A stroll in IKEA

IKEA,

Yes, I concur, IKEA furniture is not dirt cheap, it's not ready to use, as one has to assemble it one self (or if one has 2 left hands, let the professionals do it for a nominal fee)....and what's the logic of strolling through the showroom, jotting down all the numbers/references and going to the warehouse and pick it up one self?

But somehow, after a few visits to their store, one gets the hang of it.

And ofcourse, the layout of the store has some logic into it, the environment is clean and cosy, kids have their own playground and the kid's section is full of fluffy toys where they can feast their energy upon. The staff are tremendously helpful and genuinely friendly (what does IKEA management give them to eat anyway? as staff in other furniture stores are totally the opposite....more like grumpy, lazy, don't care and don't friggin' know attitude).

So it is no surprise that since the opening of its Malaysian branch (purportedly the largest in Asia) a few years ago, the IKEA store is a runaway success (and yups, it is conveniently located near to our house...just a mere 10 mins drive from our 'casa').

Practically every single day it is fully packed with shoppers, be they buy things or just are there to savour the IKEA experience. Mind you, IKEA Malaysia opens its doors at 7am in the morning and serves breakfast at cut throat prices, less than RM1 for a 'nasi lemak' ( 20 euro cents) and closes its doors at 10.30 pm, 7 days a week, all year round.

Also, a curious gimmick.......take this for example :

Normal next day delivery of furniture that you can't transport yourself would be RM65 (14 euro's).....but hear this out.....SAME DAY delivery (for goods bought before 3pm) will only cost RM50 (11 euro's).

So that means for a speedier delivery, one has to pay less than for a next day delivery......what's the logic of that?! Enlighten me please.

Last week we were there to buy some cupboards (to stack our ever growing number of DVD's) and somehow something seemed not right.

Yups, people abound, but the number of people was far lesser than we had previously encountered. Notice the empty aisles and non-existent queue's at the check-out (see accompanying video fragment). And I'm talking about midday....not the wee hours of early morning.

Economy crisis is finally trickling down into everyday's life and even the succesfull IKEA outfit is affected by it.

Don't hear us complaining though........Jess and me had a nice walk around, stuffed our stomach with food and bought a few sets of cupboards on the cheap.....no sweat....all this dude has to do is use his 'Bob the Builder' skills and voila.....'klaar is kees'