Whither Expedit?

Word from the Huffington Post this week indicates that vinyl collectors' favorite shelf, the IKEA Expedit, is about to be no more. And a lot of us are not taking this news well. Facebook and Twitter are all lit up over this.

Why?

Basically, Expedit is the perfect record shelf. It has just the right amount of depth for 12" album covers, just the right height to make it easy to swipe an album from the top (handy for box sets), and more than the right number of configurations to suit any record collector.

I myself have two Expedits: a 4x2 and a 5x5, both fully loaded. They've been with me for about seven years now. The 5x5 has even been knocked apart and put back together for a move I made a few years ago. Still solid as Sears, despite the load on it. It should be: its raw weight is about 150 pounds. Each shelf can hold about 70 to 80 single albums. That's a LOT of music.

The 4x2 used to hold my LaserDiscs and CEDs (yep, I collect those too - look 'em up, kids) but was "converted" to vinyl storage. It's a perfect fit behind my love seat and would probably do well under a living room window of the right height if you choose not to stand it up.

In addition to the decor-friendly 2x4 and the economy-size 5x5, there are 2x2, 4x4, and single-cube sizes. Not to mention plenty of accessories, like doors and drawers. With that kind of versatility, you can probably understand why record collectors are not happy.

Expedit, IKEA says, is not really going away; just being replaced by a shelf called Kallax, which is apparently Swedish for something, like the inscrutable names of most IKEA things. It's claimed to use the same fittings and have the same internal dimensions...but the external sides are smaller. Naturally, with the weight we vinylites put on our Expedits, we can't help but be skeptical about how Kallax will hold up. Gizmodo reports that the reason behind the switch is to use less wood. As it is, IKEA uses 1% of the world's entire wood supply.

Kallax goes on sale April 1, but if you hurry, and you live close enough to an IKEA to grab one, you can still get an Expedit or two to house your vinyl.

Just don't come to me looking to rent space. I'm full up and my Expedits ain't goin' anywhere.

Weigh in:
What do you use for record-keeping, and what do you think about IKEA's move? Make a comment and get some dialogue going.