Hangin' Out at IKEA

Posted by Alex in Travel & Places on September 12, 2009 at 1:55 am


Capitalizing on the viral popularity of People of Walmart blog (previously on Neatorama here), there’s a new blog called the People of IKEA.

While that’s nifty and all, there’s an even stranger IKEA phenomenon: Chinese people love to go there, not to shop, but simply to hang around!

With no plans one Saturday, Zhang Xin told his wife, son and mother to wear something smart and hop into the family sedan. He could have taken them to the Forbidden City or the Great Wall, but he decided on another popular destination — IKEA.

Riding an escalator past a man lying on a display bed with a book opened on his belly, the clan sauntered into the crush of visitors squeezing onto the showroom path, bumping elbows and nicking ankles with their yellow shopping trolleys.

Zhang said the family needed a respite from the smog and a reliable lunch.

"We just came here for fun," said the 34-year-old office manager. "I suppose we could have gone somewhere else, but it wouldn’t have been a complete experience."

Welcome to IKEA Beijing, where the atmosphere is more theme park than store.

David Pierson of the LA Times has the intriguing story: Link – via Look At This


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COMMENT

9 comments to "Hangin' Out at IKEA"

  1. DaveL
    September 12th, 2009 at 1:58 am

    Bringing capitalism to poor socialists one piece of us-assembled furniture at a time...

  2. quinnnchick
    September 12th, 2009 at 9:31 am

    I have a few dozen pics from this summer in Austin. A few friends and I were trapped in an Ikea for many hours while waiting for a place to spend the night. (it's a long story)

    so we took to Ikea. my favorite pics are the one lamenting the lack of toilet paper while on the toilet and one where we were testing the rubber gloves :D

    maybe i should submit...

  3. FishBottleT
    September 12th, 2009 at 11:27 am

    When I was a teen I would go into Wal-mart just to hang out. Something to do and in a small town like this you were bound to ssee a friend,

  4. Christophe
    September 12th, 2009 at 12:54 pm

    Neh, voted down on the Upcoming Queue. I knew that was a interesting story ;)

  5. c
    September 12th, 2009 at 1:14 pm

    "darling, i dont know how to tell you this, but there is a chinese family in our bathroom."

    -500 days of summer

    (scene where they visit ikea)

  6. felixthecat
    September 12th, 2009 at 6:28 pm

    It was voted down because it really is dull, especially coming so soon after the "People of Walmart". What's the point of voting if the scores are ignored?

  7. dutchboy
    September 13th, 2009 at 11:41 am

    These sites are a reincarnation of the mullet spotting sites and such of yore.

  8. Kalel
    September 13th, 2009 at 12:55 pm

    I couldn't decide if this was a cultural behaviour, or if the individual subjects are just slobs.

  9. felixthecat
    September 13th, 2009 at 4:23 pm

    Slobs is the answer


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