Six months after the well-hyped grand opening I made my first visit to IKEA. I had heard many good things (and nothing negative) about IKEA from a variety of sources. The reason that I didn’t go to IKEA before was that I felt no need to go browsing through a bunch of stuff that would make me want to spend money. I was right – and wrong.
IKEA is not a Home Furnishings store as the building states so simply. It is a design philosophy, and a perspective about how we should live life.
I had heard about what great furniture they have – and they do, it’s just the kind of furniture that suits me. I had heard about the children’s play area that makes it possible for parents to shop without boring their kids. Two of my kids could not go there because of the “they must be potty trained” rule (which is perfectly reasonable) so we learned that it is actually fun for the kids to go shopping at IKEA too. My older daughters don’t know what they are missing by staying in the play area – and I don’t plan to tell them for a few more years.
What really sets IKEA apart from other manufacturers is that their understanding of life comes through in everything they do. All four wheels on their shopping carts rotate so you can move the cart in any direction and avoid the 20-point turnaround if you get in a tight spot. Their furniture is modular, so they don’t have to define how large a bookshelf you get to buy – you can just add 30 inch sections to your heart’s content. Everything they sell just begs to be used in real life, and not just in photo-shoots and movie-sets. And they sell all this furniture (which I would be tempted to pay premium prices for) at prices that compete with Walmart.
For people like me who like to design custom solutions it’s nice that I have more options than just taking my pick of what I see in the showroom. Some people might not like it, but I love the fact that I get to assemble the furniture myself after I get home.
In short, I don’t think I’ll even look at furniture at other stores in the future.
Welcome to a new way of furnishing your home. I loved 5 minutes from IKEA in Virginia and living in Utah for a year without my favorite store was horrible.
I know it sounds lame to wax evangelical about a retail store but I do it all the time. I love IKEA.
Ugh…fruedian slip there. I lived 5 minutes from IKEA in Virginia. (actually I loved there too but thats getting a little too personal probably…sorry about that)
I don’t like to “wax evangelical” about anything commercial in nature, but obviously I made an exception here – that alone speaks volumes about IKEA.
Did you eat there too?
I really liked the meatballs.
I have not eaten there, but I’m tempted to.
I love IKEA, but after my first experience there, I vowed never to enter alone again. I am a bit of a nutcase, and along with that comes odd fears. Getting lost alone in IKEA is now one of them. Thankfully, my boyfriend loves to help me decorate, so taking him with me is pretty much vital if I’m going to bring anything home, anyway.
It’s certainly big enough to get lost in. I helped our girls get their shoes on and then we walked out to the store entry while my wife went to check out. After waiting for ages (which doesn’t take long when you have 3 kids to herd around) we finally went looking for her – it just took that long to get around the main floor to the checkouts.