August 16 2007 IKEA

I am posting my old blogs for people to read. I have these posted on my myspace page so I thought I would transfer them over here.


Thursday, August 16, 2007
IKEA Current mood: disappointed
Okay so IKEA opened up down the street from me a few months ago. I decided to refrain myself from joining the mobs of people flooding the doors. I am not a big fan of crowds and I figured I would wait a few months until the craziness calmed down. So I received a catalog in the mail last week and decided I liked one of the toy organizers for Grace's playroom. So I figured it is 2 pm on a Thursday, I might be able to miss the major crowds. I was right for the most part. So I find a parking spot, fairly close and Grace and I walked across the parking lot to the big entrance area. I was impressed with their parking lot design, btw. So upon entering I see the huge staircase and the play area for the kids. How nice that they provide day care while you shop. It was full, not accepting any more munchkins (even though I don't think I would put Grace in there...I was disappointed that it was full). So we find an awkward shopping cart that consisted of a seat with a bright yellow bag strapped behind it. We make our way to a huge elevator and then up we go. The elevator then drops us into a really cool set up of rooms. Most of the rooms are pretty modern looking and remind me of something in an apartment or college housing. I follow the arrows on the floor hoping to get to the kids section soon. Sure enough I find the set up of the toy organizer in a room set up that I want and it has a tag on it that says Self Service and has an aisle and bin number (I think). It has two numbers on it. Thankfully the only reason I went there was to get this one piece of furniture because almost every piece of furniture in the place has two numbers on it. I think to myself what do these numbers mean? Where is self service? That is where I need to go. I think they should provide you with a pen and pencil for writing down the number for the self service area because it is the very last place you can go before checking out and the room are set up in the beginning. (It is a big place, btw) I find a sign that points us to the next section and tells which direction to go to find the self service area. We continue to look through the kids section and find a "shortcut" to another area.
Never in my life have I ever felt so herded. I look around and everyone follows the same path, every time they go through the store. You simply follow the arrows from section to section. Heaven forbid you realize you want something from the kitchen section after being in the bathroom section. You would have to break all the rules and go against the grain. I had to do this after taking a short cut and then noticing the bathroom sinks (we are redoing our bathroom) Grace and I were nearly ran over trying to get back to the sinks (and it wasn't that crowded). They weren't that far from the kids section, but it was a scary venture. After looking at the sinks we decided to go with the flow again back through the kids section (we had to follow the signs). Only half of my bins were in that section so I start thinking, oh no, what if I have to come back to get the bins? That would be hell. So I hope and pray that once I get to the self serve section that they have more there, if not I didn't need to buy them. I felt so lost in this huge place. I notice a map on the wall that only made me feel even more small in such a big place. And heaven forbid I stop to actually look at the map because that meant I had to stop the flow of the herding. Wow. I then notice that the self serve section is at the very end of the adventure.
So.after a potty stop we finally made it down another elevator and found our way to the self serve section. Might I mention that I only saw two people who actually worked at IKEA in the store. They were both in the kids section. The one lady was teasing the young boy. They seemed happy....until they left each other's company and then they were completely grumpy and avoiding providing help to anyone. So we find the self service area and thankfully I remembered the numbers because there were something like 40 aisles with about the same amount of bin numbers on each row. I found what I was looking for and thankfully the bins were there too so I didn't have to fight the herd. I find the organizer and it obviously won't fit on my cart, if you can call it that. So I notice a sign that says, please ask for help if the item is too heavy. Of course it was too heavy, so I find the nearest 17 year old with a yellow shirt on and ask him to help me. He reluctantly puts down his clip board, tips his head to the side, sighs and asks if I have a flat cart? (As only a 17 year old can ask) Do I look like I have a flat cart? I think you would notice something like that. So he gets a "flat cart" and I take him over to the area where my item is located. He loads it onto the cart and says do you want to put the rest of your stuff on here? I said, sure, noticing that there is no way I can manuever both carts. He puts my yellow bag on the cart and quickly leaves. I am thinking, he didn't even offer to help me. Grace was done at this point and ready to be onto something else. So I let her sit on the items and we go to the checkout area. Are you kidding me??? There is one lane where you can have someone ring you out and the rest is all self serve checkout. I am thinking this place should be called the Self Serve Store, why not shop on the internet?, could be their slogan. I really don't like self serve, but I figure it beats waiting another 20 minutes to actually get a hello and good bye from another grumpy person in a yellow shirt. So the self serve cashier section....The lines are set up so that a person standing next to you can actually jump in front of you. I felt like I was in a race. Let's see who notices who leaves the register faster? What a joke. It was awful. I finally get a register to myself. I scan my items and of course the furniture won't scan so I have to ask someone to help me. I am almost finished and then this lady is practically standing on top of me to get my register next. I glance up at her as I am swiping my credit card thinking I am glad I don't have to enter my pin. She is quietly tapping her toes waiting for me. I was happy to be leaving. I make it out to the parking lot, load up my stuff and I am so thankful that I don't have to go there ever again if I don't want to. sigh. I am so disappointed.
I guess everything comes with a price...even cheap. IKEA has learned how to cut corners in every area to give customers a better price (but not really). I actually enjoy shopping. I like to look around. I like to be able to go where I want. I like to be able to ask questions about things. I enjoy the shopping experience. I didn't enjoy IKEA. It was sterile, boring, confusing, cold (not the temp) and I guess most importantly cheap. I don't mean cheap as in Wal-Mart get a good deal. I mean skimping on customer service, skimping on a decent shopping cart, skimping on making sure I had a good experience. Skimping on the stuff that I go to a store for. IKEA's furniture isn't any more quality than Target or Wal-Mart, it is the same stuff. At least at Wal-Mart you have the old man who smiles at your kid and says hello and have a nice day. At least at Target you get someone in a red shirt asking if you are finding everything okay every 10 seconds. I don't really like Wal-Mart either (small aisles, big carts), but I would go there before going to IKEA any day. At least they say hello. At least I can go to the bathroom section after being in the kitchen section.
Oh that was fun. I hear the food is good. Kids meals for 99 cents. No thanks, I probably have to cook it myself. If it is anything like the shopping experience I think I'll opt for McDonalds (gross). At least the playland isn't full. I am glad it is over with and hopefully I can avoid having to go there ever again.
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