad. Shock value to make us comment (I’m guilty by replying but I have to because I’m irritated enough). Cleveland is attracting more young talented professionals out of college than it has in a very long time. Know what they can afford? IKEA! Make it happen. I love the idea.
I used to live in a city that had an Ikea. The furniture is not shitty at all. You get what you pay for and you don’t pay a lot for pretty good quality stuff. They stand by their items too. If it does break or fall apart, they will replace it.
If you are unable to put it together, they will for a fee, have someone come to your home and do it for you.
This is really bad journalism. The writer is supposed to report and not give an opinion of something he probably knows nothing about. I wonder if he has ever even purchased furniture from Ikea.
So I guess the phrase “news blog” means nothing to anyone. Oh well.
Honestly, I’d love IKEA coming to Cleveland. That place would make bank and bring in jobs and mucho revenue to the area. There are no small local mom and pop furniture stores that make their furniture in the area (that I know of). If you want “local” furniture, you’re lucky to have it made in Ohio at all, and even then it’s probably only made by the Amish far away from here in mid to southern ohio
Hope those of you commenting on the four paragraphs of “journalism” and furniture criticism above realize that they were written by the Scene, not the PD. The writer is quoting and linking to the PD news article.
Last night I received my very first shipment of Ikea furniture. Couch, chair, table and wall unit. The chair is very light weight and all I had to do was put the legs on. I’m nearly 70 and small sized. I looked at all the boxes and wondered just how much help I was going to need to put everything together. The couch was in a huge box. But as I cut away the packing it just fell off the couch and I was able to get it out by myself. I had spent the last week putting together press board furniture with crappy instructions from the dollar store. I groaned when I saw the instructions for the couch and that it was all in pictures. To my surprise it was easy to follow and the instructions were right. (the other stuff that wasn’t Ikea every single one the instructions were wrong) It took me a couple of hours but would have gone together really fast if I had help. That includes putting on the slip cover. I was also impressed on how easy the slip cover went on. I’ll put the table together myself but will be hiring help to put the wall unit (book cases) together as I’m just not big enough to do it on my own. I look forward to them moving to Cleveland. I felt the quality of what I bought was better than what I paid for. Will be buying from them again.
All of the IKEA furniture Ive bought fell apart within 5 years. Just sayin. It’s nice looking and inexpensive … and shitty.
I’ve heard that Ikea has good qualIty furnIture. I hope it comes to Cleveland. I have no talent at assembling things but my husband can do it.
Sam, hang in there! Perhaps using the word “shitty” was a mistake in a news article, but we learn from our mistakes and improve the next time.
Sincerely,
Gayle Roth Thiessen
I’ve purchased a number of furniture pieces from Ikea, most of them at least 5 years ago. They are all still in perfectly good condition. For the amount of money they cost the quality has been really good. Of course they don’t compare in quality to furniture that is considerably more money, but you get what you pay for. I would definitely shop at Ikea again and hope they come to Cleveland.