Friday, December 11, 2009

The Ikea phenomenon

'I'll call into Ikea Cardiff on my way home from Devon and pick up the lights.'
'Do you know where Ikea is?'
'Yes, of course.'

You can hear the alarm bells ringing, can't you? I couldn't. Which is why I drove around all of west Cardiff - not to mention Dinas Powis - before phoning Husband. 'Where exactly is Ikea?'

And once in, it's as if the normal rules of time and space no longer exist. If you've ever been in Ikea you'll know what I mean. It's hard to explain except to say, 'Think Tardis.' Bigger on the inside than the outside.'

I came out two and a half hours later with a trolley-load of stuff I didn't know I needed.

13 comments:

Anne in Oxfordshire said...

You must of driven miles..and the wrong way to end up near Dinas Powys...you should of gone to the Bristol one...!

Whereabouts is IKEA in Cardiff..I am going there this weekend....When I lived in Wales there was NO IKEA in Wales, and Bristol only opened a little while before I moved, we used to go to Birmingham or London!

Gerald (Ackworth born) said...

Never been in IKEA in my life - the "Manchester" one dominates the skyline of nearby Ashton under Lyne but that's eight miles out of Manchester so the Cardiff one is probably in Barry!

Furtheron said...

I'm like Gerald never been in my life but I've heard the horror stories from my brother and his trips there... he claims it is set up to trap you inside for hours.... days even and the exit only appears after you've put enough in the trolley for them to let you through the till

NitWit1 said...

Wish we had an IKEA near us. In US they are mostly in mega cities.

Good quality assortment of wares, too.

Leslie: said...

I try to avoid Ikea if at all possible...once in you can't get out unless you go through the WHOLE building!!! Or else you get totally LOST! lol

Eunoia said...

Here in germany the Ikea are all at motorway intersections.
Now that's what I call good logistics planning on the part of
Ikea's marketing dept :-)

James Higham said...

Ikea is not exactly easy to navigate.

Poppy said...

Lol... I'm very prout of myself because I only spent ten euros in Ikea when I first went there. Yay for my budget! :) I live in Slovenia and the nearest Ikea is in Italy - 20 minute drive. Thanks god it has its own motorway exit and thanks god it's so huge I couldn't miss it. Because I'm very talented at missing things... :)

Mauigirl said...

Ikea is addictive that way. And if yours is like ours, they make you go through the whole entire store in order to get to the checkout area - by which time your cart is full!

CherryPie said...

I always get lost in our Ikea!

Anne in Oxfordshire said...

Hi Liz...Went to Cardiff Ikea today :-) no wonder you couldn't find it... ..Arni and my brother-in-law stayed in the car, I only went in for some drinking glasses..was very restrained..and very very quick too!!


@ Gerald (Ackworth born) no its not in Barry, it is actually in Cardiff!!

CalumCarr said...

Hi Liz

Our Edinburgh IKEA is just 10 miles away and so there quite often. Cafe is so big one can spend hours there working without being conspicuous. In a funny way the noise of the cafe becomes white noise ==> easy to concentrate.

By the way, I'm back posting now.

Liz Hinds said...

Sorry I didn't get a chance to reply, anne, but i'm glad you found it!

It's something everyone should experience at least once in a lifetime, gerald!

There are no windows, furtheron, so days pass and you don't notice.

They do have a good simple range, nitwit.

I had to follow the arrows on the floor, leslie, for fear that I'd end up in Narnia.

very sensible of Ikea, stu.

Once in, it is, james. As long as you follow the arrows!

Me too, poppy. I actually drove past it twice ...

They do, mauigirl. Mine was.

Follow the arrows on the floor, cherrypie! I did and only ended up in the same place three times ...

I've heard good things about the cafe but never been there, calum.