IKEAs in Adriatic Italy - 1 of 2…read more
Most IKEAs start with 3 stars, sometimes 4. This IKEA is in a city that is part of the Ancona area, a port on the Adriatic Sea. IKEAs tend to show up in newer "suburbs" or industrial parks in Italy, as they often do in the U.S., and that is the case here.
I went in here to eat. I saw this blue and yellow monstrosity (I'm joking) staring at me from a regional train in this area, slightly south of Ancona. Had I been on the fast train, it would have wizzed by it and I might not have seen it. The port city of Ancona is the first major city on the national railway trunk line when heading southeast from Bologna to follow the Adriatic all the way south and from which you can even catch ferries to Greece and Croatia, so that's all worth filing away in your head.
IKEAs in Italy are about the size of IKEAs in America, but they seem to serve a smaller population base. That must mean they are popular and more of a staple. Also, they are not called "Eye-key-uh," but "Ee-keh-a." That's because the customer base is the real thing, and thus not comprised of "Eye-talians."
The people in the dining area were polite - more polite than in most American stores. Note that the dining area or restaurant does not keep the same hours as the store, which American stores come closer to doing. Moreover, the restaurant opens later and closes earlier, but the cafe' stays open a little later. This is how Italians are wired, so this set up works. This is so one can purchase coffee, tea (they seemingly don't sell much of that), desserts, and panini(s) to tide them over.
This store goes from a 3 to a 4 because of its polite personnel, its large parking lot, and the fact that you can walk from the more regional Camerano train station right into the parking lot and then to the store itself.
