Ikea is Everyday People
The Times’ “Critical Shopper” columnist has concluded that it’s time to “make lemonade” when it comes to how Ikea’s presence in Red Hook is viewed: Sure, it furthers Red Hook’s transformation into the Paramus Park shopping mall in New Jersey. Yes, it may bring traffic and inauthenticity to the area. But walking through the maze…
The Times’ “Critical Shopper” columnist has concluded that it’s time to “make lemonade” when it comes to how Ikea’s presence in Red Hook is viewed:
Sure, it furthers Red Hook’s transformation into the Paramus Park shopping mall in New Jersey. Yes, it may bring traffic and inauthenticity to the area. But walking through the maze of home furnishings, I saw what I love about Brooklyn: everyone. A middle-aged woman was buying bathroom slippers; a gay couple was deciding on a kitchen countertop; two Muslim women in beautifully printed silk head-scarves were inspecting the sliding walls of a bedroom closet; a Latino family was deciding on bunk beds for their excited daughters. This store is for everyday Brooklynites needing something cheap and relatively well designed, even if the stuff is of dicey quality and doesn’t last forever. When you see Ikea furniture on curbs around town, at least you’ll know that these everyday Brooklynites can still afford to live in Brooklyn.
How does the columnist know the gay couple, Muslim duo and Latino family are all Brooklynites? Eh, let’s not sour the lemonade—think he’s got a decent point?
A Diverse Brooklyn, With Meatballs [NY Times]
Photo by madaes
Just what bubble do you think you’re bursting? In one post you’re trashing Kristine and Sweden and in the next you extolling it’s virtues. On top of that you seem to the conservatives have a handle on how to run things well and we can see very clearly that they most certainly don’t. My guess is that privatizing industry in Sweden will be done very differently than here in the States and school vouchers are part of an entirely different school system- one vastly superior to that in the US.
As for which side has a lock on morality- it seems that conservatives just love tossing around the “L” word and then get offended that liberals respond. Maybe if conservatives weren’t so rabidly partisan and cared about solutions we wouldn’t be in the national mess we’re in today. At the very least they should learn how to take responsibility for it.
1.37 AM;
Very “intelligent” post. Yes, one side has a lock on morality.
Next time, before engaging the pen or mouth, why don’t you do some research?
Recently Sweden has been among the leaders in moving towards many of the principles that conservatives advocate. For instance, Sweden has privatized all of its pension. It has also been rapidly deregulating its industries and lowering its income tax rate so as to remian competitive. Here’s the info from Wikipedia:
“Sweden is a world leader in privatized pensions and pension funding problems are relatively small compared to many other Western European countries.[48] Swedish labor market has become more flexible, but it still has some widely acknowledged problems.[47] The typical worker receives only 40% of his income after the tax wedge. The slowly declining overall taxation, 51.1% of GDP in 2007, is still nearly double of that in the United States or Ireland”
Sweden has also moved to universal school vouchers. Here’s the info from Wikipedia:
“Uniquely, Sweden is known for being a leader in free-market revolution.[65] While most pre-tertiary students are still enrolled in municipality-managed schools, Sweden introduced education vouchers in 1992, one of the first in the world after Netherlands. Anyone can establish a for-profit school and the municipality must pay new schools the same amount as municipal schools get. For instance, the biggest school chain, Kunskapsskolan, offers 30 schools and a web-based environment, teaches nearly 10,000 pupils, and makes decent profit. Over 10% of pupils were enrolled in private schools in 2008 and numbers are growing fast.[65] The system is popular among voters and the consumer choice has helped to improve education.”
Sorry to burst your bubble.
Benson
I don’t get why this is a conversation about socialism. 12:45 posted some stupid crap about liberals, ikea and socialism, and others responded. Seems those who constantly throw the word liberal around with such abandon have no clue to what it means. It’s just used to describe anyone who disagrees with them. Liberals are open-minded and community minded. Conservatives are money-grubbing, tight-fisted a**holes who would kill their mothers for a dime, or ship someone else’s son to Iraq so their gas guzzling cars can have cheap fuel. they way this country is going thanks to them, socialism is sounding pretty damn good.
