Pics From the Charlotte Grand Opening
February 18th, 2009
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Posts Tagged ‘Ms. Eva’
Part II of The Charlotte Grand Opening
February 18th, 2009
Ms. Eva reporting in from the safe and warm comforts of home.
The grand opening of Ikeas 36th store in the US went without a glitch (well sorta . . . if you count the horrific weather prompting Mr. Castanon to open the store 15 minutes early or the fact that they had to call a Mulligan on the log sawing).
The lines were long but it was a very positive atmosphere despite the cold rain. I was roughly the 140th (give or take a few) person in line & from my viewpoint the Ikea staff worked really hard to keep everyone as comfortable and as welcome as they could – nothing but bright shining faces against the harsh elements. They passed out doughnuts, apple juice (there was a rumor of coffee but I saw none), keychains, beach balls, little squishy chairs and frisbees. Yes I scored them all. They also gave out yellow rain ponchos . . . those were a godsend!
The Charlotte Children’s Choir sounded amazing, I actually got a little choked up hearing them sing our National Anthem and America the Beautiful. Kudos to them and their director. My favorite moment during the ceremony itself was when the Mayor of Charlotte told the folks that had been waiting in line since Monday that they were “crazy.”
Yes, we were all were crazy . . . it was freezing! Snow would have been more comfortable to stand in, you can at least brush snow off. The rain permeated through our already cold bodies. But like I said, it was a dedicated group of shoppers. A handful of folks bailed out when they realized that they were not going to get the free Poang chair (apparently they didn’t do their homework). But for the most part I can safely say the staff of Ikea did their best given the circumstances.
Pictures to come later . . . as soon as I recharge my phone & defrost my feet!
Coming to you from the Charlotte Grand Opening
February 18th, 2009
Ms. Eva reporting in!
I’ll make this brief since it’s very hard to type with gloves on and my laptop battery can only last for so long.
I made my arrival at 3:30 this morning & my current position is on the far corner of the building.
Basically folks . . . it’s C-O-L-D outside! Lugging my stuff to the coveted “end of the line” I developed a major asthma attack and the INCREDIBLY AWESOME COUPLE next to me in line found me an outlet for my nebulizer and looked after me until I was feeling better.
Just as I was feeling human again . . . it started to rain!
I’m in my pop-up tent waiting it out.
That’s about it for now.
The place looks like a Swedish refugee camp . . . folks huddled in sleeping bags . . . little tent cities.
It makes me realize what little survival skills I do have.
I may never do this again . . . unless it’s summer . . . and they’re opening in Myrtle Beach . . .
THEN I would consider it!
IKEA Charlotte Guest Bloggers – Welcome!
February 2nd, 2009
IKEA Charlotte Virtual Tour (follow to print entry form for $1000 shopping spree!)
IKEA Charlotte Grand Opening is in literally DAYS, 15 days, to be exact – and we have guest bloggers lined up to bring us the news from the front lines! We’ll have coverage of IKEA’s Friends and Family Event on the 14th and coverage from the line on opening day!
Becky Shankle, aka ecomod at IKEAFANS.com and @ecomod on Twitter, of eco-modernism has secured an invite to the Friends and Family event on the 14th (talk about IKEA LOVE!) and has promised to report back on all she sees and hears. Becky is owner of Eco-Modernism, based in Raleigh, NC, a company which has been providing IKEA furniture love in the form of IKEA furniture delivery to the Raleigh Durham area since early 2008. Becky’s been blogging about her adventures with designing, assembling and installing IKEA kitchens, bathrooms and other rooms since August of 2007.
Ms. Eva comes to us from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. She’s been anticipating the opening of IKEA Charlotte since the original announcement on January 17th, 2007. Her blog, ikeacarolina.blogspot.com, chronicles her excitement and enthusiam. Ms. Eva plans to be in line on Opening Day and will be sending us updates via her new Blackberry on the events, prizes and crowd. Here’s hoping for good weather!
Welcome Becky and Eva to the PositiveFanatics team!
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