The Largest Ikea in the United States

IKEA in Burbank

• I love Ikea
• It is psychology set up so that people want to buy
• And that kind of thing fascinates me
• It has cheap food
• Lingonberry sauce with your meat balls?
• Um, yes please

• It takes you on a quest where you follow arrows beaming down from track lighting
• It involves a lot of walking
• I love walking
• Lots of air-conditioned/heated exercise with pretty things to look at?
• Who needs a gym?
• It's filled with eye candy interior ideas

• It has an entire section of kitchen things 
• made mostly of wood, glass, ceramic, and metal
• I really love glass
• If I could truly have a glass house I would
• I would promise to not throw stones in it
• I know, in earthquake-ville this not a healthy love affair
• And now the mother-ship of all Ikeas, the largest in all of the United States (at least at the moment of writing this) has opened today
• So the minute I was off work I slogged through traffic to meet my other Ikea loving friend
• And it was awesome!

• There was more of everything
• More mock apartments
• More children's toys
• More stunning kitchens with light up drawers
• More glass cabinets, glass jars, and glasses
• It was lovely

• Also here are some of the unique features of this new Ikea

1. The largest elevator I have ever seen, sadly my photo doesn't do it justice

• But I bet an elephant, a dog and a pony could all become best friends and ride together in comfort.
• In this scenario they always had to ride separately before
• But finally they have found a way to be together while traveling vertically

    

   2.  Seats to sit in while waiting in-line for the Cafe

• Really brilliant, I saw a mom reading to her child while waiting on a couch. 
• More lines should have couches
• Costco, Starbucks, McDonalds

     3.  Parking that is attached to and part of the Ikea

• Probably most Ikeas have this already, but it's a first for us here in the LA area, so we are celebrating this!
• Before the process looked like this:
• Leave your precious new Billy Bookcase with an Ikea worker
• Cross the cross walk back to your car
• Curse at all the impatient drivers trying to run you down.
• Wonder why couldn't you find a spot near the magical escalator with the special tunnel,
• You know it's somewhere in the garage.
• Find your car, and if your lucky find the exit out of the lot that doesn't make you circle the block.
• Curse out the stupid pedestrians all crossing constantly and not leaving room for any car to get by
• Wish they had found the stupid escalator tunnel spaces,
• Ignore the line of cars honking behind you that can't see the steady stream of inconsiderate walkers
• Realize, you can't turn in where you thought you could,
• Circle the block
• Enter the tiniest parking lot known to LA and find a spot, that is somehow still incredibly far from your bought goods.
• Load, and drive out, and in doing so pass through\wait at two more crosswalks
• In short this garage is a game changer!

   4. The children's play place is forest themed, and someone thought giant stuffed spiders would be a forest like decorative choice...

• So the new children's playground has giant fluffy or hairy, if you will, spiders all over the walls before entering...ummm...giggle
• There are three in this photo, but there were more than that
• This, I think, will probably change pretty quickly
• Maybe the things they ordered to decorate with were late in coming 
• And someone was like, "well, well we have some spiders and some giant hearts in the back, and it's supposed to be a forest...so spiders it is."

5.  It's on "Ikea way". 

• So the new address is easy to remember.
• My friend did a little research, and this is common for Ikeas in the U.S.
• But it was the first time we saw it, so we found it nice for letter writing
• Like this someone might send:
• "Dear Ikea, I have strong feelings against using giant spiders as decoration because it can cause terror in the heart of this adult...I mean, my imaginary future children. Please change it...for the children"

6.  Did I mention the displays?

•   One housed the best thing in the whole wide world...
• When you've lived in (cheap for the area) apartments as long as I have
• This wins everything...
• A washer dryer unit!

  7. The bathroom stall I checked out...

• Had no hook for a purse
• It had 
• the holes drilled
• The pencil marks for getting the holes in the right place
• But it was a detail lost in the shuffle to get the giant store opened
• I'm sure the hook is coming
• If not, I have Leatherman in my purse and the store is full of hooks...

 8. How do you clear everyone out at closing time?

• I wondered how this would be accomplished
• The place is giant
• The place has multiple closets to hide in
• Not to mention real beds to sleep in
• And the washer and dryer, 
• I'm ready to move in; so I was curious how this was going to go down
• There was a loudspeaker announcing that closing time was coming, every 15 minutes
• And at 9pm they actually lowered the lights
• Not dark enough to accidentally bump into the Grundtal kitchen shelving
• Which has hooks
• But enough to make it clear it was time to go home
• The photo below is of the low light situation, but my phone made it slightly brighter than it was
• My friend and I saw it as a sure sign to brush our teeth in the bathroom before choosing our beds for the night...
• Well, actually we headed to the self serve section of the store... 

  9. The self serve section of the store is huge!!

• I'm talking the elephant, dog and pony could have all their friends over for a giant party
• No-one would be cramped.  
• The introverted of the animals would find places to be alone if needed.
• That kind of big!

10. And the best part, is it's here to stay. 

• I get to go back.
• I will go back.
• I may still be there.
• Night everyone