Beijing loves IKEA -- but not for shopping
Some excerpts:
Every weekend, thousands of looky-loos pour into the massive showroom to use the displays. Some hop into bed, slide under the covers and sneak a nap; others bring cameras and pose with the decor. Families while away the afternoon in the store for no other reason than to enjoy the air conditioning.
Bai mapped out a five-hour outing. First, they had hot dogs and soft ice cream cones at noon. Then they enjoyed a long rest lounging on the beds. Bai kicked off her sandals and sprawled out on a Tromso bunk bed. The 36-year-old homemaker made herself comfortable and even answered passing shoppers' questions about the quality of the mattress.
"It's soft and a great buy at this price," she told a young woman, pointing to a dangling price tag.
After that, Bai and her family took group pictures. By 5 p.m., it was time for another meal, so they headed to the cafeteria and ate braised mushrooms with rice.
Many others arrive with the same intentions, sometimes bringing a book to read on a bouncy Poang armchair or carrying stuffed toys for their children to play with on a mattress.
IKEA has the added challenge of copycats. Brazen customers are known to come in with carpenters armed with measuring tapes to make replicas.
3 comments:
I read this last night and laughed out loud. Chinese people are hilarious.
dude. the ikeas here won't let you take photos or anything. i was once SKETCHING to check if a piece would fit in a client's house, and they threatened to take my sketchbook away.
those crazy chinese. :)
I LMAO while reading this earlier today. I love that people make a day trip out of it.
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