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
5:29 dont forget her family has been renting for 4 generations, maybe over 100 yrs. Again by her own admission.
Her bitterness towards the working class is DEEP rooted!
I disagree- why is it baseless or reflexive? It made for a lively discussion, everyone had their own take on the article- to which we’re all entitled, and a lot of good (and bad) points were made. But isn’t that the purpose of commenting on a blog? And yes- I did find it a little bit mean-spirited, in a nose in the air kind of way. That said, I also repeat that the author said he loved the mix of people there, and that part also appealed to me.
All in all I hope Ikea does a lot for the area and for Brooklyn. I’m sure there will be bumps and bruises along the way, but all in all I think it’s a plus.
Have a great weekend!
“As for not liking people who have jobs, far from it. I am one of them, I support myself and pay my unsubsidized rent. You obviously do none of these things because you are incapable or recognizing those of us who do.”
– bxgrl
By your own admission, you rent from your friends …
“I rent from very close friends. I have a wonderful space and I love it.”
So they let you live with them in their house. Is their basement apartment even legal? So don’t tell me you live in an unregulated place and think I don’t know you are just renting a room.
On top of that, by your own admission, you beg for food from your landlord. How cheap are you? Can’t afford to feed yourself or do you expect others to take care of you since you refuse to grow up and take responsibility for your life.
You are such a moron with an incredibly low IQ if you don’t know that I have a job, own my home, don’t need to have roommates and – despite a softening market – have plenty of equity in my house if I needed to sell it tomorrow.
You need to be reminded on a regular basis that you are a liar and others are going to keep you honest. If you can’t handle it, I would suggest you spend a little less time on this site, get a second job – or actually do the job you are paid to do – and keep your sense of importance in check since it is obviously misplaced.
This is so much fun! It’s like shooting poor white trash at a tractor pull!
🙂
“I did find the attitude of the article to be a bit on the obnoxious side but that said, Ikea brought jobs to the neighborhood”
But NIMBY’s don’t care about jobs for low income people. Or whether a store offers things we actually want and need. It’s all about whether something makes their neighborhood look cute and hip. Like expensive boutiques that employ only one or two people each, which are always empty because they’re so expensive. Yeah that makes for a real vibrant shopping area.
woo hoo
mean-spirited? put-downs? double-decker buses?? you’re all just looking for things to justify your reflexive but baseless dislike of the article (whatever of it you actually read). the “overall impression” is nothing more or less than: “gee, ikea is okay, brooklyn is nice, i like brooklyn, we’ll all survive.” you people need to unclench a bit.
if it weren’t for the success of many big corporations, we’d all be broke. IKEA is tasteful at least.
hypocrisy of the liberals who somehow managed to get both brownstones without jobs or income from their stockholdings or sell their properties for big gains to people who got their money from same.
I don’t get the complaints about ‘shopping in local furniture stores’. Has anyone ever been to the ‘hood and actually seen what they see and how they sell it? And do you think the owners of these stores live in the neighborhood?
While I’m long past Ikea stuff (except for some Billy bookcases I store part of my library in a storage place–wouldn’t think of bringing one into my house) working classes and young people will benefit from having decent furniture at a reasonable price, rather than getting ripped off at Rent-a-Center and their counterparts.
“It’s like a McDonalds owned by a deaf/mute couple that fled persecution in Uganda.”
Actually the owner of Ikea is a Nazi, even if he did eventually open a store in Israel.
3:25- your problem is that as poor white trash as you think I am, I still far outclass you in every single way.
As for not liking people who have jobs, far from it. I am one of them, I support myself and pay my unsubsidized rent. You obviously do none of these things because you are incapable or recognizing those of us who do.
As I’ve already told you, haunting me on brownstoner will never convince me to have a relationship with such an emasculated, cowardly wimp such as yourself. Go away, grow up and become a man.