One day (a few years ago) I went to a Goodwill store. As a Musician, I never know what useful audio or musical item I might find. I'm highly selective, but you never know what you might find. {Thrift stores satisfy my foraging instinct SO much better than big retail chain stores do.}

There, before my very eyes, were a matched pair of Denon near-field monitors - 15 cm woofers, 4 cm soft-dome tweeters... priced at a dollar-ninety-nine for the pair. They were in perfectly new condition. I puzzled over what might be wrong with them. A fried tweeter? I could replace both with a matched pair. One speaker might be trashed. Heck, just the cabinets were worth it. I could replace ALL the drivers; how could I go wrong? I bought them instantly, took them home, set them on my bench (one wall of my home studio back then), hooked them up... and they sounded beautiful! {I could only surmise that they had come bundled with some high-end Denon hi-fi bundle and the Doctor or Lawyer (or whomever the original purchaser had been) had 'upgraded' at the point of sale to 'bigger, better' speakers. Sales Clerks can be SO persuasive.} Whomever they were, bless their little high-end consumer heart with a conscious, they had brought them to Goodwill. And, bless the thriftstore Clerk who couldn't tell them from orphaned boombox speakers and priced them at a buck apiece. They could not have possibly gone to a better home

There's music in the iTunes Store produced with those Denons. It just goes to show that what goes around comes around (especially when Starving Artists are concerned)

IKEA needs to challenge itself and expand into other areas outside its core expertise.

They already have the smoked salmon salad plate...the rest should be pretty easy.

Is it a classic Electrolux? I "inherited" my mother's classic canister model, with the Art Deco design, which was given to her as a wedding present almost 70(!) years ago. Still runs great, only a couple minor repairs over the years, yep they sure don't make 'em like they used to.

What you forget is that that vacuum cleaner that is still going from the 1950s probably cost a month's wages at the time. People used to buy vacuums on installment plans. And it probably doesn't work very well. I bought a very well-designed vacuum that is powerful and light weight for about $30.00 That is less than 2 hours wages. And it has worked very well now for 3 years. It can be more efficient to design something that is cheap enough to replace rather than repair. And yes, of course it is made in China.

The 'wood' issue regarding Ikea is significant. I don't buy new wood anymore. It helps rape the forests. If Ikea gave a damn, they would only buy from sustainable forests, and there is a whole process for that. They don't.

Anyway, I have a large l-shaped couch from Ikea. It has lasted about 4 years, cost $500 dollars. Colors are fading, one support popped off when a heavy person sat on it, a few tiny stains. But, as others have pointed out, I'll keep it until I can't anymore. Cheap stuff can last a long time too, if you are not too picky. And for furniture, I am not. I don't care about 'craftmanship' when it comes to furniture, seeing it as a bourgeois obscession. And it USUALLY ends up using more rare woods.

Other things, craftmanship is important.

My family owned a clothing and decorating business for over twenty years, and in the late 50's and early Sixties I trailed around behind my parents as they went to distributors' shows -- the time before convention centers -- in hotels up and down the West Coast.

I remember looking at a bolt of Harris Tweed fabric in a room at the Alexandria Hotel in Los Angeles, and was shocked at the price per yard: Ten Dollars (that's over $100 in today's debased currency).

The distributor looked at my parents, who were out of earshot; then he looked down at me, sighed, and said, "Kid -- you want good, you pay good. You want cheap, you buy cheap."

The idea which used to motivate engineers, designers and manufacturers was to make and market products which could stand a lifetime of use -- that Quality was tangible and important. Whether it was clothing and furniture, automobiles or home construction, creating things that would last was part of the pitch of any salesperson... and buying things with Quality, which would last, was considered smart in every sense.

A large amount of clothing from the 30's, Forties and Fifties can still be found; sixty years old and more, all still wearable. There were more natural fibers, and different skills (more by hand), used to make them.

Clothing from H&M (the Ikea of fashion) is created by the thousands of pieces, unashamedly made to last a season, or a year -- then thrown away. Old Navy's current lines of pants are made of khaki thin enough to be used to make handkerchiefs. Even high-end, Glitterati designers are making shoulder bags out of vinyl rather than leather -- the materials cost is less than $50, but they'll still charge beaucoup USD.

There's always been cheaply-made versions of anything, and you buy what you can afford. But, not that long ago, people bought clothes, shoes, even homes, with the expectation that they could last a lifetime. That most of what is manufactured today will probably end up in a landfill, with no regrets from anyone ... what does that say about our culture? What does that say about us?

Was just saying yesterday, how ticked I am that we live in a large Metro Area (St Louis) that doesn't have even one Ikea. Why? I wish I knew. I wish Ikea would open a store or stores here.

For the most part we buy used quality furniture. Both my husband and I enjoy flea marketing, yard sales and shopping for good finds at thrift markets. But there are some things I would love from Ikea. A friend gifted us with three bookshelves from there. We have had them ten years now, they had them about five. Still great, no sagging and I would love to get some more. They were moved once, from their home to ours, assembled.

Walmart- Yuck. Only very occassionally shop there, and it is for what we need there, no other shopping around. I recently learned from relative that works for their church food pantry, that all the grocery stores in our area donate unsold food to the pantry network. This stuff is at sell by, but, still great. They have had heavy demand on the food pantry in this economy. Walmart which has three stupid centers within a short drive of my home, many more in the entire Metro Area, refused to donate and they through out a lot of unsold food, into locked dumpsters. Yet another reason to say Fuck Walmart.