Visiting IKEA is an all-day event for me. Notice I said "visiting" and not merely "shopping"? Totally intentional, because IKEA is sooo much more than a store...it has been my happy place getaway for over two decades! It furnished my after-college-but-still-broke apartment with stylish and affordable decor, then seemed to effortlessly mature with me through the next stages of life. Anytime I was ready for an upgrade in quality, so was IKEA. When my taste changed, IKEA's lines seemed to morph on demand as if the whole thing had been orchestrated rather than coincidentally organic. From Billy to Besta to Bjursta to Stockholm, they've all had a home with me at one time or another. Shall I go on? Nyvoll, Malung, Henriksdal, Malm, Brimnes, Lack, Bekval, Skruvsta, Poang, Grundtal, Ektorp,Tullsta, Pax and on and on and on goes the language of IKEA that has now indelibly infiltrated my vocabulary.
The New Haven store is about an hour and a half pilgrimage from my home in western Massachusetts. The driving time is part of what makes it an all day trip for me, but it's also because it's a super fun place designed to make me want to linger. Incidentally, the Stoughton, MA location is about the same distance but I consider New Haven "my" IKEA. I prefer the layout, feel and general vibe of the New Haven store.
I ALWAYS go with a list, and I always veer off-list with impulse purchases :) Heads up that you can use the website to check store inventory levels on the items you're planning to buy, and even get the warehouse aisle/bin locations to make your list that much more helpful.
The store consists of a lower level and an upper level. You enter on the lower level and there are bathrooms straight ahead (bonus after a long drive), along with a private parent room that has a lounge area (suitable for nursing, relaxing, whatever) and an attached bathroom with changing table. To the left is Smaland, the awesome playspace where you can LEAVE YOUR KIDS while you shop. Sign them in, and off you go! Note that they must be potty trained to use Smaland. Ours are not, so we have not yet been able to take advantage of this, but I can't resist peeking in while passing by and I'm totally counting the days...SIGH... To the right of the entrance there is a snack bar (super cheap hot dogs, froyo, drinks, cinnamon rolls etc. -- we hit this on our way out) with seating area, the Swedish food shop, customer service desk is at the far end. There is also a wall of checkout registers, beyond which is the self-pick warehouse, the as-is area, and self-serve "smaller things" departments such as pictures/frames/lighting/plants/kitchenwares/bathroom accessories/office accessories/rugs/textiles etc etc etc. Basically anything that's not flat-packed in the warehouse will be found on the lower level.
The upper level is the main furniture showroom, along with kitchen design and planning, toys/kids stuff, and the cafeteria-style restaurant. Both levels are designed to keep you following a path that snakes through every department. There are some shortcuts, so if you're weary or in a rush, keep an eye out for them or ask an Ikean. But in general (and by design) it's not the kind of store where you can easily go on a mission to, say, buy a lamp and simply bee-line for the lighting department; you're going to wind and twist your way there past all kinds of pretties and be lured by all kinds of smells. Because MEATBALLS.
Upon entering, you have a couple of choices. There are big yellow reusable shopping bags that you can grab near the entrance or at various places throughout the store if you're just planning to get smallish things, then you return them at the register when you checkout (they also have wheeled metal caddies to hold the bags so you don't have to carry them). Or you can take a shopping cart, also located near the entrance. Note that if you take a cart, you'll need to use the elevator to navigate between levels rather than the stairs or escalators. We always get carts so that we can sit toddlers in them :)
My little sister is my regular Ikea buddy, and this is our pattern: pray that the kids nap in the car on the way. Arrive, park, enter, hit the parent lounge for bathroom/diaper change/nurse, grab shopping carts, head upstairs on the elevator, hit the children's section which is where the elevator dumps you out, have lunch in the cafeteria (it's cheap and good!), walk the showroom, take the elevator back downstairs, walk the lower level shopping area, get anything we might need from the warehouse, hit the as-is section, check out, collapse in the snack bar area near the exit and take turns getting snacks (hot dogs, drinks, froyo for the kids), pick up our favorite things from the Swedish food market, visit the bathrooms one last time, then head to the car. It's a long, fun, exhausting yet inspiring day. I go home with my head full of ideas, my want list expanded, and visions for my next visit already beginning to take shape. read more