IKEA South Philadelphia Tour and 2011 Catalog

This past week Emma and I visited the IKEA store in South Philadelphia for a special blogger tour.  I love IKEA, and I knew this would be a real treat.  With beautiful high quality and well-designed products at recession-friendly prices (even pre-recession), this store is any home dweller’s dream come true.  I own several pieces of IKEA furniture that I purchased almost ten years ago and they have held up all this time. 

We arrived a little early, and the tour was scheduled for noon, so the first thing we did was grab a bite to eat before meeting Jennifer, the local marketing manager.  The food in their restaurant was delicious.  We decided on chicken fingers, fries and milk and it was about $6.50 or so for the meal, and there was plenty of food to share between Emma and I.  Yum!  First impressions on visiting the IKEA store for the first time as a parent?  It’s very kid friendly with the availability of food and drinks, humungous elevator space and convenient exits in case you need to make a break for it.

Jennifer going over all of the great features in this room geared toward college students.

The tour itself focused on learning about the new IKEA products for 2011.  Jennifer showed us a few of their smart ideas used in the rooms that are created for shoppers like me.  I love how they set up the room settings to help you envision how a piece might look in your home.  Especially with the space saving/organizational tools.  I’m always struggling over how to better organize my life and home and I left feeling inspired and hopeful.

The solar-powered work lamps come in bright colors for $19.99.

We had our stroller with us so I couldn’t shop as much as I would have liked.  Trust me, if I had a shopping cart, it would have been filled to the brim!  We did buy this childrens stool and a few toys – their toys are great by the way. Here are some of the great new products that caught my eye:

The LATT table and chairs set – a complete set for only $29.99.  Unbelievable price!
My bad back needs this SULTAN FINNVIK memory foam mattress.  It’s $449.00.
CHOSIGT funnels are 2 for $.99!
STORNAST buffet is $449.00.

The bloggers attending received swag bags filled with a few cute toys for our kids and this wok.  It’s only $5.00 and works really well.  Stay tuned for a future product review and giveaway from IKEA!

For Emma, the blueberry basket was the highlight of the day!

I was not compensated or coerced in any way to write to post.  I simply wanted to share the fun experience we had touring the store and meeting with Jennifer and the other bloggers there.  A big thank you to Jennifer and IKEA for the opportunity to peruse the new catalog and tour your fabulous store.