THURSDAY JANUARY 24/08Well, what a totally pleasant experience that Ikea store was this morning. And getting there was an even better experience. The traffic on I-10 to the easily locatable Ikea store in Phoenix this morning was light & non threatening. Fortunately the store is in the south end of Tempe & situated only about a block from the interstate. We timed it to get there around 9 to take advantage of the in-store restaurant at Ikea. As we neared the store it reminded me of being on the grounds of large estate. Big palm trees, landscaping, & not at all like some ordinary run of the mill shopping mall. The super large yellow & blue store stood in the middle of it's own acreage.
We entered a very clean & well organized lobby, followed the arrows on the floor to the escalator, & let our noses lead us to the well laid out & colorful restaurant. http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy Very, very, impressive to say the least. Breakfast is fast, & cafeteria style, & the prices are right out of the 1950's. As I ate my breakfast & looked around at all the colors, designs, windows, & decors, the thought occurred to me, "finally, a store that knows how to do things right!!"
And how to price things right as well, because as we made our way around the store looking at a ka-zillion million things I was amazed at the sensibility of the price tags. No gouging here, no silly "sale" signs, no gimmicks, no glitz & glammer like some stores. I think the retail industry should send their CEO's, sales staff & managers here to see how a business can & should be run. The showrooms are beautiful & tastefully done. Colors, colors, colors. An interior decorator's place to be, for sure. The whole store is like a piece of yummy eye candy.
And then we got to the warehouse. This place is humongous & it is set up in such a way that you pick up your own stuff that you had previously marked down while up on the sales floor. I've worked in warehouses for Eaton's & Sears many years ago but this warehouse dwarfed them many times over. Even the check-outs are different. You can scan your own stuff, which we tried, but gave up. Just a little too techno for us bumpkins from the north. And, when you leave the checkout, there is a bistro with 50 cent hot dogs, dollar cinnamon buns, etc. And the 25 cent coffee is great. Even outside, they have people there to help you load the merchandise in your car. And everybody is friendly.
I think all retail business would do well to take a lesson from Ikea & learn how to do things right, how to treat people right, and.............how to make cinnamon rolls right:))
It was an easy drive back from Phoenix & reminded me a bit of the days when I used to drive, almost daily, the infamous 401 in Canada between Kitchener & Toronto. Nice to dust off some good old superior driving skills again.
As soon as we got back to the rig we started on the assembly of the Ikea furniture we bought to-day. http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy Unfortunately that is an area where I do not posses any superior skills so it's always a stressful event, but between the two of us we managed to put to-gether 4 pieces of furniture. We're saving the hardest one, the chair/bed, for to-morrow & that will probably wreck up most of our day. Kelly says we can do it but she is just being her usually silly optimistic self. Me, I'm the eternal pessimist. We ain't got a chance in hell of putting that chair/bed to-gether!!!!
P.S. Can you tell I really liked that Ikea store:))
Love the bright red chairs! Can't wait to see the finished products. I haven't been in an IKEA since I lived on Long Island back about 12 years ago. That was my first one and sounds quite different from this setup (although the quality & prices were great even then).
ReplyDeleteThat's the only problem with Ikea, isn't it. You have to put it all together yourself. However it seems most stores are going in that direction!
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