Ikea

So I made my pilgrimage to Ikea today.

The thing that impressed me the most was the attention to detail all of the item’s design’s imparted. Everything was well thought out and made sense. The shopping carts have swiveled wheels on both ends, because well they’re more maneuverable that way, it takes a little bit to get used to but its quite nice. A coffee table that has a rotating then fold open top, has the hinge designed that it can twist around both ways, making it easier to fit into your house and open under more circumstances. There are hundreds of other little details like this that just let you know that somebody really spent some time thinking through the purpose and function of the item.

I was also amazed at the egalitarianism of the place. They covered items of all different price points. (The quality is very high all around.) You’re able, if you’d like to buy a kitchen for $3000, but you can also get a kitchen for around $600, which is a deal. It reminds me a lot of the New York Subway, broke near minimum wage workers ride the subway right along side investment bankers who make half a million dollars a year. Ikea caters to all income levels.

Compare this to the normal US model, where if you’re broke you’re shopping at Walmart, but if you made a lot of money you’re shopping at some haughty-taugty furniture shop. Between Walmart and that haughty-taugty shop there are other stops on the the price point scale. We’ve segregated our shopping by socioeconomic levels when it isn’t really necessary. In my mind this is yet another example of America’s class divisions.

Yeah, and well I didn’t do so great on the being fiscally responsible front, I spent a pretty good chunk of money, nothing beyond what I can pay, but more than I’d would’ve like to have. But I did get a really good value…