Today, as a treat, me and Tim decided to head off to Ikea to lookat some fixtures and fittings. We'd already decided that we were going to get the bookshelves for the shop from here, and decided to buy a couple of test bookcases in order for us to make sure that we could display the stock in an attractive way.
Ikea Joke 1
We plumped for Ikea for a couple of reasons. When we did our opening budget, we'd put aside around £12K for fixtures and fittings, as we'd got a couple of quotes (I have to say the quotes varied wildly, but I guess it's difficult to be accurate when you're given sketchy information), but after checking a few places, we realised that we could probably do it for a lot less. We realise that ideally we'd have professional bespoke shelving with all the bells and whistles, and that 's certainly something we'll consider in the future. But as a new business, we need to save every penny we can. We know that there are other indies out there who have used Ikea for their shelving, and it looks great, so I don't think well be compromising too much
Ikea Joke 2
Anyway, neither Tim or I drive (what!?, this is the 21st century), so we enlisted the help of Tim's brother John, who kindly took us in his car without any moaning whatsoever. It transpired as we passed the bathroom sinks, that he was going again with another friend tomorrow. I think he likes Ikea a little too much. It must be the meatballs.
Ikea Joke 3
I'm very proud to say we only strayed from the path once, and that was to pick up some lightbulbs. Temptations at every turn, but we were strong. We had a job to do and we did it.
We obviously went in to the 'bargain corner', to see if there was any nice pieces of wood to tap with our knuckles and nod appreciatively at, but again we resisted all it could thrust at us.
Ikea Joke 4
So 2 bookcases for less than £100. Not a bad days work. Tim and I will have a Generation Game style game to see who can put theirs up the quickest tomorrow. 'give us a twirl Anthea', 'Lovely lovely', 'good game,', 'shut that door' etc etc
Maybe some photos...
We've got their bookcases in the shop (Billy in 'oak') and they look great. I'd have liked custom built, adjustable, solid wood shelving but the budget wouldn't stretch and I thought it more important to have books. After all, you don't make money out of inviting people in to admire your joinery!
ReplyDeleteMy only criticism of them for a bookshop point of view is that the shelves are a bit deep for paperbacks and so we're going to make some buffer-type things to put behind them to push them forward.
And Malcolm is a whizz at putting them together if you need a hand!
Thanks Vanessa,
ReplyDeleteWe've gone for Billy too. But in Birch. Our ceiling is pretty low, so we need to keep everything as light as possible. And, yes we spotted the depth problem too. We were considering some kind of adjustable ridge effort to take into account all the varied sizes of book.
Does Malcolm know you're offering his services? Actually I am looking forward to the construction part of this project, it will be my opportunity to shine.
Tim
Malcolm doesn't know that I'm offering his services but he's a good-natured sort of chap and used to me letting me in for things!
ReplyDeleteBilly, eh?
ReplyDeleteI've got some of those as well. You can't beat Ikea for cheap but reasonable quality furniture.
And my 10-year old can assemble Ikea units so I hope it wasn't beyond you guys.