Ikea

Oops. Sorry. We goofed. That's the message IKEA customers received this month when the Swedish furniture store reissued 17,000 of the 1 million catalogs mailed to the Philadelphia area last month. The reason? Some of the prices listed in the catalog were just too high. "We found out that an error at the printer and bindery had resulted in a pallet-load of pages with Canadian prices being inserted into the U.S. catalogs," said Ikea spokesperson Fran Novelli. The errors slipped through the store's quality-control department and winged their way into customer's homes.

Philadelphia is making a push to furnish a location for a big Ikea warehouse and distribution facility needed to service the company's growing string of U.S. stores. Ikea, the furniture store chain based in Sweden, is shopping for land in several East Coast metropolitan areas to accommodate the complex. Lee Stull, who directs a Philadelphia economic development group, said Philadelphia appears to have a good shot at landing the project. "I believe we've persuaded them that their first preference should be the greater Philadelphia area," he said.

NEW YORK - A labor union looking to organize Ikea's first American factory is asking the federal government to allow workers to vote on whether they want representation. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers filed a request with the National Labor Relations Board this week along with signature cards from what it believes is a majority of the eligible employees at Ikea's factory in Danville, Va. The plant, which produces bookcases and coffee tables, is run by Ikea's manufacturing subsidiary, Swedwood.

Ikea, the Swedish home-furnishings giant, will lease a national warehouse and distribution complex to be built in Northeast Philadelphia, city development officials said last night. The $13.1 million deal, which they called a "coup" for Philadelphia, will produce 150 construction jobs and 75 permanent jobs. It also could give a strong boost to Philadelphia's sagging port traffic. "The tide has changed," City Commerce Director Charles Pizzi said last night. "We can now attract new business into the city.

Two local developers have approached Ikea, the Swedish furniture retailer, with proposals to build the company a custom-designed warehouse and distribution facility in Northeast Philadelphia, according to Phran Novelli, Ikea spokeswoman. Novelli said she could name the prospective developers. Ikea had planned to build its own $21 million warehouse in the city's Byberry East Industrial Park, but in September postponed making a decision on the facility, pending the outcome of a corporate study now under way on suitable warehousing.

The city yesterday finally nailed down a commitment from Ikea to build its East Coast warehouse and distribution center in Philadelphia, a deal that city officials say is a big economic victory for Philadelphia. The deal marks the end to the city's long and at times difficult courtship of Ikea, the Swedish company that claims to be the world's largest furniture retailer. Ikea reached an agreement in principle yesterday with the city to operate a 400,000-square-foot warehouse at the city's Byberry East industrial park in Northeast Philadelphia.

Recent reports have noted that in Beijing, folks have taken to hanging out at Ikea, lounging on the comfy sofas in air conditioning while sucking down free soda refills. It is a classic case of "You can take a Communist to capitalism, but you can't make him buy. " But if nothing else, creating a faux Swedish name in Mandarin would be a fun parlor game. Here in Philadelphia, Ikea is working to keep you in the store. Still buying, yes, but viewing the experience as a family friendly event with a town-square ambience.

THE Daily News misunderstands the role of the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority in the city and region's economic life (editorial, "IKEA on the Waterfront: Assembly Required," Nov. 11). We are not opposed to IKEA establishing a retail presence in Philadelphia. We simply question why it must be located in the very heart of the Port Industrial District. The site at Snyder Avenue and Christopher Columbus Boulevard is directly across the street from the port's Forest Products Distribution Center, a major banana import facility and one of the largest cocoa-bean facilities in the United States.

City officials said they'll continue to work closely with IKEA, even though the Swedish furniture store chain has postponed its decision on whether to build a large distribution facility in Philadelphia. The city had offered IKEA a site on a city-owned industrial park in the Northeast and arranged low-interest construction financing. It also applied for a federal grant on IKEA's behalf. IKEA never committed to building a facility in Philadelphia, but city officials confessed they believed a deal was imminent.

