New IKEA offers deals, meals and variety (Photo Courtsey of IKEA)
Just off of Highway 121 in Frisco there is a new, huge, bright-blue building. Frisco sounds like it is miles away, but in actuality it only takes about thirty minutes to get there from campus. The building is the recently opened IKEA store, which offers affordable furniture and home décor. It is located only a few feet away from Stonebriar Center, the location of not only a huge mall but also many smaller shops and restaurants. However, with 310,000 square feet of home furnishings to ponder over as well as an inexpensive restaurant, it’s very unlikely that anyone will make it to the mall.
Upon entering IKEA, two things that stand out are the childcare center (accepting potty-trained and children under four-and-a-half feet) and the escalator with a sign directing the customers to start their shopping upstairs. The scene upstairs leads right into one of the most unique features of the IKEA experience: paper, pencils, store guides and measuring tape, all of which will come in very handy. After grabbing these shopping utensils and a shopping bag, it’s straight off to browsing in the easy-to-visualize room settings. The prices are affordable and the furniture is just the right size to fill college dorm rooms and apartments as well as houses.
IKEA has everything, from inexpensive, comfortable mattresses and mattress pads to small couches to affordable swivel chairs and desks. IKEA also has many patterns and colors from which to choose, accommodating a wide range of tastes and styles. One of the most impressive features of the store is the full house settings, which have the square footage marked on each side. This allows the customer, who has some idea of the size of his or her living space, to see how easy it is to outfit a place with all the pieces needed while avoiding overcrowding.
Surveying the rooms, including the kid’s rooms’ section, is easy to do with clearly marked blue maps and several information booths. Before leaving the second floor, customers should stop by IKEA’s restaurant. Its set up is similar to a cafeteria with nicer seating and includes a children’s area with a TV and games to keep kids occupied, a microwave for heating bottles and organic baby food for children too young to enjoy the delightful dishes. The menu contains many Swedish specialties as well as a wide variety of other foods, all reasonably priced.
Downstairs, after taking a shopping cart, the customer can start picking up his or her own versions of the items featured in the rooms upstairs. The first area, called the marketplace, consists of all the bowls, plates, pans and other utensils to completely outfit the kitchen. In the next large area, textiles, customers can find deals on bedding, rugs and a variety of other products for the bath and bedrooms. The most beautiful and inspiring division is lighting. IKEA offers many options in lighting, all of which feature innovative, creative, contemporary design and an amazing price tag. They also have a gardening section, which primarily features tools for the garden although it does include a small plant area. The last section, the warehouse, is the area where customers can finally pick up their furniture choices, packed in small, ready-to-assemble boxes, from upstairs. Some customers may worry about the idea of assembly-required furniture, but most of the store’s pieces are relatively easy to construct.
Visiting IKEA is well worth the trip to Frisco. For more information about the store or IKEA, log onto www.ikea-usa.com or call 972-712-4532.
