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| - Ikea is not just a store, as my fellow Yelper indicated. It is a phenomenon.
Much has been written here and elsewhere about this international mega-chain which specializes in moderately-priced, well-designed contemporary modular (i.e.,assemble-it-yourself) furniture and home accessories. Ikea is exactly what it purports to be, so there is not much I can add to its description.
As I write this post, 28 February 2009, I am having a hard time believing my first experience at the Charlotte location of this Scandinavian retail giant. It opened only ten days ago, and apparently the circus-attraction atmosphere hasn't worn off yet. Picture this: today was wet, windy, and foggy. It rained incessantly. Yet, when we approached the Ikea "campus" via North Tryon Street, there were blockaded traffic lanes, a half dozen patrol cars, and not less than a mile of bumper-to-bumper traffic waiting to get into the parking lot. Incredible. It was as if the economic crisis never happened. I was amazed.
The giant store apparently has only one main entrance and exit, much like its big box cousins. That was particularly inconvenient on a day like today, where staying dry was a challenge. Once inside guests were funneled upstairs via escalator to begin their march around the massive showroom. Everyone was encouraged to grab a courtesy tape measure, pencil, and store map on which to make those all-important pre-purchase notations.
The displays were massive, impressive, and incessant. I thought the furnished recreations of a living space that indicated its square footage an especially effective way to illustrate how Ikea furnishings, heavily oriented toward efficiency, work well in small, tight spaces. I had to chuckle ironically however, since many of the living spaces I've seen since moving to Charlotte are anything but small or tight, quite the contrary. But given the current economy, maybe more folks will be downsizing (I'm thinking of multiple-family McMansions with kids using closets as bedrooms- hee hee). At any rate, Ikea certainly knows how to present its information clearly and effectively, and I'm sure they'd gladly do McMansions as well as small urban spaces.
My biggest beef with Ikea, however, is purely personal. For one thing, any store with arrows on the floor indicating the direction I should walk gives me the creeps, regardless of the crowd size. I don't enjoy being herded into a space and then being compelled to move through it in any direction except the one I choose. Second, I am just not a big fan of the whole box store shopping experience, where the sheer space and quantity of stuff outweighs my eye's ability to focus on detail. I feel certain, judging by the size of the crowd, that my opinion represents the minority, but that's just me.
I will give Ikea props in the kitchen and bath design department, where the concept of modularity and space-consciousness works well. It also appears the Ikea staff are well-trained and prepared to help customers with both the design and planning in those areas.
I am sure I will return to Ikea, if for no other reason than I'd like to spend more time trying to focus on the design aspect of its furnishings and accessories. But until the massive crowds and homeland security-like police presence calm down, I will continue to delay my next Ikea shopping experience. Today's tightly-controlled visit reminded me more of a trip to the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport than, say, my last outdoor concert where I saw Radiohead. I will follow the direction of the crowd-police for Radiohead, but not for kitchen cabinets. Not yet, anyway.
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