Today, I had the great idea to go check out Ikea. I had been wanting some of these, and I also wanted to look for two other things. I needed something for the living room big enough to keep the little lady's toys in and some sort of stylish storage box for our "home office". Ikea would be the perfect place!
We loaded up the little lady and headed west. I was so excited to finally see what all the fuss was about! As we sat in the left turn lane, the light changed about 5 times, and I kept staring at the line leading into the Ikea parking lot on the other side of the street. An entire lane devoted just to Ikea patrons! People in orange vests directing traffic! I was beginning to get nervous that we would be denied entry. Luckily, Keith knew of a back entrance so we turned left without u-turning into that long line. "See you later suckers," I yelled from the sunroof. You can imagine my disappointment as we approached the secret entrance and saw the Ikea Lot Full sign, my tail was tucked nicely between my legs as the man in the orange vest shooed us back to the main road and that long line.
We finally made it to the main garage. Entrance after entrance blocked, orange vests waving us on and on, sign after sign--Ikea Garage Full, Use Remote Parking. Where are we?!? Disney World? That's seriously what it felt like as we were being ushered around the parking lot by those people in their orange vests with their orange batons. "Oh man! I can't wait to get in this place!"
Okay, I hope you've enjoyed this little tale up until this point because as far as I'm concerned, Ikea=I Can't. The entrance was confusing; there were people in yellow and blue shirts yelling something about grocery carts not being allowed upstairs. On the right there was a long line. For what? I assume it was some sort of daycare because there was a lot of noise coming from the room they were waiting for, and everyone in line had kids. In the back corner of this grand entrance there was an elevator across from a closed metal double-door guarded by security. No signs to lead us, but the double doors looked like the opposite side of an exit. Naturally, we went up the elevator. It dumped us into the showroom. At this point, I was still excited. But I had trouble shopping in this environment. I just needed 2 boxes and some bags, but I had to walk through a maze lined with little decorated rooms with about a million other people. It was hard to look at a furnished room and notice the little boxes piled up in the corners. I finally found one that looked promising. I picked it up, and gasped. "Why, this is just a cardboard box! A $10 cardboard box!" We kept walking. The only way to get out of that store is to walk the entire showroom which will eventually circle you around.
I saw someone who worked there and asked her where I could find reusable shopping bags. She stopped texting, looked at me and said, "Reusable shelving bags?" Finally, as I was passing a "bedroom," I saw one of the bags stapled to a wall. I tried to pull it down, but it wouldn't budge. There was a note on it that there were more in the Home Organization section. All of a sudden I was a kid at my aunt's house in Collierville playing our clue game again. Keith saw that Home Organization was on the lower floor in the Marketplace, which happened to be what was behind those aforementioned, non-descript double doors.
On our way down in the elevator, I told the little lady that I thought Mommy's head was going to explode and that I didn't think we'd ever be back to this store. There was another couple on the elevator, and the man said, "Then that makes two families. This place is all stuff for college students who live in small spaces." That comment caught me a little off guard--although I've been out of college for almost 10 years, wasn't I still one of those crazy college students?
Okay, so the first thing I saw in the Marketplace section were the bags. Thank goodness it wasn't a wasted trip. My head was spinning, and I wanted to get out of there. But first, we had to walk the entire Marketplace as that was the only way to get to out. We were in the homestretch, making our way through the laminate flooring and patio furniture. I kept turning to Keith and telling him to walk faster; God help us if there are long lines at checkout!
We got out of there, 15 dollars and 2 hours later. It wasn't a total waste; I got my bags and we saw a couple of lighting options for our kitchen which we will purchase online if we decide. The shipping will totally be worth it seeing as how Mommy will never be going back to that store again.
We loaded up the little lady and headed west. I was so excited to finally see what all the fuss was about! As we sat in the left turn lane, the light changed about 5 times, and I kept staring at the line leading into the Ikea parking lot on the other side of the street. An entire lane devoted just to Ikea patrons! People in orange vests directing traffic! I was beginning to get nervous that we would be denied entry. Luckily, Keith knew of a back entrance so we turned left without u-turning into that long line. "See you later suckers," I yelled from the sunroof. You can imagine my disappointment as we approached the secret entrance and saw the Ikea Lot Full sign, my tail was tucked nicely between my legs as the man in the orange vest shooed us back to the main road and that long line.
We finally made it to the main garage. Entrance after entrance blocked, orange vests waving us on and on, sign after sign--Ikea Garage Full, Use Remote Parking. Where are we?!? Disney World? That's seriously what it felt like as we were being ushered around the parking lot by those people in their orange vests with their orange batons. "Oh man! I can't wait to get in this place!"
Okay, I hope you've enjoyed this little tale up until this point because as far as I'm concerned, Ikea=I Can't. The entrance was confusing; there were people in yellow and blue shirts yelling something about grocery carts not being allowed upstairs. On the right there was a long line. For what? I assume it was some sort of daycare because there was a lot of noise coming from the room they were waiting for, and everyone in line had kids. In the back corner of this grand entrance there was an elevator across from a closed metal double-door guarded by security. No signs to lead us, but the double doors looked like the opposite side of an exit. Naturally, we went up the elevator. It dumped us into the showroom. At this point, I was still excited. But I had trouble shopping in this environment. I just needed 2 boxes and some bags, but I had to walk through a maze lined with little decorated rooms with about a million other people. It was hard to look at a furnished room and notice the little boxes piled up in the corners. I finally found one that looked promising. I picked it up, and gasped. "Why, this is just a cardboard box! A $10 cardboard box!" We kept walking. The only way to get out of that store is to walk the entire showroom which will eventually circle you around.
I saw someone who worked there and asked her where I could find reusable shopping bags. She stopped texting, looked at me and said, "Reusable shelving bags?" Finally, as I was passing a "bedroom," I saw one of the bags stapled to a wall. I tried to pull it down, but it wouldn't budge. There was a note on it that there were more in the Home Organization section. All of a sudden I was a kid at my aunt's house in Collierville playing our clue game again. Keith saw that Home Organization was on the lower floor in the Marketplace, which happened to be what was behind those aforementioned, non-descript double doors.
On our way down in the elevator, I told the little lady that I thought Mommy's head was going to explode and that I didn't think we'd ever be back to this store. There was another couple on the elevator, and the man said, "Then that makes two families. This place is all stuff for college students who live in small spaces." That comment caught me a little off guard--although I've been out of college for almost 10 years, wasn't I still one of those crazy college students?
Okay, so the first thing I saw in the Marketplace section were the bags. Thank goodness it wasn't a wasted trip. My head was spinning, and I wanted to get out of there. But first, we had to walk the entire Marketplace as that was the only way to get to out. We were in the homestretch, making our way through the laminate flooring and patio furniture. I kept turning to Keith and telling him to walk faster; God help us if there are long lines at checkout!
We got out of there, 15 dollars and 2 hours later. It wasn't a total waste; I got my bags and we saw a couple of lighting options for our kitchen which we will purchase online if we decide. The shipping will totally be worth it seeing as how Mommy will never be going back to that store again.
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4 comments:
I've been inside an Ikea one time, but I went with pros who knew how to navigate it. I can't imagine going in for the first time alone! I do remember we parked in the "remote parking." Definitely not a place you just run in and out of quickly.
That sounds awful! I've been to an Ikea in Pittsburgh and I swear it was nothing like that. No crazy parking issues, not crowded, easy to navigate. That's just crazy.
I wonder how much gasoline you burned and emissions you put in the air waiting to get to your re-usable bags so you don't have to use plastic anymore?
rja, you're such an environmentalist.
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