Alas, for us, the store in question is too far to make it a routine, regular event. So all last week we steeled ourselves for the trip. Mike almost had me thinking it wasn't going to be too bad. Almost.
It's about a 1.5 hour drive from our house, northeast of Dallas. Really, we'd have no reason to go there but for a retail establishment offering cheap furniture.
The shopping part goes fine: after some brief debate, we manage to pick out what we'd come there to get (bookcases for our living room that match our TV cart) and a few other things we needed (shelving for the baby's room, a nightstand for the guest room, etc.). We even stopped to have lunch in the cafe. Mike ate the gravlax. I was disgusted by this and ate salad. I'm still shocked he didn't get food poisoning.
The trouble comes when we enter the "self-service" part of the warehouse. I guess they call it this to distinguish it from the rest of the store where people are just tripping over their feet to help you.
First, the location given in the upstairs showroom is not the location where the bookcases are found. Second, when we finally do find the right spot, the bookcase now costs $30 more. Apparently, different colors are different prices. Of course they are. Third, they are out of our desired color. No, there are none in the back. No, they don't think they'll get any more in for at least three weeks. No, they can't call us when they come in (oh, but we can call them!). No, they won't deliver if we pay now. No, they won't offer us a discount since we just drove 1.5 hours only to figure out that they don't have our items in stock.
And, this, dear readers, is the part where I'd like to say we broke up with Eye-KAY-uh and left the store never to return.
Except, no.
We picked up the rest of our items, including a very nice desk for me. You know, now that we had space in the car....
And then we left. And we have broken up with said store. Seriously, I never want to go back. I also never want to assemble my own desk again: the screws were so cheap that the threads shredded when you screwed them in, and the unfinished pressboard sides gave me splinters. Oh, I am so, so over it.(And, just to stress how far the drive was , driving home we both realized we were thirsty. And we were so far from home that we actually had to pull over and stop at a store to get something to drink, since it would be, like, more than hour until we got home. We stopped at a grocery store. And, because it is Texas, this grocery store had a walk-in beer cooler. I cannot tell you what a good idea that seemed like at that moment.)
Also, we still don't have bookcases. And the likelihood that we'll be able to find something that matches our TV cart is pretty slim (after all, the TV cart came from that very same store and was bought my first year in Seattle). So it's onward and upward for us, to the big-kid furniture stores. Or at least the next step up.
The good news is that we are off to the Sunshine State tomorrow, so I'm thinking that this weekend is bound to be better than last weekend.....
4 comments:
The only blue and yellow I expect us all to see the next few days are the sun and sky in the warm and lovely Sunshine State.
I guess you won't be pursuing a job in PR for the Ikea folks...
MD
P.S., See you (very) soon!!
Haha! Yes, it's always so much fun at first and then you realize it'll always be the same and never improve. Good for you...stand up for yourself and quality furniture!
After the nemesis dresser, I am done with said store. Now, it's all local antique stores for cheap furniture for me. Not the fanciest furniture in the world, but much sturdier than the Blue and Yellow Store. Also, I think there's some kind of haze or spell or something in the B&Y store that causes things to look much, much better there than they do when you get them home. Plus the way it's laid out to compel you to pick up random stuff (ice tray? spatula? they're sure to seem extra-flimsy when you get home!) on your way to the self-service area and the checkouts. Last time (the last time ever) I went there, the self-service checkout machine crashed and had to reboot and the line was incredibly long so I waited for like 15 minutes for it to boot up. And, I kid you not, it was running on Windows. Start-up sound and everything. No wonder it crashed.
I remember the nemesis dresser! The whole time we were in the store, I kept muttering things like, "let's get a dresser! What a great idea!" or, "How about a couch from here, I hear they're really comfy." I think the B&Y store really is like the pixie stix of furniture stores - a seemingly satisfying rush at first, but then the inevitable crash comes.
I am standing up for myself and better (or at least different) furniture. You know, in a few weeks, when I've sufficiently recovered.
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