On Sunday I took my wife to find the Ikea of Charlotte.
Ikea makes affordable simple sturdy furniture, and accessories. They are known for their mailorder catalog, web site, etc. but are now starting to build stores in the United States. My wife had been wanting to go to Atlanta to see the Ikea down there, but we never made it for her. Now they've built one in Charlotte, off of I-85, so we were out of excuses.
We went Sunday.
They're passing out maps by the door so that you don't get lost within the store. When you enter the lower level is a kid check/play place. We skipped that. The escalator takes you up to the showroom. The showroom is sectioned off into cubbies of designed and decorated rooms filled with all Ikea things. It lets you visualize the product and find something that works with your own sense of style. Evything on display is marked and priced fairly well. Occasionally you'll find an employee or a kiosk that will help you place an order. Convienent.
The second floor concluded with a cafeteria of swedish foods. Lox. Swedish meatballs. Swedish seltzer drinks. Nice cheap international fare. All of the tables and chairs in the cafeteria are available in the store. Let's you try it out nicely.
Then you swing back down to the first floor, from the back and weave through the market place. Stacks of furniture. Shelves of what-not. Helpful staff to find, load, and get it ready for you. Overly helpful people that think I needed more in my bag. Friendly.
Then you pass the scratch and dent discount, several signs about loaner luggage racks for your car, assembly and delivery fees, and online instruction sheets being available before weaving through the swedish market and picking up some swedish fish before you check out.
Convienent. Large.
My wife loved it.
I was just along for the ride.
I convinced her not to buy anything since we're watching our budget at the moment. At some point we'll go back, and it will not end well for my visa card, I can just feel it.
Oh well. That is a problem for another day.
They did have a good price on a Wok that had a decent weight. Our anniversary is coming up. I think I'll hop on the bike and go pick up a wok to suprise my wife with for our anniversary. It'll be a nice ride. I'm not looking forward to the parking but hopefully it won't be as crowded today since it is Monday (or Wensday if I don't make it out there today). I've got to go before the 10th otherwise it won't count.
Might be a destination for you Valk trailer haulers and a nice game of 'how much can you haul.' Ask them if you can get a free luggage rack that will attach to your trailer and see how that works out for you.
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/store/charlotte
Hey! She let me go to a motorcycle museum on Saturday, so fair is fair right? I had to go wander around an Ikea didn't I? I think she enjoyed the Cushman museum more than I enjoyed looking around Ikea, but whatever.
