As you might guess, we are not in need of flatpack furniture, or blankets. Or coffee mugs, or framed prints, or candles. Or really, anything at all. But still. Here in the homeland of IKEA, it felt almost disrespectful not to make at least one trip. So we did, as a sociological experiment. We’d planned to take the bus to the big suburban one, to be entirely legit. But it was scary crowded on there. And then we discovered a small branch in central Stockholm. So we grabbed our big blue bag and wandered around throwing stuff into it, just for old time’s sake. (And then we put it all back.)
This smaller store didn’t have a ton of furniture, but we did see a number of old friends. (The names remain unchanged: Mamut is Mamut everywhere he goes.) We followed the arrows all around the store, reacquainting ourselves with all of the things we used to own. We leafed through the innumerable books in Swedish. And yes, we even had a meatball or two – but that’s a separate story.
Here are two things you might not know about IKEA. The first is how to pronounce it. It’s actually ee-KAY-yah in Europe, and they should know. The second is that Småland is not just a cute name for the kids’ section; it’s an actual region in Sweden. It does in fact mean ‘small place’, and the first store opened there in 1958. The rest, as they say, is history: IKEA is the largest furniture retailer in the world, and they claim to purchase1% of the wood that is used globally each year.
We were devastated, but not surprised, to discover that the paper catalogue is another victim of the pandemic. We used to fantasise about being able to fit everything we owned into 200 square feet, and now that we can, we were really looking forward to making fun of the people in the catalogue for being so consumerist. Ah, well.
So, we close with a question: which single item from IKEA has been most important in your adult life? For us, obviously, it’s Billy, in every one of his ‘wood’ veneers (especially cherry). Plus also white. John can still recall the thrill of seeing Billy in all his glory when the first IKEA in the US opened outside of Philadelphia in King of Prussia (yes, that’s an actual place name). He couldn’t believe how well made the bookcases were (even if you had to put them together yourself) and the cost. Aside from innumerable Billies, we have owned at least three Poangs, and Lack has never let us down…