Kristine and all;
Is this what you mean by the Swedish attitude towards diversity and socialism?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics#Sweden
Benson
Kristine;
Your last paragraph is laughable. Yes, as an American, I think I’ll take a lecture about diversity from a citizen of a country whose population is about the same as New York City, and that is highly homogenous. Here, according to Wikipedia, are are the largest immigrant groups to Sweden: Finland, Iraq, Former Yugoslavia, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Turkey, Poland, Russia and Iran. Wow, you’re really blazing a path towards diversity! Who knew? Please let us know how you manage to assimilate all of these groups.
I am also not inclined to follow the example of a county which was the largest practioner of eugenics prior to the Nazis, or have you conveniently forgetten that fact? Yes, it is easy to think of “us and us”, when you have eliminated all of the “them”.
It is the biggest conceit of liberal Europeans to lecture Americans about how we treat our immigrants. When you get your shot at it (see the French, for example), then I’ll take you seriously.
Benson
7:23 We used to.We even used to like that fact that we were different but American at the same time. People who think like Jeremy are a product of privilege, selfishness and ignorance. Their big worry of the day is whether or not they’re thin enough, hip enough, privileged enough or have enough. And all I can say is everyone young eventually gets old- and then your ideas can change drastically. Or maybe the first time something goes wrong in life and no one is there to help.
All I say is that as a part-Swedish Jose Gonzalez-listening Scandinavian, I adore IKEA. And yes the store is an extension of many of our cultural norms. (The food in the cafeteria really is what we eat-albeit more generic.) Swedes are cheap and we crave efficiency, but we are also goofy and creative people who want to be in spaces that are visually interesting. I can’t tell you how annoyed I get when I walk in to a smart person’s apartment and everything they own is from Pottery Barn or Crate and Barrel. Please! It’s boring AND expensive. If you’re going to be boring, the least you could do is buy cheap. And if you can’t do that, then really how smart are you?
Also there are other Swedish (H&M) or Swedish-American (Nordstrom) retailers that share values of economy (okay, maybe not Nordstrom so much) style, and customer service. These companies are successful because they are doing what other companies, fail to do. Until there’s a better alternative, they will continue to succeed. I have a difficult time hearing criticisms when no one is providing a better solution to our needs. Yes, I do agree with some of the posters that the furniture is flimsy. I’ve also owned pieces for years. Much of that has to be attributed to the quality of the assembly.
As far as socialism goes, most of us-yes, even Scandinavians-would agree that is doesn’t really work unless the country (like Norway) is ridiculously wealthy and people have a social contract to not take advantage of the system. (I have a 100+ year old aunt who was in the hospital once-when she was 102.) Americans tend to think in terms of “us and them” instead of “us and us” and this is why we have problems with diversity. Ask a Swede about diversity and they will probably look at you funny. Everyone is Swedish in Sweden. If we’re all the same, we don’t point out the “different.” I don’t know if Americans will ever think that way.
Pssssp…. Jeremy did you hear? the dollar is weak now. You can go back home.
Say what you will but the store was packed last night at 9:30pm and every check out had 15-20 people waiting to complete their purchases. Ikea in Elizabeth has been around since the mid 90’s so I dont forsee this location doing badly.
We tried buying a twin bed for my daughter from the “mom & pop” stores in Sunset park and they sucked. “no I dont have that one in stock what about this one or Ill order one for next week” was common answers while Ikea had dozens in stock at the advertised price. Plus we bought a harem style mosquito netting that transformed a plain bedroom for a 4 yr old into something different and interesting and she loved it.
While it was being built where do you suppose all the contractors and Ikea corporate people stayed, right here in Brooklyn spending money at local hotels and restaurants. Ok now spew your venom.