IKEA

FURNITURE NAZI: IKEA FOUNDER INGVAR KAMPRAD IN NEW REVELATIONS
08.25.2011
01:01 pm
Topics:
Current Events
Tags:
Nazis
Sweden
Ikea
Ingvar Kamprad
Dangerous Minds pal Chris Campion writes: «I’ve been joking for years that Ikea is part of some kind of fascistic experiment in social conditioning. And it’s probably true!»
According to a new book about Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad, his youthful dalliance with rightwing Nazi groups is more extensive than he’s admitted in the past. Sweden’s intelligence agency actually set up a special file on him. From The Guardian:
Swedish author and journalist Elisabeth Asbrink says Kamprad joined the Swedish Nazi party in 1943 when 17, prompting the security police to start a file on him the same year.
Asbrink also claims in her book, And in Wienerwald the Trees Remain, that the founder of the Swedish furniture chain was in contact with Nazi sympathisers until at least 1950 — two years longer than he had previously acknowledged.
She writes that Kamprad’s letters were secretly opened by Swedish security police and their contents, including information about his effort to recruit members, were noted on his file, in which the police wrote «Nazi».
“They were steamed open, copied and closed again,” Asbrink states.
The intelligence agency is also said to have noted that Kamprad «had some sort of functionary position» in a youth Nazi organisation that sent him newsletters.
Per Heggenes, a spokesman for Kamprad, told the Associated Press that the Ikea founder had never been aware of the file’s existence until now.
–snip–
In 1999, Kamprad admitted his past involvement with Nazism in a book about his life and asked for forgiveness for his «stupidity.»
He also admitted to Swedish media that he had attended meetings of Nazi groups between 1945 and 1948.
Kamprad has attributed his early sympathies to Nazism to his upbringing, saying he was greatly influenced by his grandmother, a native of the current Czech Republic region of Bohemia, who introduced him to Nazi propaganda magazines at an early age.
In a statement, the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Their Descendants demanded that an inquiry be opened into Kamprad’s past.
«Holocaust survivors are shocked at the reports of the depths of Kamprad’s Nazi involvement, which he previously had dismissed as mere ‘teenage confusion’,» it said.
«It is time for Kamprad to come clean. Swedish intelligence files describe his recruitment of others to the fascist movement and his involvement with it well after World War II. This can hardly be characterised as youthful confusion.»
Posted by Richard Metzger
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IKEA is good at many things. Inexpensive chic furniture and home décor is one of them. Having the restaurant that serves the cheapest breakfast in town at $ 1.99 is probably the second best thing. It’s a similar strategy to Costco with their $ 1.49 hot dog and soft drink. It is in the hope to get you in the door so you can drop a hundred on items in the store! Ikea even is good at selling cheap hot dogs as well. I used to eat more hot dogs in my youth but after all the jokes that they are made of filler and the less desirable animal parts made me reconsider my more semi-​frequent hot dog consumption.
This Ikea in Winnipeg is huge and is 15 years overdue. It’s has a great selection of everything IKEA. As per the company mantra all items have the regular cute Swedish names and you can still get lingonberry sauce at the food centre. We came buy to get some items for my daughter. She was happy and so were we for what we picked up.
Sure your hands will go red from putting together the hex key furniture however IKEA in my mind serves a necessary purpose for modern home items with low cost flair. The Winnipeg store is clean and easily accessible! On the weekends it must be a nuthouse here however!

We visited here our first day in Winnipeg. It looks really big on the outside when compared to Mall of America IKEA. However, this is your average IKEA. Nothing really special here. This is pretty far from downtown so you will probably pass through if you are staying at hotel near the airport like us.

Usually go for the coffee and cinnamon buns. The $ 1 breakfast are ok too.

