Ikea

When Mark and Alex need something for their home, they often go to Ikea. "When it comes to fixing up the house, these decisions are made together," says Mark, 30, an attorney. "We like shopping at Ikea -- it's fashionable, it's high-end contemporary and the prices are reasonable."Another television commercial for the home furnishings store? No, Mark and Alex, who have been together for 11 years and live in Coldspring Newtown, are real-life versions of "Steve" and his unnamed companion, the gay couple featured in Ikea's groundbreaking and controversial commercial.

Lovers of cheap-but-good ethnic places should drive to White Marsh for Swedish food, where they'll find the restaurant tucked away in a home furnishings store. Ikea is known for its inexpensive, high-quality, assemble-it-yourself goods. The same could be said of the Ikea Restaurant & Cafe.All blond wood and airy spaces, it's do-it-yourself in the sense that it's a cafeteria, as excellent a cafeteria as you'll find anywhere. The offerings are limited, but almost everything is good. The menu of Swedish foods consists of three dinners: baked salmon ($6.50)

Ikea, the Swedish chain of contemporary furniture outlets, will buy Stor Furnishings International Inc. for $20 million in the latest example of industry consolidation, company officials said.Ikea said Tuesday that it will convert all four of Stor's outlets -- in Houston and Los Angeles-area cities -- to Ikea stores before the end of 1992, eliminating the chain's largest Southern California rival in the ready-to-assemble contemporary furniture market.Stor president and co-founder Jim Stadtlander said that the companies have not yet discussed possible staff cutbacks.