Wednesday, July 19, 2006
You can't always get what you want
So I wasn't back shortly. So after shower and a little resting, J and I made our way to Ikea. Holy Swedish crap! This store is amazing.
For those who have never been, you walk in and see utter chaos off to your left. Cashiers, tons of people, some shouting, then you look back to the right and see an escalator and some signs. So you hop on and whisked off to the 2nd floor which is home to the showrooms. Pretty much everything you see in these lifesize dioramas is available for purchase. Shelves, rugs, sofas, even the little plastic plants, but not here. They provide little notepads and golf pencils so that you can write down where to find all the stuff that you can't live without. There is just one walkway that passes through the entire store. There are aisles but not yet. And there are also secret passageways to get to other parts of the store quicker but you need a keen eye to spot those. Once you're through the showrooms the magical walkway leads you to the down escalator, you get on and arrive in the "bed, bath and beyond" section of the store. Potholders, trivets, maybe some spoons, I don't really know, we were trying to hurry through so we could get back and go to dinner. Once you've conquered that section, the store opens up into a gigantic warehouse. Not Raiders of the Lost Ark big, but definitely Lowe's height if not sheer size. Here is where you pick up the coffe table/shelves/chairs/furniture that you saw upstairs and just have to have. I would HIGHLY recommend actually writing down where the items are located. There are a couple computer monitors with searchable inventories to help you find what you saw, but the lines for these are crazy and pointless in my book.
Then you make your way to the checkout, which we didn't do because the coffee table we picked out wouldn't even begin to fit in our rental Stratus, but I think we're going back Sun. with Focus, who even though small in stature, can swallow up a shocking amount of goods. I love my hatchback.
Caveat emptor is the advice I would give an Ikea newbie. The prices are amazing and will completely spoil you. We saw a stainless steel shelf at Lowe's yesterday for $45, which would've cost maybe $12 at Ikea. But these Swedish items are not going to last forever, so treat them nice and they should last at least a few years. Also keep your wits. It's very easy to walk in, grab a bag/cart and start buying everything in sight. Yes that is the cutest lamp I've ever seen, but we don't need it. No I don't think we should redo our apartment just because that shelf is $4. Remain calm and stick to your list, or a 5 item maximum limit. You can easily get carried away. But damn, all the stuff is cool and so cheap!
I'll continue ATL: The Weekend later.
Before I leave, Brandon at M80 and M80 Teams contacted me via email yesterday. He found my Raisin toast sittin' on 22s post and though that I would make a good person to help promote NAPA auto parts 40th anniversary extravaganza. Basically they're giving stuff away to promote NAPA stores. Race tickets, grills (not the kind for your teeth, thank you pop culture), hats, aprons, cups, etc...
I think my favorite part of the email was:
Hahahaha! I'm reputable! I think that means that my blog is at least 2 yrs. old.
Since I'm lazy I'll just link to 2 other guys who posted about the prizes and the press release.
Slobokan's blog post
Neeraj Tikku's blog post from his unofficial F1 blog
Interesting side note, Neeraj has an open invitation for anyone with a wordpress blog to send him an email and tell him that they want to post on his blog, but I only know 4 people with wordpress blogs and I don't think any of them watch or care about F1.
Brandon, I just wanted to level with you. The only reason I did this is that you seem like an OK fellow who is just trying to do his job and market. I respect that so I threw this up here and I might even put that flashing .gif up on my sidebar for a bit. But I don't shop at NAPA normally. They're on my list of places to go for car parts, but the store in Clemson closes at 6 pm, while the Advanced Auto Parts stays open till 9 pm, even on Sunday, so I usually go there before NAPA. But NAPA does have a much better tool and hardware selection, if I needed or could afford those tools. The one in Easley is actually really nice, but the one here is in need of a makeover.
Done. I even gave you some prime sidebar space. You owe me.
For those who have never been, you walk in and see utter chaos off to your left. Cashiers, tons of people, some shouting, then you look back to the right and see an escalator and some signs. So you hop on and whisked off to the 2nd floor which is home to the showrooms. Pretty much everything you see in these lifesize dioramas is available for purchase. Shelves, rugs, sofas, even the little plastic plants, but not here. They provide little notepads and golf pencils so that you can write down where to find all the stuff that you can't live without. There is just one walkway that passes through the entire store. There are aisles but not yet. And there are also secret passageways to get to other parts of the store quicker but you need a keen eye to spot those. Once you're through the showrooms the magical walkway leads you to the down escalator, you get on and arrive in the "bed, bath and beyond" section of the store. Potholders, trivets, maybe some spoons, I don't really know, we were trying to hurry through so we could get back and go to dinner. Once you've conquered that section, the store opens up into a gigantic warehouse. Not Raiders of the Lost Ark big, but definitely Lowe's height if not sheer size. Here is where you pick up the coffe table/shelves/chairs/furniture that you saw upstairs and just have to have. I would HIGHLY recommend actually writing down where the items are located. There are a couple computer monitors with searchable inventories to help you find what you saw, but the lines for these are crazy and pointless in my book.
Then you make your way to the checkout, which we didn't do because the coffee table we picked out wouldn't even begin to fit in our rental Stratus, but I think we're going back Sun. with Focus, who even though small in stature, can swallow up a shocking amount of goods. I love my hatchback.
Caveat emptor is the advice I would give an Ikea newbie. The prices are amazing and will completely spoil you. We saw a stainless steel shelf at Lowe's yesterday for $45, which would've cost maybe $12 at Ikea. But these Swedish items are not going to last forever, so treat them nice and they should last at least a few years. Also keep your wits. It's very easy to walk in, grab a bag/cart and start buying everything in sight. Yes that is the cutest lamp I've ever seen, but we don't need it. No I don't think we should redo our apartment just because that shelf is $4. Remain calm and stick to your list, or a 5 item maximum limit. You can easily get carried away. But damn, all the stuff is cool and so cheap!
I'll continue ATL: The Weekend later.
Before I leave, Brandon at M80 and M80 Teams contacted me via email yesterday. He found my Raisin toast sittin' on 22s post and though that I would make a good person to help promote NAPA auto parts 40th anniversary extravaganza. Basically they're giving stuff away to promote NAPA stores. Race tickets, grills (not the kind for your teeth, thank you pop culture), hats, aprons, cups, etc...
I think my favorite part of the email was:
Since you mentioned Motor Trend, I thought that you might be interested in posting
the press release or post a review of the FANNIVERSARY on your blog? You seem
like a reputable influencer, so I think you'd be a big help to us.
Hahahaha! I'm reputable! I think that means that my blog is at least 2 yrs. old.
Since I'm lazy I'll just link to 2 other guys who posted about the prizes and the press release.
Slobokan's blog post
Neeraj Tikku's blog post from his unofficial F1 blog
Interesting side note, Neeraj has an open invitation for anyone with a wordpress blog to send him an email and tell him that they want to post on his blog, but I only know 4 people with wordpress blogs and I don't think any of them watch or care about F1.
Brandon, I just wanted to level with you. The only reason I did this is that you seem like an OK fellow who is just trying to do his job and market. I respect that so I threw this up here and I might even put that flashing .gif up on my sidebar for a bit. But I don't shop at NAPA normally. They're on my list of places to go for car parts, but the store in Clemson closes at 6 pm, while the Advanced Auto Parts stays open till 9 pm, even on Sunday, so I usually go there before NAPA. But NAPA does have a much better tool and hardware selection, if I needed or could afford those tools. The one in Easley is actually really nice, but the one here is in need of a makeover.
Done. I even gave you some prime sidebar space. You owe me.
# posted by Seth @ 8:10 AM 
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