ShelfAware
IKEA Canada As-Is vs. Last Chance: What's the Difference
IKEA Canada clears stock two ways: As-is units priced one at a time at each store, and Last Chance lines priced the same everywhere. How to work both.
IKEA Canada clears stock through two programs that get mixed up constantly. As-is is individual units at one store. Last Chance is entire product lines on their way out. They're priced differently and stocked differently, and which one you should check first depends on whether you're after a specific product.
| As-is | Last Chance | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | One specific unit: a return, an ex-display piece, or damaged-box stock | A whole product line IKEA is dropping from the range |
| Price | Set per unit, so the same item can cost very different amounts at two stores | The same at every store whenever we've checked |
| Condition | Graded by IKEA, from brand new down to spare parts | New |
| Stock | That one unit, at that one store | A stock level at each store |
As-is is listed online, store by store
A lot of advice, including an earlier version of this guide, says As-is is something you can only find by walking in. That's out of date. IKEA lists the As-is units for each Canadian store on its website, and ShelfAware reads those listings for all 15 stores.
Every unit carries IKEA's own condition grade, which runs from brand new through as new, good, fair, second quality and incomplete, down to spare parts. ShelfAware only shows the brand-new ones, since that's the one grade you can compare straight against the regular price. It narrows the list a lot. In one check of the Burlington store, 27 of its 572 As-is listings were brand new.
Same As-is item, different price
Because each As-is unit is priced on its own, two stores can ask very different amounts for the same article. We've seen one SYMFONISK item listed at $0.80 at one store and $4.00 at another. If you live between two IKEAs, as many people in the Toronto area do with Etobicoke, North York, Vaughan and Toronto Downtown, compare them before you pick one.
Last Chance has gone the other way: its prices have matched across stores every time we've looked. With Last Chance, the only real question is which store still has it.
Last Chance: a short list that only shrinks
Last Chance is IKEA's list of products leaving the range, and it's small. When we built ShelfAware's IKEA tracker, it held about 160 items for the whole country. Each one has a stock level at every store, so you can see whether yours has plenty, has a few, or has none before you get in the car.
Since the product is discontinued, a Last Chance price is a decent bet for the lowest IKEA will ever charge for it. It isn't a promise, though. A slow item can be cut again before it sells out, so if there's a piece you want, set a price alert on it rather than checking back.
Which one to check first
After a particular product? Start with Last Chance. It's a fixed item with stock at each store, so you'll know where to go. Open to whatever turns up? As-is is where one-off units appear, and because the listings are online now, you can decide whether a unit is worth the drive before you leave home.
Both feeds are on ShelfAware's IKEA deals page: Last Chance with stock for each store, and brand-new As-is units that link straight to IKEA's listing for that unit. Search a product to see its price history, or see everything ShelfAware tracks at IKEA.