Back-to-school season always seems to bring us back around to Ikea. It has plenty for the kiddies, from grade school through college, and its big old bargains just can’t be beat. Or can they? When we stopped by the Bolingbrook store (750 E. Boughton Rd.) for a preview of its new fall offerings, what do you think we found? (OK, aside from a bunch of stuff we never knew we needed but now seems essential.) New lower prices. This was highly amusing at first (Lower prices, from the home of the $12.99 table? Really?), but then we realized that that $12.99 table is now $7.99. And $7.99 goes a long way toward easing our shopper’s guilt.
What with the heady lower prices and all, we found lots to love. But lighting options stood out — in particular the Sunnan solar-powered desk lamp. It hits that colorful, modern Ikea design note. It’d be great for any student. It’s just $19.99 (low price again). And, as if that weren’t enough, for every Sunnan you buy, Ikea has partnered with UNICEF to donate a lamp just like it to a kid without electricity in a Third World country. The lamp is built extra-sturdy to withstand difficult living conditions, and first shipments are destined for remote villages in Pakistan. So you can shine a little light where it really matters. And that, friends, is pretty much a total cure for shopper’s guilt.