12. March 2005 • Murph
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Three weeks after recent news that IKEA was cancelling plans to build a store in Canton Township, due to a property dispute, the company has announced that they have settled that dispute by buying the adjacent property, and are once more on the way to building a store. The Freep provides background on the deal,
Ikea, known for its bold blue and yellow exteriors and the Swedish meatballs it serves in its store cafes as well as stylish and affordable furniture, had spent the past several years considering sites in metro Detroit for one of its super-sized retail outlets. It initially picked Troy but pulled out when officials there nixed Ikea’s trademark exterior colors. After a long search it chose the corner of Ford and Haggerty roads in Canton.
Three weeks ago, after a couple of years of working with township officials to plan the project, Ikea announced the deal was off over a property dispute. The feud involved a seemingly minor squabble over shared parking rights and related matters with a partnership that owned a neighboring 5-acre parcel.
The new IKEA is expected to open in summer of 2006, and will have 300,000 square feet of floor space – 1/3 more than Cabelas. Urban planning students who write for ArborUpdate and have seen the effect of IKEAs in other areas on the surrounding landscape are described as “Not pleased.”
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Canton cracks me up… they spearhead one of the only real New Urbanist Traditional Neighborhood Developments in Michigan, and at the same time encourage a development like this that is, well, more sprawling than sprawl.
—Brandon Mar. 12 '05 - 04:12PM #
—Scott Mar. 12 '05 - 11:21PM #
As for the TND at Cherry Hill – yes, it’s a nice development and a rarity in these parts. But the Township dropped the ball by not including a farmland preservation component to that area. Now you’re getting a TND surrounded by your typical sprawl subdivision. At least Superior Township on the other side of the County line is putting up a good fight to preserve some farmland.
—Joe Mar. 13 '05 - 04:39AM #
—Scott Mar. 13 '05 - 02:42PM #
While Ford & 275 definitely has nothing going for it right now, I disagree that IKEA will be “more of the same”. IKEA is pretty qualitatively different from almost any standard big box. The spacing between IKEAs means that they draw from a much larger area, inducing traffic to a much larger degree than, say, a WalMart. I think the article said IKEA expects 6 million customers a year – almost 2000 / day, assuming they’re spread equally across the year, but really translating to much more weekend traffic. Consider that the deal includes IKEA putting in a new interchange on 275. That’s how much more traffic it’s going to create.
And, Scott, I’m going to have to disagree both on “well-designed” and “half the time not crap”. I’ve never found IKEA furniture to be any more impressive than, say, Target’s, and have pulled stuff ten times as nice as the best IKEA piece I’ve ever seen from dumpsters. For the price, I think you could do better than IKEA on any item with a trip to the A2 ReUse Center, a book on refinishing from the public library, and a quick trip to the hardware store.
—Murph Mar. 13 '05 - 04:14PM #
—Brandon Mar. 13 '05 - 05:54PM #
Target’s furniture-type-stuff is about 90% crap and they don’t have much of it. Ikea’s is about half crap, but the other half is worth looking at and worth the money, IMO… I don’t like the scale and business model of it, but the stuff could definitely be worse…
—Scott Mar. 13 '05 - 09:52PM #
—Mark Mar. 14 '05 - 12:28AM #
—JennyD Mar. 14 '05 - 02:15AM #
—Mark Mar. 14 '05 - 03:44AM #
Target’s ‘furniture’ is complete crap if you can find it at all, and same goes for most of the other affordable places. Some of us don’t like the overly conservative beige sofa and fake cherry veneer bookcases so easily found at Meijer’s and the like.
Personally I’m ecstatic that an Ikea will be opening up in Michigan; saves me a drive to Chicago or Toronto.
—KGS Mar. 14 '05 - 08:41PM #
—Scott Mar. 14 '05 - 09:21PM #
—Mark Apr. 6 '05 - 12:20PM #
—Mark Apr. 6 '05 - 12:24PM #
I used to live in central New Jersey, and have been to the IKEAs both in Philly and in Elizabeth, NJ. I therefore consider myself to be coming from an informed perspective in my displeasure, and I consider IKEA to be one of the most singularly sprawling entities I’ve ever encountered.
We have a serviceable kitchen table that came from IKEA, but, for the most part, the dumpster across the street from our place in NJ provided much higher quality furniture than did IKEA, at lower cost and lower time investment.
I recently visited a friend in Chicago and admired her new apartment. She noted that the sideboard in her kitchen was from IKEA, and said that it was functional, but not nearly nice enough to be worth hauling with her to wherever she moved next – unlike her kitchen table, which was real actual wood (“real wood laminate”? Please.), will probably last her the next thirty years, and only cost her slightly more at a resale shop.
So, no, I guarantee you, I will not love it when this IKEA opens.
—Murph Apr. 6 '05 - 01:31PM #
—Scott Apr. 6 '05 - 02:04PM #
—Brandon Apr. 6 '05 - 06:03PM #
Been to most (all?) IKEA stores in the US, and quite a few in Europe (even one in Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong respectively).
IKEA does make good stuff, it is reasonably priced – albeit more expensive here in the US than in Sweden (origin) – and styling is what it is; it is evolving all the time by modern designers who try to follow the tide (what you and I are looking for down the road).
If you don’t like IKEA, shop elsewhere. For the rest of us, we can not wait for this needed addition that will allow us to add some light to the otherwise soooooo gloooomy and heavy dark cheery and oak furniture found in most “upper class” American homes (in-laws included).
IKEA rules, and you guys will be amazed to see what more “neat things” apart from furniture you’ll be able to find. Looking for ANYTHING for the home, good chance IKEA will have it, and it’ll be fun and different at the same time.
—Brandon Apr. 12 '05 - 08:44AM #
Just because the furniture is inexpensive, it is not the sole reason I am attracted to it. It’s uniquely designed. They also think of multiple uses for various pieces. Granted, this probably doesn’t enthuse the average shopper, but for some who place a priority on change and want to update rooms without spending a lot of money, IKEA is unparalleled.
Even with longer lasting solid wood products, I’ve never liked the contrived looks at House of Denmark. Design Within Reach is an oxymoron! IKEA is like TJ Maxx: never the same place twice.
It’s true most Midwesterners haven’t heard of IKEA since they are saturated on the right and left coasts, and of course, Europe. So either word of mouth, traveling or scouring home furnishings magazines was probably most Midwesterners introduction to IKEA.
I’ve been singing IKEA’s praises for over 10 years and continually begged them to consider metro Detroit. I have introduced hundreds of friends and family members to their catalog and planned many trips to Burlington and Etobicoke, Ontario (the Chicago/Schaumburg store is my least favorite). It is, however, with ambivilence that I welcome our first IKEA store. My IKEA items just won’t seem as special, nor will a visit to the store. I am still happy that they’re coming. Who else makes graphic paper napkins like IKEA?!
All joking aside, if you’d like to see my IKEA-furnished home, here’s the URL: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kbreenbo/sets/372287/show/
It took me 4 years to get the bathroom sink. I had to have a relative ship it from Germany after holding out hope that it would eventually be available in the North American market. Now tell me who makes anything like these furnishings and at those price points?!
—Karen Jun. 14 '05 - 02:20PM #