Ikea does not require a membership, at least not the one I go to. I never had the need for customer service, so I am no help here. Prices are good so have fun just snooping around.

The stores here in Australia don't have a membership.. But oh the savings and specials worth checking out the store..

No membership here in The Pacific Northwest of the US either, Wish ours was closer than a 4 1/2 hr drive but it has been well worth it when we have been in the market for certain products. From what I have noticed they pride themselves on creating the best they can for the least amount of money possible and try hard to be environmentally friendly. Bring your own bag or tote, or you can purchase one of their large blue IKEA bags if you need or want one of them. Sometimes they have boxes available but those disappear quickly. Our biggest gripe is also how they keep their prices as low as they do. The store is a huge store, that they set up to try to make you walk through a majority of the store and for most of the areas you write down the code of where the item is located in the storage warehouse then at the end, you walk through the warehouse storage area and pick up the cartons off the shelves from the numbers you wrote down. This means only one of most items is displayed and you purchase them in pieces and you put them together. Instructions are clear and we have not had any missed pieces etc, which would be a pain if you are from out of the area like us, but I have seen DIY TV shows that use their products all the time (when I use to watch those shows, several years ago) and when they occasionally had missed pieces the problems were always fixed quickly in those rare cases. Now for my actual gripe...Due to my poor mobility I have had to get them to let me back out a shorter way to check out and took a manager to open the locked doors (enter only doors with no way to exit) Staff were not always easy to find, especially when my body was giving out. Once you found an employee that was authorized to let you back out that door, then most have been helpful. but only once they understood that no you could not just follow the arrows on the floor to get to the exit. The Manager was patient and understanding when I explained the difficulty as that time my husband swore he would never be bringing me back to that store. and no I will never try again without my electric wheel chair instead of my walker that was a horrible struggle with not enough places to sit and rest if a person needed to and took the manager escorting us to the check out. I have only convinced my husband to bring me back once since that time and I do hope to be going again next month though my poor husband is not yet aware of that desire of mine, when we are up that way in a few weeks. We will have our daughter with us, so likely he will just take a nap in the car so he will not have to deal with the situation and I will have the elec chair and a shopping buddy that will love the store as much as I love the prices and selection. The prices are exceptional, not "high end" but definitely not low end either, though I think most DIY'ers would be in 7th heaven checking out everything in that store and creative people who can think outside of the box will come up with awesome ways to use many of the products. If you see a special item in children's toys or during a special sale make sure to pick it up at that time, as it may not be there the next time you want to find it. During one of their back to school specials they had various sized art memo tablets under $1 per note pad from small pocket sized up to Xlg about 10x15 inches and all had nice hard covers, I truly wish I had picked up all they had left. Live and learn as they say. Also not all children's toys were there the last time and I missed not having all the wooden toy selection from the previous visits and from seeing previous catalogs so was surprised they were not there on that visit and the employee's we checked with did not know if those would return again. Worth checking them out and picking up a current catalog. Pick up paper, pencil and paper tape measure on the way in the store, if you have not brought your own. Daycare is available and cafeteria on site with great prices and good food. Elevator or an escalator is available for those who can not do stairs. A friendly warning...From their food department across from check out. do not try their cinnamon rolls if you are ever on a diet as they will forever be on any shopping list for every future trip and the cinnamon rolls freeze really well which is also a blessing and a curse! Likely more information than you were needing but hope it helps with your decision. Pam

I have only been to the one in my state (MN) once but I did not have a membership to shop there.

IKEA is wonderful...I have never heard of memberships....I have shopped and do not have a membership. I LOVE IKEA!

I think she means signing up, not joining as a paid member. You only sign up for emails and specials and they will send out project inspiration. I really don't know why it would hurt, unless your email box just can't hold one more item. You can always unsubscribe if you don't like it.

Yes, IKEA is addictive. No membership, but they do have a frequent flyer type program that gives additional discounts at times.
A word of caution for those that embroider kitchen towels. Wash first! The ones I bought there shrunk almost a third and required significant starch and ironing to get them in shape to embroider. When washed again they reverted to their wrinkled messy natural state... fine for drying towels but nothing we would sell or display

We have IKEA's here in So. California...don't require a membership...but I have never been to one, so I am not really of any help!

THANKS very much everyone !!!! Thanks for all the comments and flowers and your valuable time !!!!!!
Oh and look ... 6001 flowers !!! :) We are soon to hit Spring so thank you !!!!
:D