Ikea or Nebraska Furniture Mart: Kansas City’s Furniture Debate

Nebraska Furniture Mart or Ikea?

Ikea is famous throughout the United States for its unique approach to furniture sales, and it has won over many fans. Ikea opened in Merriam, KS, in 2014, and it is the only Ikea store within a 250-mile radius. But Kansas City residents also have access to another unique furniture outlet with quite the following: Nebraska Furniture Mart, which opened its Kansas City, KS, location in 2003.

Whether you’re moving into a new home or if you simply need some more furniture, Ikea and Nebraska Furniture Mart are both great options. Which one is better? Here at Central Self Storage, we’re not going to pick sides—we’re just here to provide you with all your furniture storage needs at our six Kansas City area storage facilities. But we can tell you what benefits both companies can provide.

Store Cards and Financing

Both Ikea and Nebraska Furniture Mart feature a wide variety of items that you can purchase in person or online, and both offer credit cards that help you get your most bang for your buck.

Ikea provides two different types of credit cards. If you want to earn rewards at Ikea and use the card elsewhere, choose the Ikea Family VISA card. It lets you earn 5% back in rewards on Ikea purchases, 3% back on dining, grocery, and utility purchases, and 1% back on everything else. The Ikea Project card is a store card—meaning you can only use it in the store—but provides access to 0% financing over different lengths depending on how much you purchase.

The Nebraska Furniture Mart credit card is a store card that provides access to 0% financing, special deals, and exclusive cardholder events. Deals and terms vary depending on what you’re purchasing, making the card more versatile than the Ikea store card but more complicated.

Delivery and Assembly

Ikea is, of course, famous for its “build it yourself” furniture model. After writing down the SKU of the item or items you want, you get to pick the box out from the warehouse, take it home—or have it delivered, which incurs an extra cost based on how much it weighs—and put it together at your house. However, Ikea also provides assembly through the TaskRabbit Assembly Service.

You’ve probably seen a Nebraska Furniture Mart delivery van around Kansas City. Nebraska Furniture Mart has a variety of shipping and delivery options, including same-day delivery and in-home delivery, where the Nebraska Furniture Mart worker will deliver and set up your piece of furniture. Delivery options vary by price and by item. Free delivery is occasionally available.

The Biggest Difference Between Ikea and Nebraska Furniture Mart

Ultimately, the single biggest difference between Ikea and Nebraska Furniture Mart is that Ikea only sells first-party, Ikea-branded products while Nebraska Furniture Mart is a traditional store that sells third-party products. This means that while you can purchase items sold at Nebraska Furniture Mart elsewhere, Ikea is the only place that sells Ikea products. Another consequence of this difference is that Nebraska Furniture Mart sells a wider variety of products than Ikea, including electronics, flooring, and significantly more appliance options.

Furniture Storage, Storage for a Move, and More

Just like Ikea and Nebraska Furniture Mart, Central Self Storage can be an important part of moving into your new home. We offer convenient month-to-month leases and affordable storage rents to help you with your furniture storage and seasonal storage needs. And with three Kansas locations and three Missouri locations, we’ve got Kansas City storage units near you. Contact us today!


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