Who has been to the Stoughton IKEA?
Devotees, the curious flock to Ikea’s opening – The Boston Globe
I’m an IKEA fan, hell, who really isn’t? I worked at the Hicksville, NY one for a while, and I think 90% of all my home furnishings are from the Swedish Geniuses who use hex-keys better than anyone.
With the IKEA open in Stoughton, I’m wondering when I’ll initially go? The news has reported on the traffic, the huge numbers of people, etc. But, I like IKEA and I want to go!
I also wonder when Somerville will allow IKEA to open there….
I live pretty close to there and I am afraid of going anywhere near that store. Traffic is probably nuts! Like a mall on Dec 20th.
Yeah, I’m not going to that store either – not for a while, anyway!
I just went tonight. It was wicked busy but the place is so huge there was plenty of room for everyone. No, really. I know you think it’s big. Double it and then you’ve got an idea.
They had people directing traffic and plenty of space for parking, etc. You had to make sure you didn’t step on any kids walking around the place but it wasn’t as bad as Christmas at the mall.
However, I wouldn’t go on Saturday. :S
We went there yesterday and got there around noon. We noticed that people coming from the East or off Rt 24 were queued in a long line along Central St all the way across Rt 24. Coming from the West via Rt 138/Central St, we still got stuck for about 20+ minutes on the 4-lane-wide mall access road (manned by police and security) until we gave up and parked at JC Penney (which welcomed IKEA customers with big signs), after which we walked to IKEA.
I think that the traffic moved slowly because of horrible access road design: only two-lanes for access (only one labeled IKEA) and a busy cross-walk interrupting the car flow BEFORE the main IKEA parking lot. I hope they redesign that soon. The traffic engineer (or dimwit) for that half-ass job should be flogged publicly every weekend at high noon.
The cafeteria was full and the queues were horrendous, so we skipped that. After a few hours of shopping which included some backtracking due to poor explanation on how the IKEA system works we approached the checkout lines. Make sure you learn about their shopping system before you start shopping.
At checkout, we picked the self-serve lines (10 items or less) which moved a lot faster than the regular checkout lines, probably because each and everyone of the self-serve lines was manned by an IKEA employee and traffic to them was queued in a single line and gated by an IKEA employee that directed first in line to the first available station.
It was a breaze leaving IKEA, and taking Rt 24 North back home. The traffic on Rt 24 Southbound at around 4pm was backed up for miles (probably because the law enforcement organs blocked many exits off Rt-24 and rerouted traffic to IKEA).
IKEA also had MBTA posters that mentioned free shuttles on weekends 10am-6pm from the Quincy-Adams Red line T station to IKEA.
We went on Friday 11/11 and it was a nightmare ! As Ionel mentions, the design of the access road couldn’t be worse. I have never seen such a stupid set-up for a large retail plex; we waited 40 minutes bumper to bumper from where traffic stopped on Central Ave (138) before we got to the parking lot, and then there were no spaces ! We drove around for another 10 minutes before we found one. And this is with a half dozen cops directing traffic and a crew of 20 + parking lot attendants supposedly “organizing” things in the parking area. Once you’re in the store, if you have more than 10 items or don’t see how to even get close to the “self serve area” (as we didn’t), you can look forward to waiting over an hour to pay for your IKEA goodies. Bottom line: I have been to IKEA in NJ, Long Island and Virginia, and this one is a royal pain in the a** in comparison to those; you’re better off driving to New Haven if you’re desperate to shop at IKEA; stay away from Stoughton until they get their traffic problems figured out and their check out system down. Right now- it is not worth it.
I went Friday morning right at opening. Despite the huge numbers of people, I have to hand it to IKEA for having lots of security and people directing traffic. Since I’ve been to IKEAs before, and knew what I was going to buy, I headed straight for the self-serve warehouse and marketplace and avoided the crowds coming in through the front. Checking out was pretty quick and I had no trouble finding a spot at the loading area.
Just a reminder for parents – if you bring little kids, keep a close eye on them. We passed by a woman describing her lost little boy and my heart just broke for her because it was so packed and crazy and I guess he’d been missing for several minutes. Then my teenager and I spotted the little guy in Lighting and got him back to his mom. That is NOT a good place for little kids right now – it’s just too busy.
Meghan
I don’t believe an IKEA will open in Somerville anytime in the near future. From what I’ve read, IKEA built in stoughton because Somerville wouldn’t let them build there. There are mixed feelings on this – one side says that it would be a tremendous economic gain for the area, the other that it would overtake and ruin the small businesses and crowd the area with people.
http://www.geocities.com/plan_your_weekend
This new store is tying up Route 24
Just got back from our trip – we drove from Yarmouth (Maine, that is)…about a 2.5 hour trip one way. I’ve been to IKEA waaaay back in ’96 in Burbank, California, so I knew how huge the store is; we spent about 3 hours in the store and knew the routine, plus we get the catalogues at home, so I knew the routine. Agree with the traffic problems – hope it’s fixed soon. Maybe it’s also due to the fact that we went on a Saturday *uggh* but didn’t want to wait ’till it got too crazy (closer to the holidays). Love the dark-brown desk we bought (why did we find a desk at $299?) oh well – still think it’s a bargain. The stores we have in Southern Maine are way too “coastal cottage” for our tastes, therefore we must drive. Everyone at the store were *very* helpful. The checkout time wasn’t bad (about 10 minutes in line at 5:10pm on a Saturday).
I have been three times already and have had no problems. All three times were during the week, one being the second day open, and the others were around 4:00 pm. I pulled right into the parking lot and left with no problems at all. I would definitely not go there on the weekends as I have seen on the new the nightmare of traffic.