1 post tagged “ikea”

So I finally got around to heading out to the Ikea that opened up here in Portland recently, and boy was it an experience. It's not as if I have a lot of money right now, so I wasn't going to there to go shopping, but I really just wanted to look around because I had never been to an Ikea before.

The Ikea is located out in North Portland right by the airport. We had a bit of a challenge navigating the route to the store because we couldn't really figure out which roads went to the store. When we got near the store, we noticed that aside from the regular parking lot located right in front of the store, there were two large fields a bit farther away from the store that were designated for Ikea parking. We had to park in the farther field because the place was so busy. You can see in the photo how far away the store is as I point to our eventual landing point.

The store itself was pretty fantastic, lots of great products for reasonable prices. As I said, I don't have a lot of extra spending cash right now (due to being unemployed for a month and a half), but I convinced myself to purchase some small picture frames that were 4 for a dollar. I got six packs of these to decorate my walls with, which is exciting because my walls have been bare since I moved in to my house back in June. The store is designed so you sort of zig-zag your way through all of the departments until you reach the checkout registers (and the food court which serves hot dogs for fifty cents -- though i can't eat them...)

The crowd was a bit overwhelming, I have to admit. It wasn't as if i wasn't expecting an Ikea store to be crowded as hell on a sunday afternoon, but I still didn't enjoy it. I have some minor anxiety attacks occasionally when I start to feel crowded by large groups of people. Jeni calmed me down, though, which was nice.

I've always been a bit wary of Ikea, not exactly sure how to feel about the place. I guess I just let my perception of the store be determined by the "ikea nesting instinct" from fight club, but upon further review, I've come to the conclusion that I can give my business to the company in good conscience, given their commitment to conducting their business in a socially and environmentally responsible way.

In all, the store is a nice place to get all kinds of odds and ends for around the house, and I plan on going back as soon as I get a little more money. Though I anticipate I'll continue to build much of my own basic furniture (shelves, media storage, etc.) rather than buy them.