I’ve always been told Ikea is like a maze, but I’ve never been to an actual store. I’ve just ordered things online from them before. With a week of rain and me needing to do some walking around I decided it was time to see how massive an Ikea store was. Along with testing out those meatballs they sell!
In my mind, I was somewhat joking around that this store would be some giant maze. Let me tell you they 100% ensure you are aware it’s a maze by the map they have displayed at the start of it.
What I did know before going into this is there are shortcuts throughout the place if you are trying to get somewhere. Since I wanted to see everything and was in no hurry, I would not be taking any shortcuts. I’d be following the line throughout the entire store from start to finish the best I could.
As you walk around each section has a theme to it. They also have boxes around each area to try and indicate to you where shopping carts are, and they are not permitted. Since the areas in them can get a bit narrow.
I don’t know how many times I'll find a spot to leave the cart and then just go into a section that takes me to another section. Before I know it, I must take two turns and a couple of steps back just to find my shopping cart that I'd have a single item in.
Ikea is one of those stores where even someone like me can walk in thinking I need nothing they have for sale. You will walk out having bought something. Some people had carts filled to the top.
Then you had people walking around with no carts whatsoever. I noticed every so many sections of Ikea had shopping carts or baskets set up for people to take. I even noticed some people who did not start with a cart not only grab one but fill it up before getting to the end of the Ikea maze.
Ikea also just had a lot of helpful information. For instance, in the rug section. They had a chart to give you an idea of how much rug you need. They also had tapped off on the ground's actual dimensions so you could get the exact idea of how big something was. I’m shocked more stores here don’t do things like this.
It was also cool to see Ikea bring some Swedish names of things into the store. They would also have little signs about some culture-related things to the country they are from. I felt it just added to the overall experience of being in the store. Even more so at the end when they had a Swedish food section near checkout.
One of the reasons I did not want to take any shortcuts is simply how easy it is to get turned around in a store like this. Occasionally they thankfully have arrows pointing to the correct direction to be going. I can only wonder how many people have been lost in an Ikea store unable to find the exit!
It was quite tempting to get one of the many outdoor prints they had in the frame section of the store. I loved this scene with birch trees in it they simply have named Bjorksta with a fancy o.
One of the first items I ended up picking up was a microwavable dome cover to use in the microwave. I’ve tried covered bowls in the past. I’ve even used paper towels draped over the top of something I'm microwaving to try and prevent splatter. I have to say this cover was something I did not know I needed so badly. I use it a couple of times a week.
There was also this section of fake plants. It was tempting to pick one up for my desk. I would however later find something much better for my desk. I decided I could always return to an Ikea and pick up some fake plants if I felt I just had to have one for the desk.
My biggest reason for being here was just seeing what Ikea even has. That way in the future I can always come back with an idea of what I could use. That also helps somewhat to try and cut down on impulse buying. Which otherwise would have been some fake plants that I did not have a huge need for.
Not everything in the store was out in the open. A lot of the bigger stuff you would see on massive shelves in boxes. They had these information screens where you could swipe that showed everything and you could then ask someone to go get an item for you. Even better yet have an item shipped to you if needed.
For fun, I looked up the Ikea desk I'm using. Along with seeing what other things they had included in the info center screen. It turns out I did not need to do so to find something I would end up picking up.
While walking around I ended up finding a draw organizer with the Ikea desk. It was designed to fit perfectly into my desk drawer and has given me a lot of usable space for different things.
I did end up walking around more of the warehouse feeling part of the store. Where everything just had numbers of what they were that the information center displayed. All these isles were also closed off at the end. Keeping you from just looping from one end to another.
Final Thoughts
After checking out all my items there was one final stop before leaving the store. I had to try out some of the Ikea meatballs. If I recall they called them Meatball Sundaes which is kind of strange but once you look at them, you understand why.
My only complete about the meatballs was how small they were! I ended up ordering a second helping since I was rather starved after being in the Ikea store for an hour and a half. I was kind of shocked I was not in there longer which is how people talk about being trapped in Ikea all day long.
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Photos were taken and content was written by @Enjar about my personal experiences in the real world away from the computer at home.