Sounds like the Ikea in Abu Dhabi when we moved there. They had stuff on display which never, in our 4 years there, came into stock, except briefly when they relaunched on Yas island.
I hope that Ikea learnt how to manage stock, but it doesn't sound hopeful.
Be careful when it comes to checking which items are in stock. I did it, went to Ikea and guess what: the items were out of stock. When asking an employee he was surprised to hear that it was possible to check the stock for Qatar (according to him this feature of the website had not been launched). He said he didn´t think it reflects the reality of what is in stock and what isn´t.
I heard that IKEA employees were concerned about where they were going to store all the stock they had brought in before it opened - they anticipated a big demand, just not how big.
Hopefully once this initial buying spree is over the out of stock issue will become a much smaller problem.
but at least they can tell you they're out of stock :) and my husband said you can look up online if the item you have is in stock. I do think once the novelty wears off, they'll be able to maintain their stock levels.
You should have paid attention here when those of us who went the first few days it was open were saying it wasn't that busy. ;) Between my husband and I we've been 4 times since it opened! Admittedly we haven't been shopping for any big furniture items at this point. (Although there is a bookcase that I'm planning to buy in the near future...and I do have a few other items on my wish list...)
I find that the perfect time to go tends to be midafternoon... I've only ever had to wait in line once and even then there were only 2 people ahead of me. :)
Like so many people I had been eagerly awaiting IKEA opening....how long have we been waiting??!! But I was so disappointed to find that many things I wanted to buy were already out of stock! I didn't want to go in the first week as I knew it would be busy, but I wasn't anticipating empty shelves. I asked the staff why the stock was so low and they said they had been overwhelmed by the response. I could have predicted that!! The management obviously hadn't done their homework.....oh well, having waiting this long I guess another month or so won't matter. The old saying `buy it while you see it' in Doha is still relevant in IKEA. Shame.