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The IKEA Experience
My but that store is BIG.
Big, big, big, BIG.
I'm not sure I can be more coherent than that.
Underground parking is handy when the rain is really pouring down. Store maps, loads of paper rulers everywhere, occasional catalogs lying around, all this is great. I was impressed by the organization of the place: there's basically one big route you can follow to see everything, which means there's a lot less running into people than happens in most stores. They have trash cans, they have food available, they have restrooms clearly marked, they have play spaces for kids, and they have salespeople who actually know the product lines. Basically, IKEA makes it easy to SHOP. Smaller stores could really clue in on some of this.
Slightly annoying: you can never quite tell how many colors or sizes something comes in, because the catalog isn't always complete and any given display may not have all the variations on a thing. You'll see a nice throw in gray, brown, and white, pick brown because it's the best of a bad lot, and forty minutes later you'll be half a mile away from there and see the same thing in blue. Or a chair will be shown in red and black, neither of which I could possibly buy for my house no matter how comfortable the thing is, and an hour later oh look! it's got beige and brown and white and green and even purple.
There was SUCH fun stuff for kids in there. If I had kids I'd be in heavy credit card debt right now. Heck, I still AM enough of a kid that some of the toys and such were very tempting.
They even had FABRIC. I think it's a good thing I had an appointment to keep.
The self-serve warehouse was the kind of place I'd have taken photos of if I were a tourist. It was vast. At the entrance, a machine served up flatbed carts. I watched the mechanism for a while.
We got a seven-foot bookcase, two sets of drawers to convert the bookcase into fabric and craft storage, and two chairs. And, because they were cheap, six wineglasses (four bucks) and a set of colored markers (fifty cents). Our haul just barely fit in the car.
Slightly annoying: the signs saying LOADING ZONE, 20 MINUTE PARKING ONLY are in big concrete plugs smack dab in the center of the back end of each parking space, so to load anything into your car, you have to park on the line and take up two spaces. Fortunately there was loads of room, so no one had to wait for us.
The chairs went together fast. I'm still working on the drawers for the big bookcase thingy.
Big, big, big, BIG.
I'm not sure I can be more coherent than that.
Underground parking is handy when the rain is really pouring down. Store maps, loads of paper rulers everywhere, occasional catalogs lying around, all this is great. I was impressed by the organization of the place: there's basically one big route you can follow to see everything, which means there's a lot less running into people than happens in most stores. They have trash cans, they have food available, they have restrooms clearly marked, they have play spaces for kids, and they have salespeople who actually know the product lines. Basically, IKEA makes it easy to SHOP. Smaller stores could really clue in on some of this.
Slightly annoying: you can never quite tell how many colors or sizes something comes in, because the catalog isn't always complete and any given display may not have all the variations on a thing. You'll see a nice throw in gray, brown, and white, pick brown because it's the best of a bad lot, and forty minutes later you'll be half a mile away from there and see the same thing in blue. Or a chair will be shown in red and black, neither of which I could possibly buy for my house no matter how comfortable the thing is, and an hour later oh look! it's got beige and brown and white and green and even purple.
There was SUCH fun stuff for kids in there. If I had kids I'd be in heavy credit card debt right now. Heck, I still AM enough of a kid that some of the toys and such were very tempting.
They even had FABRIC. I think it's a good thing I had an appointment to keep.
The self-serve warehouse was the kind of place I'd have taken photos of if I were a tourist. It was vast. At the entrance, a machine served up flatbed carts. I watched the mechanism for a while.
We got a seven-foot bookcase, two sets of drawers to convert the bookcase into fabric and craft storage, and two chairs. And, because they were cheap, six wineglasses (four bucks) and a set of colored markers (fifty cents). Our haul just barely fit in the car.
Slightly annoying: the signs saying LOADING ZONE, 20 MINUTE PARKING ONLY are in big concrete plugs smack dab in the center of the back end of each parking space, so to load anything into your car, you have to park on the line and take up two spaces. Fortunately there was loads of room, so no one had to wait for us.
The chairs went together fast. I'm still working on the drawers for the big bookcase thingy.
no subject
I once swore off any more pressboard furniture, but theirs is so well made that I don't mind, now that cats warping the boards by peeing on them is no longer an issue. (The cats have no access to said bookcases.) And I have a pack of those 50-cent markers myself (for coloring drawings in Bio lab).
no subject
In other words, I'm thirtysomething.
My 50-cent markers are for a nifty pretty coloring book I got at the San Jose Tech Museum. I love geometric pattern coloring books. I was so virtuous, limiting myself to one! Then I got home and didn't have anything to color in it with. :-)
I forgot to mention the other thing I got. I loved a cheese grater thingy - an oval grater that was also the lid of a bowl - the instant I saw it. How perfect! Cheese bits won't go everywhere! I said to Rob, "If this is less than four bucks, I think I'll go home with one." It was, and I did.
Compost, sorry!
IKEA! Glad to hear your review. Our closest one is Shaumburg, IL and I can't wait to go. I've been deprived too long.
Compost is fine!
Oh yeah, plantar fascia, OW. Rob had problems with that for a while. After a year of foot braces and orthotics and stretches and all sorts of other crap, and still lots of pain, he got cortisone injections and it cleared right up.
Definitely go to IKEA. Take pictures - it's like being on another planet! :-)
Which Ikea?
Alan had great fun in the small ball pit (for under 3's) they had. I should take him back to play again.
Re: Which Ikea?
How often do they get new designs of stuff? I was hoping for a coffee table, but I have the same problem you had with the buffet: nothing they had was quite what we want/need.
Oh yeah, that ball pit looked GREAT. Too bad I'm all big now ;-)