We passed the «As Is» section and saw a nice bedframe so I asked for some help on what to do with it and the lady told me I had to take the entire bedframe (which is completely assembled, it was a floor model) and carry it to the checkout (only the middle/​far ones were open) and then take it to the take-​apart station (right next to As Is but after the checkout) and I could take it apart there.
I don’t know how she expected me and one other person to take this huge bedframe across the store! They wouldn’t let us take it apart there, we HAD to take it in one piece. After some frustration with that lady I asked to see a manager. He told me that «It’s easy. People do it all the time.» I was so shocked!!! IKEA brags about their customer service and his help for me was that I have to suck it up because other people can do it, I should be able to too?! I argued with him to the point he agreed to help us himself (GEE THANKS) and we needed two trolleys and 3 people to move it without breaking it.
We go to the take-​apart station that has tools to disassemble As Is products and guess what. All the tools are attached to the wall by 3 foot long cables AND there is a 4×4 foot carpeted box that is about 2.5 feet off the ground under the tools. Meaning that FOR THE SCREWDRIVER TO REACH THE SCREWS WE HAD TO LIFT THE BEDFRAME TWO FEET OFF THE GROUND and I had to hold it without breaking it while my boyfriend frantically undid the screws.
Could they have made it anymore difficult for people to disassemble their stuff?! the bedframe is like 7 feet long and 5 feet wide, how were we ever going to balance that on this stupid box. I get the idea for small items but there are large items too. And the wrench was too big and we had to BEG for a smaller one to finish taking apart the frame.
Overall this was a long, sweaty, backbreaking day which could have been made a lot easier by the «helpful and happy» IKEA employees. The manager could have atleast opened the nearest til so we didn’t have to drag it across the store or allowed the one exception to take it apart it was only 4 pieces after all!

Came here for lunch during the week and was surprised by the lineup at noon hour. The line moves kinda slow as the bottleneck is the hot food area which is run by two staff people. I think the wait took about 15 minutes. The best part of this place is the kids meals — they’re extremely inexpensive at $ 1.99 — which included a small vegetarian penne pasta and a small milk. The pasta sauce was bland and nothing special but it «feels» like it’s a better alternative to some other fast food options for kids.
The fish and chips at $ 6.49 was surprisingly good — crispy with no real grease and the fries were crisp and well seasoned. The roasted quarter chicken with mashed potatoes $ 5.99 was probably the worst dish of the bunch as the chicken was really dry from being overcooked. The mashed potatoes were strange so opt for fries instead. The dining area is clean and bright. There are some hits and misses but for the price it’s okay for a cafeteria. I wouldn’t plan to come here for a meal but if you happen to be shopping here, then this place is an okay option.
Best part — go downstairs and get a gigantic frozen yogurt for $ 1! I love their frozen yogurt — it’s so cream, one almost thinks it’s ice cream.

Like an army cafeteria, the lineup for their bargain basement breakfast is long and weary. Arriving at 930 on the nose the line to eat was staggeringly long. I thought I was in line for concert tickets or a bingo hall as the average age of the diners was 25 plus years my age.
It took me fully 25 minutes to proceed through the line to a point where I could grab a plate of their cheap breakfast. Never underestimate the cheapness of a Winnipeg senior. I don’t think IKEA was prepared for the frugality of Winnipeg seniors. If the zombie apocalypse had taken place earlier, one might not have noticed.
The staff was unprepared for the massive influx of people at 930 and there were stacks of empty plastic trays as people needed to hunt for glasses for water and coffee mugs.
Despite having four cashiers on hand, everyone was paying debit and had to pull their glasses out of their purses to pay.
I splurged and got three pieces of bacon and a slice of French toast for an extra 1.98. My total came to 4.55. Not bad but for the amount of time I spend in line, I could have been served twice at a local eatery.
Winding my way to the furthest place from the cashiers I found an empty serving island complete with sugar, cream, condiments, etc. The pumps with ketchup were empty but the condiments were aplenty.
Now, onto the actual food.
The sausages are small, salty, and resemble something a small dog does on the lawn. The taste was sufficient and not as greasy as some of the diners I’ve been to. Pepper aftertaste.
The hash browns are completely tasteless and you might wonder if you can get more nutrition eating their furniture. A faint taste of bleach from the potatoes was detectable. Not good at all. They took all the nutrition out of the hash browns.
The scrambled eggs were tasteless, but filling. It reminded me of eating soft warm wet ground up sponge. Grab pepper.
The bacon was not as tough as expected, but octogenarians might want to have the spouse with real teeth chew it for them first. It wasn’t as salty as expected and has a faint hint of smoke. Not the worst bacon I’ve had.
Wow. The french toast has the flavor of cinnamon toast crunch but the rigidity of drywall. Please avoid the first pieces in the morning until they put out fresh. I had to literally cut away the crusts, and I wouldn’t do that unless absolutely necessary. Maybe they expect you to dip it in your coffee? Awful.
Amazingly, the saving grace of this train wreck of a breakfast was the coffee.
Smooth with a subtle flavor, you’ll find yourself going back for more (due to the tiny cups they provide you). The coffee really was good. Definitely not from the Winnipeg Coffee Reservoir.
Very clean environment with a great view of the stark winter parking lot filling with dirty cars.
Do yourself a favor, don’t eat here for breakfast unless you like long lineups for substandard food. Assemble your own breakfast (without an alan key) at home for much more satisfying results.