IKEA Opening

A few days ago, Terry and I walked over to the grand opening of the new IKEA store, currently the largest in Canada. It is a few kilometers from our house. (We walked, meaning we had no plans to buy anything - just to check out the new location and perhaps have something to eat in the new, enlarged cafeteria.)














I should add that most of our furniture does come from Ikea - we have been avid shoppers there since first becoming homeowners thirty years ago. But my first Ikea chair didn't come from a store. I found it on the sidewalk on garbage day the year we lived in Toronto. Someone had tossed it because of a tear in the fabric. I carried it home and mended the tear - and it served us well for many years.














I admired a new lighting fixture, wondering where it might fit in our home. I also admired the textiles this new store sells. (Our previous store had no textile department.)














There was an interesting new poster for sale. It showed the Parliament Buildings in downtown Ottawa. Everything looked so dynamic, I had to stop and stare at it. That didn't look right! Our quiet town does not really look like that... Then I realized that they had edited the image, moving a number of downtown landmarks closer to each other than they really were!














If I have any criticism of the store, it is that it is a little TOO big. I was tired of walking through it before I had seen the whole thing. But I'm sure I'll be back...

I got home to discover that my daughter had sent me a link to a Wall Street Journal online article on problems IKEA stores face in China... Their lovely cafeterias with free coffee have become meeting places for older people who are single and looking to mingle! (So there is no room for legitimate shoppers to sit and eat.) People take naps in the bedroom displays... Parents allow children to jump on the furniture... It's an interesting read!