The Milton Keynes Money Savers Thread

darbooka

Visited on wednesday the 28th. At around 6pm noticed from the main road that there were lots of empty spaces and figured that it would be a good time to check it out (and make my inaugural visit to an IKEA). Their evening emptiness may have be due to the icey roads and snowy weather. Enjoyed it overall but came away with a few criticisms:
- their website for the MK store hasn't been updated, as it says on the site that it would be, with news of activities in their opening period;
- could not feel the 'inspiration' or artisitc quality of the scrawny man in a loincloth making seemingly physically lethargic movements to the background soundtrack of Chariots of Fire. What was that all about? I thought I sensed that some Asian customes were physically annoyed when their wives had to walk by that bloke;
- Although not exactly the same menu, their upstairs restaurant is vastly more expensive than the snack bar at the tills. I tried their warm salmon dish (which comes with veg and potatoes) and it was delicious but BE WARNED: apparently some of the food cashiers are still inexperienced in operating the tills which have icons of the food items - I got charged separately a pound each for the veg and the 3 potatoes.
- Two IKEA employees bumped the longed cue for the warm food, and went straight for their food. Maybe they have a limited time on break, but they should have a separate facility in the back or on the side so hungry cueing customes aren't made to feel inferior.
- The babbling "MC" was too loud and noisey, could be heard from a floor above, and made the place feel like a bit like a veg stand at the outdoor market.
- The showrooms are nice but it takes so long to get through it all. I was trying to go fast and with the half way point restaraunt pit stop it took three hours to get through. Also, it's "one way" walking only and there are arrows on the floor so you can't easily turn around and go back out. And aside from a few places to cut out it's a long walk to the next exit.
- The parking signage seems a bit mischevious in that there is hardly any notice of the abundant under-the-building parking. Seemed that most people assumed that the customer parking was outdoors as in the chilly weather the outdoor parking was full but underneath there were plenty of spaces close to the enterences.
- The Swedish pies at the restaurant are delicious but expensive compared to the same ones that you can buy from their grocery section chilled.

On the upside, blue or white mugs for 10 pence each and fleece blankets for 2.50 are a nice treat. As are some of the inexpensive pies and sweet snacks at the food store (the grocery area, not the restaurant or snack bar).

$17mma

darbooka wrote:

- could not feel the 'inspiration' or artisitc quality of the scrawny man in a loincloth making seemingly physically lethargic movements to the background soundtrack of Chariots of Fire. What was that all about? QUOTE]


hhahahaah:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

darbooka

$17mma wrote:

darbooka wrote:

- could not feel the 'inspiration' or artisitc quality of the scrawny man in a loincloth making seemingly physically lethargic movements to the background soundtrack of Chariots of Fire. What was that all about? QUOTE]


hhahahaah:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

There was a lady MC in a Swedish skicap (and I think a blonde curly wig but not entirely sure) who said on the loudspeaker that she had seen loincloth man's performance several times and each time she feels inspired anew. Wanted to grab the mic and ask 'WOT?!' _pale_

$17mma

I finally made it to Ikea and it took me 1 1/2 hrs just to get there and get parked, traffic was terrible.

It is nice and I am really glad that we have one up here, but the Brent Cross one seems to have more products.

I noticed some items that I purchased in Brent Cross are up to £2 more expensive up here!??:eek:

The hot dog, fries and drink meal is a good deal at £1.75 and you can re-fill the drink as many times as you like. They had fairies face painting in the childrens section and some woman on a mic at the main entrance, she mentioned the man in his loin cloth (made me chuckle :rotfl: )

She said that so far they have had up to 25k people everyday so far! wow. And that the first person who entered the store won 2k worth of spending vouchers or something like that. Apparently he had been camping out from 6am the previous morning :eek:

bootman

I went yesterday. I must say it was not the easiest Ikea to navigate round. It did not seem as logically laid out as the other stores.

indiegirl_2

$17mma wrote:

I noticed some items that I purchased in Brent Cross are up to £2 more expensive up here!??:eek:

It'd cost you more than £2 to drive to Brent Cross though!

I went on Saturday, parking was mad (although there were stewards which is more than I've seen in other Ikeas), and that bl**dy blonde woman was harping on again at the tills. They did the "spin the wheel" where whoever was at the numbered till that the wheel landed on won their shopping trip free. The woman mentioned that they'd given away "£60, £55 and now £40" of shopping by midday on Saturday - whoop de doo. Bet Ikea were rubbing their hands at that (my shop next weekend's going to run into several hundred... I'm praying that the spin the wheel's still on!).

I've navigated several Ikeas now (having lived in various parts of the UK), and this one requires some serious weaving in and out of everywhere. It also felt smaller in showroom size, but bigger overall - as in there felt like there were more 'lines' of stock available (not that there were - most of the stuff on my 'want' list was out). It's similar in layout to the Bristol store (where I was on the 27th - it was dead!), but I think I still prefer the one-level Nottingham store.

I notice that the Ikea website now has MK on the stockcheck - v useful indeed.

Shame that there's no 'bargains' to be had per se, but with that many people coming through the doors and creating the queues of traffic, who needs opening offers?

And finally - what's all this with closing the right hand turns from the large roundabout (Central Bletchley / Caldecotte way)? Surely that's just an admission that allowing traffic to turn right whilst oncoming traffic's still on green was a really big mistake??

$17mma

indiegirl wrote:

It'd cost you more than £2 to drive to Brent Cross though!

QUOTE] Not when my husband works down there and can get me what I need

Yes that woman was there again today with the blonde hair chatting loads of rubbish. And yes there is a lot of weaving in and out, maybe because it was crowded it seemed a lot worse.

Totally agree with the turning right thing. Was an accident waiting to happen.

$17mma

bootman wrote:

I went yesterday. I must say it was not the easiest Ikea to navigate round. It did not seem as logically laid out as the other stores.

I agree, and it feels smaller.

Swattie

I haven't been to Ikea yet - the traffic is putting me off - everytime I drive down the V4 the traffic jams horrendous - I go to Bletchley via the industrial estate.

I don't know what it going to be like there on a Saturday when the Dons are playing in the new stadium.

I always thought that Ikea would be better placed near Junction 13 so traffic didn't have to cross town.

SaveMoreMoney

As a resident of Bletchley, I've seen a number of the IKEA signs along the A421.

I might go and have a look in a few weeks time. What with IKEA, Asda and Tesco all pretty near each other, it's going to be manic with all the cars !