Ikea, the Swedish home furnishings retailer with U.S. headquarters in Conshohocken, on Tuesday announced plans to install 45,360 solar panels on ten locations in the southern United States. The panels will have a generating capacity of 10.7 megawatts. The retailer already has 23 solar systems installed or under way. The ten new locations will increase the company's solar presence to 75 percent of its U.S. locations.    - Andrew Maykuth

When Naomi Stein, a Bala Cynwyd interior designer, was searching for a set of nightstands for her bedroom, she ran into a dilemma: She had a limited budget and rather expensive taste. Then she came across a blog post featuring an Ikea Rast dresser, a plain three-drawer box in unfinished pine, that had been painted, stained, and blinged out with hardware. She decided to follow the blogger's lead, creating her own elegant accent pieces from the same unassuming Ikea structure. "I figured, I can try it," Stein said.

In the Region Ikea assembles 45,360 solar panels Ikea , the Swedish home-furnishings retailer with U.S. headquarters in Conshohocken, announced plans to install 45,360 solar panels on 10 locations in the southern United States. The panels will have a generating capacity of 10.7 megawatts. The retailer already has 23 solar systems installed or under way. The 10 new locations will increase the company's solar presence to 75 percent of its U.S. locations. - Andrew Maykuth     N.J. fugitive is arrested in Fla. Federal law enforcement officials apprehended a former Voorhees resident, who allegedly sold bogus insurance policies and had been a fugitive for three years, in Port Charlotte, Fla., the U.S. Attorney's Office for New Jersey said.

Ikea, the Swedish home furnishings retailer with U.S. headquarters in Conshohocken, on Tuesday announced plans to install 45,360 solar panels on ten locations in the southern United States. The panels will have a generating capacity of 10.7 megawatts. The retailer already has 23 solar systems installed or under way. The ten new locations will increase the company's solar presence to 75 percent of its U.S. locations.    - Andrew Maykuth

DesignPhiladelphia is an 11-day celebration of creativity in the city. Information on the festival is at www.designphiladelphia.org . Here are previews of four events. Artists, Luddites, and administrative personnel can exact vengeance on technology Saturday at the Printer Smash, back this year by popular demand as part of DesignPhiladelphia. In a space the size of a boxing ring, visitors to Printer Smash will be provided an instrument of destruction, safety goggles, and an inkless technological nemesis.

NEW YORK - A labor union looking to organize Ikea's first American factory is asking the federal government to allow workers to vote on whether they want representation. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers filed a request with the National Labor Relations Board this week along with signature cards from what it believes is a majority of the eligible employees at Ikea's factory in Danville, Va. The plant, which produces bookcases and coffee tables, is run by Ikea's manufacturing subsidiary, Swedwood.

You know that huge historic ship that is docked across from Ikea on Columbus Boulevard in South Philly? That's right, the SS United States. Well, the SS United States Conservancy, a Washington-based nonprofit group that formed to preserve and save the ship, announced yesterday that it now has title to the historic ship - with the help of philanthropist H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest. The conservancy is searching for private and government partners to help it develop the ship into a multipurpose waterfront destination with a hotel, retail shops and a world-class museum, Dan McSweeney, executive director of the conservancy, said at a news conference yesterday.

There was an early holiday present for 12,400 Ikea employees in the United States Tuesday morning. Bicycles for all. The brand was not disclosed, nor the cost - after all, it is a gift - but the bicycles were made specifically for Ikea employees, to thank them for "great results and great team work," said company spokeswoman Mona Liss. "It has been a good year for Ikea US (and Ikea Global as well)," Liss wrote in an e-mail. Ikea's U.S. headquarters is in Conshohocken.

BY MOST REPORTS, consumers are opening their wallets wider this gift-giving season than last. Still there's good reason to keep thinking practical, even with gifts for the crazed techie on your list. A FLAT SCREEN'S BEST FRIEND: Have (or getting) a high definition flat-screen TV? You might be tempted to hang it high on a wall, maybe over the fireplace. But the HD picture looks best and your body is most relaxed when the screen is positioned right at seated eye level. Filling the bill perfectly (and unusually affordably)

FOR 48 years, Lou Dallago has bundled up with his family and come into Center City for the annual Thanksgiving Day parade. Dallago, 78, started taking his kids when they were young, carrying a ladder on the subway so that they could get a good view of the traditional floats, bands and, of course, Santa Claus. But this year, he wasn't so sure he wanted to go. "I was going to take a break this year, because it was supposed to rain, but we had the little guy," said Dallago, pointing at his 10-year-old grandson.