Proof the world has gone mad

Absolutely sadly bonkers!!!

It's an experience, not just a shopping trip.
Bad/good is up to the individual's perception, I suppose.

I have never been to Ikea. Sounds like I might be missing something.

I guess different things are important to different people.
If no extra risk to others or themselves was apparent and careful monitoring of infection control in IKEA, then what's the harm?

There is NO chance of me going to Ikea at present.....the restaurant isn't open yet!!!

I've never been to IKEA.

Just never fancied it

However, this has changed my mind

I love the Swedish food at Ikea, the mazarin rolls and marzipan cakes.

Marzipan cakes?

Heavenly

Yes, yes GeorgyGirl the marzipan cakes !

That said my friend and I used to enjoy a trip to Ikea. Our nearest Ikea is nearly 100 miles away near Lisbon but straight down the (toll) motorway so only an hour and a quarter drive. We would have a coffee and pastel de nata when we arrived then wander round the upper floor. Then it was time for lunch but never the meat balls. After that it was time to go downstairs and pick up bits and pieces plus anything larger from the flat pack area. After we had paid it was time for another coffee and buy any food from the shop we wanted. Then the drive home. Havent been able to do that since my cancer and we do miss it.
Because the virus is still spreading in the Lisbon metropolitan area the Prime minister has reimposed sanctions there so large stores are not allowed to reopen so Ikea hasnt reopened in Lisbon.

Used to love IKEA in a cold, wet winters day when looking after the grandchildren. We’d play ‘follow the arrows’ and then investigate all those funny little self-contained flatlets they set up and finally explore the children’s department.

Loads of educational opportunities and once we even bought something.

I love the Swedish food at Ikea, the mazarin rolls and marzipan cakes.

I really couldnt believe the photos of people queueing for hours to get into Ikea. What with shopping and the cost of driving to the beach people are either doing very well from being furloughed or there is going to be a rise in credit card debt. As for miles of queues for Macdonalds and coffee people must have really lost their minds.

But then from this Monday shopping malls in Portugal were allowed to open with the usual restrictions of numbers and must wear masks. In the Algarve the big shopping mall at Loulé opened and to quote one lady there it was rammed. There was an hours queue to get into Primark. ???
We live in central Portugal where there are far less foreigners and my DH went to our nearest shopping mall (for the supermarket) and it wasnt busy at all. Admittedly there isnt a Primark there. So maybe shopping is a British thing hence the queues in the Algarve.

Didn’t MFI introduce the first flat packs in the U.K.?

I first came across Ikea in the 80s when my Norwegian friend ordered an entire kitchen from Sweden. At the time she told me that they could only charge 10% more than the item cost to produce so the prices were a real bargain even with shipping cost.

My other Norwegian friend would have nothing to do with Ikea and couldn’t understand the interest, as it was considered to be like Woolworths. She came with us just for the outing after she was diagnosed with a terminal cancer. After that would persuade people to take her there as often as she could because she could no longer drive.

I enjoy wandering through and buy towels and tea towels when needed as the quality is good. Our bathroom fitter was impressed with the design of the magnetic toilet roll holder and their toilet brush and holder is very neat.

Best of all are the Christmas biscuits that now seem to be available all year round.

OH can’t stand the place so wants to buy whatever we are after then escape as quickly as possible - spoilsport!

Tummy rumbles from the meatballs perhaps I don't understand it either, boredom maybe...

Oh, they give me hearburn!
They're lovely while I'm eating them, but I'm still eating them ten hours later!

I'll bet they were queueing for the meatballs

I have one of the IKEA magnetic blinds, if anyone wants it.
Still done up in its packaging.

Me too.
I'm hoping they'll have sales to get rid of their old stock.

We really don’t need more stuff.

I’ll be first in the queue once the Charity Shops open ?

mall = small

IKEA, John Lewis, Harrods.
It's still shopping, still stuff.

I have looked at the photos and blurbs of those magnetic blinds and it seems to me that they are suspended from two mall fittings fixed to the wall, one each end of the top, so you still need to drill for the fittings.

The magnets are just for raising and lowering the sections of the Roman blind bit - you get a pole to pull down the sections that are too high to reach, otherwise you just use your hands. That is how they made them cordless! Putting them up again is done by hand. Commenters on the Ikea page say that they can pull the blind down OK, but to open it again they have to stand on a box.

It also sounded (but it may not be) as though you don't get any rod to thread through the top hem to attach to the wall fittings. That wasn't very clear.

If I were considering these, I would contact Ikea with some questions before ordering.

I hope the queue gets bigger,i can go shopping and have less people in the shopping queue along side me.

I cannot understand all these people that want to queue for somewhere like Ikea. What is so urgent to queue in burning sun just to go into a store. Heard on radio this morning that another 50 McDonalds outlets opened this morning and mile long queues had already began. I mean "really" nothing better to do than queue for McDonalds.

"I wondered if she was just sick of staring at her old but perfectly serviceable furniture during lockdown or were they sitting on hastily knocked up chairs made from old pallets because the dog had eaten the sofa?"

Oh Merlotgran my puppy did just that, right in the middle of the sofa seat! We now need a new sofa but a big throw will do for now