Dublin to get an IKEA store

by typical Wed Jun 13, 2007 22:05

Who is this person who feels they have the right to suggest that Ballymun is a Slum. I'm not going to give an opinion one way or the other, but I will say this. I am a person who is in a position to talk about whether it is or isn't a slum. I would know. I will not comment on it. I know many parts of this city that are worse and better than Ballymun. I'll leave it at that for the moment. Again, who is this person to talk about whether those areas in Limerick are Slums. I don't know because I have no experience of the places in Limerick, I am sure they have as good/bad a name as Ballymun, but I wouldn't comment on something unless I have first hand experience of it. And even then I may choose to keep my opinions off the internet's open discussion areas!
Is Ballymun the correct place for Ikea? Again, I won't actually answer the question. But I will ask another. Should Ikea be built on the south side of Dublin? I mean, they got the Luas, they got the M50 upgrade started on their side first, they got most of the M50, yet the toll remains on the northside, even if it's only just. And even the Luas extension will go to Bray!
South Dublin, and particularly posh south Dublin always gets looked after first. Anyway, if they really are posh and rich as they'd like us to believe, they'll have no use for Ikea!

by iosaf Thu Jun 14, 2007 09:16

I just pointed out that Ikea put their stores in Bcn in two "slummish" opposing parts of the city. I didn't define "slummish" either - but now I will offer you an orientation. Any area of city which is predominantly public housing and sub-standard (often scheduled for demolition) which has higher than average unemployment and lower than average services can be considered "slummish". I think you'll find that IKEA as many other multi-national-corporations in retail favour such areas since all they need is a large area for a factory style building complete with carpark and of course a road. IKEA in Ballymun Dublin will be unusual in that Fingal county council are insisting on the provision of a shuttle bus - normally in all other cities those who shop in IKEA use either cars or must walk along main roads, though of course if you spend enough they do give free delivery. Personally I think IKEA is utterly naff and prefer the more expensive Marimekko from neighbouring Finland which I can't afford as it happens so just content myself with getting the odd present from friends up north. http://www.marimekko.com/eng

On the activist note - it might be of interest to anti-globalisation heads to consider the sourcing of IKEA products in the 3rd world using child labour and with the usual scant regard for union rights. So much so the Swedish Trade Union SAC -Swedens Workers Centralorganization began info-picketing IKEA stores in its home state in late 2006 to highlight a so-called "code of silence" under which workers are shy to talk of manufacturing labour conditions in Vietnam as well as cost cutting measures in its Torsvick store where rest breaks were cut.
http://estrecho.indymedia.org/newswire/display/68633/in...x.php
http://barcelona.indymedia.org/newswire/display/305670/...x.php

If 3rd world kids don't get you going - there is always the wonderful potential for protesting housing issues in IKEA - a trick which has been performed in both Germany's Dortmund and Barcelona. You simply get into their beds and stay there.

http://de.indymedia.org/2005/07/123519.shtml
http://santiago.indymedia.org/news/2006/10/59661.php
http://barcelona.indymedia.org/newswire/display/277553/...x.php

IKEA has even got up Dutch noses for presumed past links to NAZI-ism "In late 1995 a sensational news item appeared in newspapers around the world. The Anti-Defamation League, based in New York, demanded $200,000 restitution, an apology, and public repentance from IKEA, the Swedish-based international furniture chain store. According to the ADL, IKEA had some dangerous (but not clearly specified) fascist ties in the past. The ADL also threatened that if IKEA failed to accept its demands, it would proclaim a boycott of IKEA across the United States, where the company has many stores. People wondered: what motivated this organization to take such high-profile action against a furniture company? Had the IKEA company employed slave labor or supported the German armaments industry during the last war? Not at all. As it turns out, the reason for this action by the Jewish-American defenders of dignity of dignity and honor is this: during the late 1940s and early 50s, the founder and owner of the IKEA, Swedish entrepreneur Ingvar Kamprad, while he was a student in Malmoe, Sweden, attended lectures of Per Engdahl, the leader of a minuscule rightist party, "The Young Swedish Movement", which before the war did not hide its fascist sympathies. At that time Kamprad also wrote two letters to Engdahl, in which he expressed his interest in corporativism and admiration for Endahl's intelect. Forty-five years later, these letters found their way into the hands of reporters, who did not hesitate to use them accordingly. And that's what the entire IKEA "fascism" scandal amounted to. In December 1995, Ingvar Kamprad publicly repented for the sins of his youth, and his company paid the money demanded by the Anti-Defamation League. So, 50 years after the end of the Second World War, fascism suffered yet another stunning defeat - this time not on the battle field but in a furniture store.! (http://indymedia.nl/nl/2002/12/7805.shtml )

Now if you want to comment - just hit the publish button once.

by Conspicious Consumption Thu Jun 14, 2007 10:41

The easily led and rather thick Irish people who want IKEA will
dispose of their things to 're-fit', which means the streets will be
full of wombles!

