We love Ikea... kind of

Having sold practically everything we own before we left New Zealand apart from a fleet of bicycles, outdoor equipment and few left over rags that have some resemblance to clothes, there was really no question as to where we would do our shopping when we arrived in Sweden. Ikea, the Swedish institution serving Swedes and the world alike with a massive assortment of furniture of goods. You can even buy a house there! In fact Ikea is reputed to be the worlds largest furniture retailer – not that being big makes them any good of course, quite the opposite in my books, but they do have a goal of running on 100 percent renewable energy which is a good start.

You may therefore be surprised to hear (I certainly was) that Ikea is not actually Swedish at all, but Dutch, although it did start out as a Swedish company. Anyway, it’s probably sacrilege in Sweden to call them a Dutch company so I will simply comply and pretend they are Swedish to prevent any unwanted abuse from the local populace.

So off we went to Ikea on a beautiful sunny summer’s day. To be honest, it was a complete waste of a steaming hot weekend day, but it’s practically been the same (warm and sunny) for two months straight. With D-day approaching to our move in to our apartment, we quite literally needed to get some stuff and we had run out of time waiting for the weather to deteriorate. We needed basics like a bed, some towels, maybe a plate of two, a couple of knifes and forks to eat with and a cup maybe (we don’t want to get too carried away). In a way I feel kind of free being able to shove everything we own into a few bags and move, but it’s not very practical when your nearly 40 and have a young child, and after being in Sweden coming up to two months I think it’s fair to say we are a bit sick of it.

 

Riding the bus to Ikea. The bus was probably made there too.

The mighty Ikea

There are two Ikea’s in Stockholm. The Kungens Kurva store has over five and a half hectares of floor space and is reputably the largest Ikea in the world. I figured if we were going to do the Ikea thing, we may as well do it properly. As it turned out, this massive behemoth would have taken us quite a bit more time to get too and we (quite rightly) wanted to minimise wasting too much of the beautiful day getting there; we opted with the smaller, closer store instead.

Not that it was small! It had its own bus stop, which was minnowed by the huge towering blue windowless wall that inside contained a labyrinth of aisles and happy shoppers. Probably happier, no doubt, in the knowledge that they couldn’t see the beautiful day they were missing out on outside. Separate entries and exits greeted us, the purpose we found out later (so you have to walk through the entire bloody shop to get out!) and it took a while for us to figure out how to actually get in.

Inside the front door was a very large enclosed children’s nursery. In effect it worked like this. You dumped your kid at the reception, the staff gave you a number and put a bright yellow vest with you number printed on it on your little one. The kid was then free to go berserk in the large play area. Then I guess when you were finished shopping, your simply came back, handed your number over and your little one was retrieved. I wanted to take a photo but decided it was best not too given the sensitivities of parents to middle aged men (not quite but nearly) showing interest in their children.

Ana was a bit young to leave there, however she had a great time jumping on and testing out all the beds on offer, playing in conveniently located children’s corners throughout the store and chomping through more than her share of Ikea’s famous meatballs at the large restaurant located within. In fact we both thought the meatballs were not too nice (by Swedish standards) and our grumbling stomachs that evening tended to agree. It’s no surprise to hear that they were implicated in the horse meat scandal earlier in the year. Of course, I’m sure they no longer contain any horsemeat; perhaps they tasted better when they did?

Ikea meatballs. Mmmmm.... kind of

We lasted over an hour which was pretty good for us – we really did need a bed. To get out you were forced to practically walk through the entire store, clever marketing, before being thrown out at the Ikea bus stop and awaiting the ride home. Home was eagerly awaited so we could spend some time outside and actually enjoy some of the day!

So what did we buy? Nothing. Nothing! Well, it’s hard to carry a bed on the bus and besides you can order everything over the phone and then things will magically turn up on your door. At least we now know what we want.

Two more sleeps and we can unpack, needless to say we are looking forward to it. Although the shipping company have informed us that the rest of our gear will not arrive until mid September. Just in time to unpack the bikes for the upcoming winter! At least it gives us a little time to figure out where to put them!