So because it's Ikea I feel that it isn't really fair to rate the store overall since it's corporately mandated how it is set up and everything is cookie-cutter.
The staff however are fair game. Sometimes the staff here are really great and other times I'm left wondering why some of them work in retail if they hate their jobs so much.
On my recent trip the other day I went with a co-worker as we both needed some furniture and had a rental van to get it to our houses.
She was buying a couch. We sent to the department and started looking at the options. The store wasn't busy as it was a Tuesday afternoon and the two employees in the department didn't seem to be up to much. We had some questions but the staff didn't really seem to care. We had to point at things from across the department as the staff member helping us just wouldn't leave her little station. By the end of the ordeal we just figured it out for ourselves. Very frustrating.
The cashier wasn't very helpful either. My coworker and I had everything on one cart, but it was organized to make it easy when we went through the check-out. I pointed out what was for my order and paid. When the cashier was scanning my coworker's items I pointed out that she had scanned one twice. She firmly denied it and finished up the order. Sure enough when she hit total, the bill was too much. She looked at the receipt and recognized that she had indeed scanned the coffee table twice.
One of the items my co-worker bought had to be picked up from the full-serve area. We asked the cashier what the process was but was very unhelpful. We went over to the full service desk and waited, not realizing that we had to actually go up to the desk and show them the receipt before the order would be processed. So not only is this a cashier fail on her part not giving us the correct information, this is also a failure on Ikea's part for not providing clear signage or notification on the receipt that you need to place your order after you've paid.
Hopefully future visits will be more positive.