Yippeee.

We need wombles, to fight the utterly pretentious parochical
and rather silly people who bend to the zombie advertiser.
Eamon Ryan (the self-important- in Arthurian Legend) hung his hat
on opposing Roche on IKEA. How interesting for him that it was
the first thing announced yesterday parallel to the EGM.

Wombling places:- Second hand shops. skips and street sides.
Though the rich employ people to use axes to break up unwanted
furniture. Another thing is the high birth rate. middle class women
fit out the nursery for each child and dispose of the fittings
after each pregnancy, thus the skips in the posh areas often
have full nursery equipment. Book shops are worsening as the
disposability of trash like Brown and Aherne make the pickings very
slim and Ms Ahern's book are glutting the shelves of oxfam
and Barnados, if the FF get their way they will be subjecting
out Junior certs to this shit.

by Typical Thu Jun 14, 2007 11:35

Thanks for the 'Slumish' definition!

On the issue though, I am not for or against Ikea really. There are pros and cons, as with most things. I don't buy into the 'thick' theory that only thicks want it, or the zombie's that follow the advertising theory either, though I do love the George Romero reference.

I think it could be foolish not to purchase from Ikea in some cases. Why pay more for flat pack elsewhere for example?

I think a lot of lower income families have been buying things similar, though not as good, from places like Argos in flat pack, and I think Ikea will provide (slightly) better quality flat pack items, at much lower prices that even Argos. I also think that Ikea tend to design things in a very similar style to some expensive designer ranges, such as, for example, the Arco Lamp. For that reason Ikea could probably be welcomed. I would also argue the fact that we previously weren't allowed to have an Ikea store because of it's size etc, and that kind of makes you want to argue against the system and demand what every major city in Europe already has. However, on the other hand it does beg the question, were there brown envelopes involved for the rule to be loosened and then tightened again just as soon as Ikea pounced?

And to thincken the plot further, Ikea does mean that lots of people will have the same furniture as each other and that's not a good thing really.

So even outside the traffic issues there are pros and cons.

by iosaf Thu Jun 14, 2007 12:11

For god's sake when the time comes to flock in your hoards - remember pat c's article http://www.indymedia.ie/article/68574 which related the near stampede which accompanied IKEA's debut in a London "slummish" area.
Form an orderly queue would be my advice!

& be aware that IKEA are past-masters at add-on sales. It's part of the maze approach - when you get to the end of the herding process they throw all these really cheap items at you. Blue and Black plastic chairs and tall electric lamps in silverish metal are the mainstays. They may seem cheap and useful but they are in fact the most disposed of items of IKEA furniture (after the bookcases) in the world. (Coz they're crap - the chairs break and the lamps bend... & no you can't take them back). Also watch out for the futons. They may look swish and exotic and even sexy in the showroom but get it home and after a few weeks it's as uncomfortable a night's sleep as a sack of turf. Of course many would argue that we have always had the same furniture - except now you will sway plywood and chipboard for quickly grown nordic pine. IKEA burns better but is hardly more eco-friendly.

"mo stoir, be careful of your wee poker so close to the fire"

by Anto Whelan Thu Jun 14, 2007 19:43

This store will result on increased pressure on the M50 and despite the conditions attached it will end up in increased traffic congestion on the M50. This will result in increased petrol being burned unneccesarily and add to an already too lengthy communte time for millions of workers. The Greens are now in government. Will they stop this crazy capital and profit lead development?

by Green and FF Thu Jun 14, 2007 19:49

Its continuity FF and from the top, can you imagine those unruly back-benchers accepting 'hippies'
nimbys and refusniks? This cosy cartel has been going on for many years and its going to get
worse. the Green have become past masters at clietelism and don't do national politics but
urban based centrist capitalism.

by iosaf Fri Jun 15, 2007 14:33

local commerce to name a few.

Yesterday I decided to give a bit of effort to my IKEA thread & since Thursday night is designated as the day in my barri or neighbourhood for discarding old furniture and bulky exceptional rubbish, I thought to examine at close quarter the items being chucked in my vecinity of Barcelona.

