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09/07/2004: "IKEAnnot wait to get out of here!!"
We went to the IKEA in Bloomington Saturday evening. We figured if we got there about 6:30, the crowds would start to go down. Turns out they did go down a bit, but the congestion changed only from "state fair on the busiest day" down to "Ridgedale on Dec. 24."
The Exterior
When they put in the Plymouth Home Depot, I mourned the tree-lined stretch that was cruelly replaced with a garish bright orange devil box. Now I have seen an eyesore that exceeds the Home Depot, perhaps only because of sheer size and not color. The immense solid blue monolith with bright yellow signage (with one "K" already burned out) is a nightmare that will cause even astronauts to squint with disgust.
The Layout
They designed the thing to herd you down their tiny aisles throughout the whole store no matter where you want to go, so it can take 10 minutes to get back to the cashier. And that's WITHOUT huge crowds. The woefully inadequate map doesn't give you enough detail or perspective to move efficiently through the store. It doesn't even have enough detail for you to find all the products. We were like rats in a maze without being able to smell the cheese. Horrible.
The Food
I liked the food! I had meatballs and apple cake and super-sweet berry punch. Plus a kid's meal of mac and cheese and a tiny drink for 99 cents. Can't beat that. Plus we had 99 cent frozen yogurt cones on the way out.
The Product
Product is mostly awesome (we only really looked at tables and desks). For office/computer type stuff, I will never buy Sauder (et al) pressed wood junk furniture again. They should just take that section of Best Buy and burn it for heat this winter. No offense, Cheryl, I'm sure Sauder is the best of the glue wood brands.
Procuring Said Product
Boo. Because it was somewhat busy (or because they are doofs?), we had to wait 45 minutes after checking out for the dudes to wheel out my tiny table from the warehouse. Some of the stuff you can pick yourself from the big shelves in the store, but tons of it has to be picked from the warehouse.
Conclusion
We'll go back, but not with this type of crowd. Yikes. Cecchi went Sunday morning, and he said it was even worse. He said people were starting to lose it and people were packed in like sardines. Check out his Cecchette blog for details: Cecchette IKEA post And I'm glad I don't have to drive by that gross blue box everyday.