IKEA Hostel
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There’s something special about IKEA. Fanciful foreign names, missing pieces, and free breakfast have made the Swedish furniture manufacturer has become as much an American institution as Rock-n-Roll or Apple Pie. As Jonathan Coulton sings, “It’s a god-damn Swedish parade.”
However powerful America’s love/hate relationship with flat-pack is, it seems it’s a few orders of magnitude stronger in IKEA’s homeland, as evidenced by the opening of a hostel for shoppers at the company’s Oslo store. The idea is that many shoppers may need an extra day to complete their purchases, and would rather not have to drive home and come back the next day. With space for 30 shoppers, the hostel features both a traditional hostel layout with bunk-beds and a bridal suite complete with a round bed, chandelier, and breakfast in bed. The best part? The whole stay is completely free.
However cool this is, it makes me wonder if this isn’t evidence of a larger problem with the IKEA shopping experience. Should I really have to spend multiple days trying to buy a few pieces of furniture?
[via Consumerist]
With gas prices upwards of $7USD a gallon in that part of Europe, poor weather during the winter, and possibly long distances between Oslo and places people live, it doesn’t surprise me that this hostel at IKEA is going to be popular.
I don’t think it’s an issue of being forced to spend multiple days shopping for furniture, as much as it’s IKEA realizing a need of their customers, and attempting to meet it. No one’s making anyone “spend multiple days trying to buy a few pieces of furniture,” but for those who do need to spend the time due to their circumstances, it’s a godsend, and praise to IKEA for doing that.
well i will say this…
if anywhere is to make a sweet room to stay in… its ikea
@ Clunkclink
I guess what I was getting at was that maybe there were some issues with the IKEA shopping workflow that caused it to be longer than it really needed to be. I’ve never actually been to an IKEA, so it was really just idle postulation.