Prior to that in search of the real people who make the real stories I enjoyed a brief natter with a number of individuals (small business types who mostly asked to remain anonymous) who are engaged in three key areas of urban commerce to wit ; scrap-dealing, cabinet making & interior design.
Jordi Puig had no problem with his name being published on an Irish activist hub website such as indymedia Ireland & so thus it has been. mr Puig is a scrap dealer who despite the obvious changes 30 years of democratic involvement marked by the anniversary of the first post-Franco elections today has never been able to overcome the small matter of his criminal convictions for arson in the early 1980's. "I was angry and confused & watching firebrigades brought some excitement to my life" Jordi ruefully admits "I know what I did was wrong but combined with my illiteracy and lack of stunningly handsome goodlooks & addiction to tetrabrick wine my potential in the jobmarket was permenantly handicapped by such a trifle". Mr Puig now sustains himself and a small dog of a mongrel mangy terrier type by scouring the neighbourhoods of Barcelona every night looking for scrap metal and wood. "A kilogram of copper wiring can fetch anything from 2euros to 4 euros depending on its resistance to current and whether or not the PVC covering has been removed" he happily informed your intrepid reporter. I tactfully asked he go easy on the technical details for a layperson readership such as Indymedia Ireland. [PVC is the common name for Polyvinyl chloride which is produced by polymerization of the monomer vinyl chloride and is the proper name for the flexible plastic covering used to insulate electrical wiring]. After establishing a certain raport with Jordi Puig I quickly moved on from the non-political nature of his criminal past to inquire as to how many discarded items of IKEA furniture he sees as he does his nightly rounds. "Mogollón pero no vale un pedazo" came the immediate spat response which is Castilian for "oodles but it's worth feck all".
I continued my investigations by a quick round of small shops of second hand furniture fittings and french polishers pursuing my thesis that such native industry and artisan enterprises are hard put to compete in mirror sales with a Swedish based multi-national-corporation that can offer a similar piece of reflective glass at only 4% of the cost. Being familiar with local ways of doing business I began a "false purchase" and a the ensuing conversation resulted :- "I see Mrs B (asked not to be identified) that you're selling that full length mirror with plastic frame at 150euros" The canny and keen to haggle reply was hastily heard with a touch of desperation Your's for 130 euros and that's not plastic it's bakelite. I was eager to show I'd done my homework so engaged further the lady tradesperson in chitchat on both the nature of polymer plastics as well as a tad more of haggling. "Oh, the resilient thermoset phenol formaldehyde resin, polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride more commonly known as bakelite - stylish matt finish but prone to crack over time. I'll give you 100euros for it sure you'd never find something the like of that in IKEA"

I could go on with this detailed report and scinitilating example of investigative journalism but I fear my point will not be honed. Let me put it simply - Once upon a time the poorer amongst us were content to balance a plank of discarded wood over two bricks of similar size and thus make an ad hoc bookcase. IKEA will not only continue the exploitation of 3rd world workers and undermine local cabinet makers, scrap dealers and french polishers but they will fool the youngest amongst us into thinking a self-assembled bookcase at 7euros is superior to a handmade version with discarded bricks.

Welcome to the independent republic of your home!
I hope it will be worth it.

by Link Wed Jul 04, 2007 19:55

http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSPEK344...70703

Ikea Plans

by Diatom Sun Jul 22, 2007 11:45

Don't know why they even want to build this, all of Ireland can be served by the Belfast store opening in December.

http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/IkeaNearY...lfast

by Ell Mon Oct 20, 2008 04:40

I would first like to state that i am in no way fully aware of your countrys economical and social situation, i happened on this article by pure chance. The reason i found it so interesting is bacause i am obsessed with IKEAandhave researched the companyintensly, granted i am not by any means an expert on all policies i would like to share a few things.

The first thing i was most bothered by was the fact that someone thought IKEA likes to use child labor in third world countries, NOT TRUE! There are in a select number of countries areas where child labor is allowed and needed to sustain a family and in these cases children who work are paid the same amount as other laborors , have much less srtessfull and physically demanding jobs than adults and are must take part out of their day for schooling which is provided as an inservice by IKEA. Such programs not only fill the need of an income for the families it also allows children whomay not otherwise be able to attend school a fair chance. I dont understand how you cannot support that, when countless other companies use the same labor with not a care for the children and are only interested in the phrofit.

The seccond thing i cant seam to get my mind arround is how you could not want such a buisness that would not only create a large ammout of jobs , and also draw people into the area who in turn stay and shop at other more local places.

One thing i will agree with everyone on is the traffic, such a big thing doesincrease the ammount of people espescially on weekends and holidays. To be compleatly honest though after a couple of years the traffic dose die down quite a bit since most of the local people have had their fill and only shop there when trully in need of something instead of going every weekend because its the new thing to do.