Jason, good post. Your link doesn't work at the end though. Thought you should know in order to repair for others.

VICKIE - I was actually fixing it as you were commenting.  Check it out if you have a chance.  The ending is sort of loud, but it's too funny to me not to include it.

I always feel trapped in IKEA. It's like being in an amusement park stuck in line.

Jason- Never heard of this store and never have been to one, in fact, I have not seen one except for on your blog.:) 

I totally agree, especially about being able to identify the furniture in a house!  A broker was trying to tell my client that was looking at furniture in a home available for purchase that it was Ethan Allen.  I was ready to die- it was Ikea!

IKEA is a HUGE maze or one BLACK HOLE!  I can never find myself out!

IKEA ..... not since ABBA has Sweden contributed to the world.  There are people who would walk across miles of broken glass just to shop there.  Interesting to say the least.  The best part about the IKEA is at there grand openings they give out LOADS of money for people in line. Like the first person in line get something like $10K and on down the line, kind of cool

IKEA stores definitely cater to a certain segment of the market... and they do quite well with it... but it's not quite my cup of tea.  There was talk of one coming to town a year or so ago but that's since died down. 

Jason,

Same set up everywhere it seems. I went to the first Ikea in the state of Washington about 6 weeks after it had opened. It is to this day still the craziest shopping experience I have ever encountered. There were SOOO many people there (it was a saturday, but still) that it was almost unbearable. It was almost like you had to move at the pace of the crowd and like you said........there are no 'outs'. Once you get in there, you have to go through ALL of the display rooms. Interesting merchandising concept for sure.

Can you imagine if other retailers tried that? Can you think of another one that does? We have a grocery chain here that does something similar, but nothing to the degree Ikea does.  

IKEA is simply the greatest store EVER!!! No other furniture store compares. I love it, my wife loves it, everyone i know loves it. The furniture is awesome at a great price. And, wow! Have you tried the meatballs. I recommend go for an entire day - it is so much fun that its like disney world or better, for free. Plan to buy lunch. Get meatballs, fires, and then ask them to cover the fires in the gravy!!! Then... get a glass of lingonberry juice and you are ready for an eating extravaganza. 

Jason, I've never bought anything at IKEA either and only been there once.  You certainly can tell the IKEA furniture when going to someone else's home.  I've seen some people whose homes look like they are straight out of an IKEA catalog.  Inexpensive, but very functional.  I'm surprised that Katerina has never heard of IKEA -- aren't they like the biggest furniture retailer in the WORLD?

I'd always wanted to walk through a real corn maze and finally got the chance this past Fall while visiting a friend in New Jersey.  It's not all it's cracked up to be.   

When I visited Austin in December, my son and his wife took us to lunch at IKEA. I couldn't believe we were going to a furniture store for lunch.  It was quite a trip.

Never go against the arrows in Ikea.  You will be forever caught in a loop.  I thought I had a backway in to where the pictures are to discover on my last trip that they had moved the pictures.  Oh no!  It must have been a trick to put me next to the cinammon rolls :-)

Jason, my son went to the one in Plano in November and I haven't seen him since! LOl Just kidding...it is a hard store to navigate, but the deals are awesome. What better place for a person just moving out of Mom and Dad's to find furniture. It's not as cheap as taking our things, but almost!

That is sooo funny! I have only been to IKEA once...for that reason! Well, that and I think they're furniture looks like those plastic toddler playsets, you know the ones with the slides and all the different colors. However, it's quite an ingenius layout if you think about it. They make sure you see EVERY single item that they have in stock before they let you go...

If I could get all of my listings into a cornmaze like set-up I would do it!!! LOL!

We used to have to drive half way to LA to get to an IKEA store, and it was a big deal to stop in on the way back to San Diego.  Now we have a few stores around here, but I think my own personal demographic has aged me out of the IKEA market.  It's still fun to go in for odds and ends, and it is kid-friendly.  The product names are ridiculous, though.  I wonder what would happen if we got the IKEA product-name people together with the Active Rain staffers that make up the "What does the graphic say?" words? 

When IKEA opened up in New Haven, CT we went to take a look.  Both my husband and myself felt trapped in the store.  can you imagine if there was fire?!  People would not know what to do.  I wouldn't know what to do if there was a fire in that store.  Very very scary.  I have never gone back to the store and do not plan on doing so. And YES you can def. tell when a home is furnished with IKEA>  Very obvious!   Thanks for the post I agree totally with you. 

Oh I could live in Ikea... In fact could - because I can never find my way out either !!!

james- at least there is food to eat and beds to sleep in!

IKEA is great for buying things like...when you need dozens of inexpensive wine glasses for a party! And where else can you get a throw rug for your garage for only $2.50? The batteries are a fantastic buy as well, IMO. When your college student needs to "decorate" the dorm room, IKEA is your place. Sure, much of the stuff is cheap plastic, but if you are a savvy shopper, you can get some really great deals and fun designs. And a yummy frozen yogurt too! Yay, IKEA!

I love IKEA.  I use it like an amusement park for my 4 year old son.  The Swedish meatballs in the cafeteria are very tasty and they have nice deserts.  My son loves to wander around and play at the stations throughout the store.  I also like the clean modern look of  a lot of the furniture. 

I'm tolerably fond of IKEA, myself.  Especially for little bits of staging items.  And I once got an entire bedroom for my daughter from IKEA and was able to bring it home from Houston in the back of a small pickup and put it together myself - that was nice.  Some things are not so great, others are simply brilliant ideas or executions of whatever they are (I love, love, LOVE my IKEA can opener, for example).  

For that "trapped" feeling, here's the trick.  At the beginning of the maze, there's a map of the place.  It shows the "shortcuts" where you can cut through from one arm to another.  

It may not be for everyone, but it seems to be working.  The guy who owns it (it's privately held, we checked, wanting to buy stock many years ago), Ingvar Kamprad, started out selling items from his garden shed and from that, with an idea, is now in the top four richest people in the world.

Don't ever go on a Saturday or Sunday if you can help it, though - it really IS a cattle call.  Wednesday mornings are usually good. 

JASON - The price of the furniture at IKEA is indicative of the quality of the furniture.  If you're going to buy something there, you need to be pretty handy because the directions are hard to follow.  Since their furniture is shipped to countries all over the world, they don't put words on their directions, just pictures.

Jason, IKEA is an interesting store.  When I lived in Pittsbrugh, it was very close to my house.  I did find some cool stuff in there but like you said every time I went in, I thought I would never get out!  Once, when my oldest son was young, we left him in the play area and halfway through the store, they were calling us to pick him up.  I thought I would never find my way back to him!  Funny to think about now but not then.