They had the right IKEA
December 7th, 2005
“But is IKEA good for us?
Certainly IKEA devotees think so. Or ask the people who go wild,
literally, when an IKEA opens in a new city. There was a near-riot at an IKEA in
London when thousands stormed the doors for the midnight opening; five people
were taken to the hospital. When Atlanta’s first IKEA opened in June, the queue
was so long “it took several hours for people to get into the store,” said store
manager Lynda Mee. “The first guy was in line here for eight days. He came with
a tent.” (He had another incentive besides shopping – a $4,000 IKEA gift card
for being first in line.)
literally, when an IKEA opens in a new city. There was a near-riot at an IKEA in
London when thousands stormed the doors for the midnight opening; five people
were taken to the hospital. When Atlanta’s first IKEA opened in June, the queue
was so long “it took several hours for people to get into the store,” said store
manager Lynda Mee. “The first guy was in line here for eight days. He came with
a tent.” (He had another incentive besides shopping – a $4,000 IKEA gift card
for being first in line.)
Still, there are plenty of big-box stores that offer home goods with
low prices, and people don’t necessarily kill to get into them, which is what
happened at an IKEA in Saudi Arabia last year, where three people died in a
stampede caused by a discount offer. What is the lure of IKEA, and what hath it
wrought?
low prices, and people don’t necessarily kill to get into them, which is what
happened at an IKEA in Saudi Arabia last year, where three people died in a
stampede caused by a discount offer. What is the lure of IKEA, and what hath it
wrought?
No doubt part of the attraction is its exoticism. In a nation of retail
uniformity, IKEA, founded in Sweden in 1943, offers shoppers the pretense, at
least, of being someplace else, and more interesting. It’s not only the Swedish
signage, restaurant menu and the Scandinavian furniture design, but the
strikingly un-American egalitarianism in the corporate structure: the curious
way employees are referred to as “co-workers,” the way IKEA designers with
refreshingly unfamiliar names get acknowledged in the catalogs and the collegial
we’re-all-in-this-together spin to the marketing…”
” They had the right IKEA”
By Linda Matchan
The Boston Globe via AZStarnet
Image: “IKEA @ Richmond” by HR on FLICKR
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