All I wanted was their Swedish Meatballs!
Well, I have been warned before... . It was my first time going into an IKEA ever, and the warnings were true - you will feel lost, and you will just not walk out of the store getting just meatballs.
Despite the warnings, it was overall a positive experience for my husband and I. This particular IKEA store is a single-story building and it's huge! You'll walk through each "home" section, find some deals and even build ideas to furnish your home. It's like walking through a giant maze full of home furniture, but I personally think it's a genius "milk and eggs" type of layout. You'll probably want to buy everything you see! There are directional arrows leading to the next section, which kinda helps to know what's next. It does make you decide whether you'll walk faster to the following area, depending on what you're looking for.
We finally got to the restaurant section which is in the middle of the store, enjoyed my Swedish Meatballs (which is yummy btw) and my husband got his chicken tenders. Please note that serving portions may be small to some, so you may want to do a double order. Foodservice is cafeteria-style, you grab your tray, grab your drinks, go through the line to order your food and choose your sides, pay the cashier, then secure a table.
After eating, then more browsing (or shopping)! We figured out that there are some shortcut exit doors if you want to skip some sections. We ended up with a pantry basket, real and faux plants for decoration, plant pots, duvet cover sets (which is 100% cotton by the way), mixing bowls, trivets, and chocolates for dessert! They don't have plastic or paper bags so you'd need to bring your own or buy their extra-large reusable bags, or just throw your stuff in your trunk.
There are items on display but don't expect them to be always available for purchase. There are items that are out of stock due to the current supply chain issues. However, this very nice sales representative (whom I forgot the name, but I know loves the group ABBA) suggested being on their waitlist so that we can get the notification when the item we like arrives.
All their workers are nice, and always carry friendly smiles on their faces. This makes the grueling maze tour tolerable. Lol!
Parking is huge, but this place is busy! We went here on a Sunday, and I'm sure the weekend might be a factor too.
Before we planned to visit IKEA, I made sure to sign up for their IKEA Family Card. You'll get coupons, discounts, and be in the know about what's new. They also have an app where you can order some items to be delivered, browse and favorite items that you'd want to purchase in the future and see past purchases.
Wanna know how long we were in the store - 3 hours! *shocked face emoji* read more