It’s a big blue building with a yellow sign. It’s just an oversized furniture store… big deal.
Apparently, it really is.
Last weekend, with the rain falling hard and zero visibility on the freeway, we zoomed towards this store called “IKEA”. I’ve never been there before but Jaye and the others were so excited that they didn’t even notice the nasty weather outside. After parking our SUV, I plopped out and checked my stuff. Jaye’s door opened and I shouted “Teka hon! Umuulan pa! Hanapan kita ng payo…”.
She was already on her way to the store entrance.
I looked up and saw the big blue building with accents of yellow for the pillars, the entrance and their signs. IKEA was founded in Sweden and the Swedish flag has a blue background and a yellow cross so I guess that explains a lot. Does that mean Wolverine is actually Swedish?
IKEA offers a unique shopping experience.
The first thing you do is grab a shopping card and a pencil. For each big item you would like to buy, you list the description, the aisle number and the bin number. Once you’re done shopping, you go to the warehouse section and pick up your boxed furniture. For the smaller items, just place them on your cart just like a regular store.
They also provide you with these paper rulers.
The store has a one-way trail to ensure that shoppers visit all areas. This is a big help especially during busy weekends because even if there are a lot of shoppers, everyone was going the same way. I don’t think this is a new concept though… in Greenhills during Christmas shopping season, we already have this one-way flow in effect. In fact, the crowd is so dense that you have no choice but to go with the flow (even if the place you want to go to is in the opposite direction).
They have showrooms where they exhibit how well their items go together. I’m guessing IKEA wants to bundle certain items so you end up buying an item and all the other items that goes with it.
I don’t understand the laptops they’re selling. It’s made of cardboard and it only goes to a static IKEA site. Weird.
I like the naming convention they used. Each particular product is assigned a unique Swedish name. Instead of saying “that navy blue two-seater sofa with short legs, soft upholstery and square arm rests”, you just say the “Klippan”. With so many items on the same category to choose from, this simplified naming process eases up shopping and browsing.
The names they use aren’t just random Swedish words. They assign a set of words to a particular type of furniture. Chairs and desks are assigned men’s names. Fabrics and curtains are assigned women’s names. TV’s and major appliances are assigned Sweden’s significant military operations during World War 2.
“But IKEA does not sell TV’s or any major appliances!!!”
Yup, they didn’t have significant military operations during WWII either.
They have a restaurant on the top floor and when lunch came around, I already knew what to order – a plate of their famous Swedish meatballs (I say famous because they have posters all around the store about their cheap and yummy meatballs). Honestly, I had no idea how they tasted but I was ready to roll the dice on this one.
The meatballs were moist, flavorful and dense – it was like eating a fishball but made of meat. It was served with creamy gravy, mashed potatoes and lingonberry jam which is like cranberry sauce only… uh, Swedish… I guess.
I was really enjoying the whole IKEA thing. There were lots of people in the store but it never felt crowded. The whole shopping process was designed to make it efficient for both the shopper and for the store (since they don’t have to end up hiring too many sales associates who will assist each customer). It was until we were going to pick up a bookshelf and a chair from the basement when we noticed a fatal flaw. After hours of walking and shopping (and comparing and debating and computing and designing etc etc), we went to the basement only to find out that the bookshelf and the chair that we wanted to get were out of stock!
Why didn’t they post a notice upstairs to tell customers that these items were out of stock?!
So after all that, we came away disappointed. We didn’t have the energy to go back up and check their merchandises again. We did however came up with other small items like frames, a lamp, vases and a wine cork but we really wished we could have gotten that chair and bookshelf. Crap.
In the end, I guess it was a blessing in disguise that we did not get the bookshelf and the chair because the SUV’s storage area was already full. Bobby and I had to play car trunk Tetris to ensure that the items all fit and that nothing gets squished.
Not counting the out of stock incident, IKEA is a wonderful place to shop and get ideas from (and eat meatballs at). I forgot to pick up a 2011 IKEA catalog but they offer it free online so I guess we’ll be seeing this big blue building again soon.
And next time, we’ll bring a bigger truck.
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