Ikea

Anyone who gives the Ikea in Espoo a lowly 3-​star review has clearly never visited an Ikea in a highly populated area of the US. Let me tell you right now: there is no comparison. I don’t care how cheap this place is. I don’t. I care about optimizing for efficiency and time. True– I am not going to resell this crap when I’m done with it but isn’t that part of the beauty of disposable furniture?
If you are me, and I am, you are going to Ikea with a list of codes and a mission. Walking into this Ikea on a weekday evening was the complete opposite of the Ikea locations in the San Francisco Bay Area (where I am from). It is quiet, it is not full of normally civilized people who are suddenly ready to cut a bitch to get to the last Hemnes dresser in birch veneer. It is not teeming with screaming children and it is not a maze of harried, angry shoppers who have no idea what they’re looking for but know they’ll take someone down once they find what they want. It’s not a violent place. It’s actually quiet enough to contemplate your purchases while still quickly navigating the store and getting in and out with a new apt full of odds, ends, and little bits and pieces. Well organized, clean, and laid out in a coherent manner, I found my shopping experience to be very pleasant and they’re not out of everything! The biggest challenge at the US locations is that the stores are always out of stock. Not so here.
Another MAJOR reason for 5 stars is the fact that the lines are not 1 – 2 hours long and backed up to the end of the warehouse. This is very common in the US– as in you better have Kindle or iPad or form of entertainment with you because you will be there, in line, for at least 45 minutes on a good day. Staff are actually nice and the food shop also didn’t have a 20 minute wait (another common problem in the US locations)…I don’t know about you but when I go to Ikea, it’s half for cheap but decent product and half for a soft serve ice cream or three. I left with a very happy wallet and a very, very happy tummy. There is nothing 3-​star about this place. And besides– where else are you supposed to buy furniture in Helsinki? I have seen no evidence of reasonable home furnishings. And don’t tell me Kodin Antila is reasonable. No. It’s not. And they don’t have ice cream. So there.