How thoughtful is IKEA, providing free pencils for us starving artists? Here I was thinking the only time you ever get free pencils is on a government election day and today I discover you can get a pencil, free, every day at IKEA.You can also get free, paper tape measures too - not quite as cool but still useful.
More worrying than cool is seeing a sign that says 'Pick up your kids here'. Hmmm... I didn't have kids when I came in but when you're in an IKEA super store a lot could have happened by the time you come out. You just never know. I mean, a trip through IKEA does take you through every room of the house...
If you're not familiar with IKEA furniture stores (a description which I'm sure IKEA executives would balk at - they'd probably prefer a description like a home, lifestyle store) then IKEA is that company, famous for flat pack furniture that you put together with a trusty allen key. If you need more explanation then click the link in the first paragraph.
IKEA's super store in Adelaide, South Australia, is probably one of the biggest in this country and possibly even the world. You can drop your kids off at the entrance and pick them up, flat packed, ready to be put back together with an allen key when you get home.
Well okay, not really, but you can drop your youngest kids off in the supervised, indoor play ground whilst you go watch the free movies for the older kids, eat in the cafe... or you can browse the rest of the store.
Spending a couple of hours shopping (or just browsing) a furniture store isn't my idea of a particularly exciting day but it isn't boring either. IKEA has full room displays where you can get a feel for how their furniture and furnishings might look and feel in an actual home.
You can sit in a lounge room, pretending you own the place, whilst hundreds of strangers walk past (and through) making comments about your furniture. Just like being present at a 'home open' of a house you are trying to sell.
I've been to an IKEA store before when I lived in Perth, Western Australia, but never one quite this big. What surprised me most was how crowded it was. This is a store that has to be as big as a football field, with two levels, and yet it was still crowded.
Perhaps word about the free pencils has really started to get out?
Would you like a pencil :) I have one i can spare LOL
ReplyDeleteA spare pencil? What and miss out on a trip to IKEA! I have yet to have this experience in Perth, who have just enlarged the previous store, which I don't think I was even aware of!
ReplyDeleteThey sent info through the post which had a diagram showing the size of the previous store fitting inside the other one - bags more space!
I have read another blog about a trip to IKEA in Leicester in UK fromk a MySpace friend, and I think it was on a Sunday - so don't know if they open on a Sunday in Oz!
He said it was quite an experience, and you don't know where to start, but, apparently, the store has some guidelines or something set out on the floor to show you your way around the store.
It's no coincidence that these guidelines take you past every shelf and department so you don't miss a thing - not even the freebies, presumably! I can't wait - but I dread getting stuck in a store of this size, as it must surely be too overwhelming, and do you really need what you buy, unless you are looking for something specific?
Having room settings is not new, as I remember as a child in UK that one of the large stores in Leeds had room settings, which I used to find fascinating when I used to go for a browse there on a Saturday sometimes, as it was in walking distance from my house, and I was only about 8 or 9yrs at the time.
I used to imagine it was my house - but of course - it didn't have the IKEA furniture, as it wasn't invented in the 50s!