IKEA building one of their megastores in Charlotte is sort a tragicomic irony.
This area of the country used to be a hub for quality furniture, built with craftsmanship and designed to last long enough to pass down to your children.
IKEA represents everything that furniture has become: sawdust and glue pressed into cold geometric shapes and coated with 3 choices of laminate.
It's not that I dislike modern furniture. And I certainly have to commend IKEA's founders on a brilliant business model, ($37 for a full bedroom set?! WOW!) But in addition to the fact that a room filled with IKEA furniture resembles a screenshot from an 8bit video game, it's all completely disposable. It's built to look cool until it falls out of style, and then disintegrate right as you're thinking about replacing it.
You always get what you pay for, and furniture is certainly no exception.
IKEA is cheap. And inexpensive as well.