Background Story:
IKEA opened in Belfast over two years, and before then all Irish citizens interested in flatpack furniture and Swedish meatballs were forced to go to one of the UK branches.
IKEA in Belfast, is apparently the largest IKEA outlet in the United Kingdom, so when it opened in December 2007 the police had put extra resources on the roads as more than 5000 cars made their way to Bangor Road. People from Scotland, Wales, Republic of Ireland and of course Northern Ireland were travelling to Belfast on their IKEA pilgrimage.
IKEA have always been interested in opening a store in Ireland, around Dublin, but the government has always refused them to build their huge outlet anywhere in the Republic.
The general reader might ask "Why?". Well the Irish government wouldn't allow superstores to be built larger than 20000 sq2, and IKEA wanted to build more than 30000 sq2. However, the policticians probably realised the money they could gain by granting permission and they changed the planning laws to allow IKEA build a superstore here in Ireland. Voila, true capitalism rules.
BUT, a green light in Ireland doesn't necessarily mean you can proceed!! The planning process stated in 2004 and was only approved in June 2007. The government decided to spend some of their "hard earned" EU money (grants) and started to upgrade the M50. And, as long as that work was being done IKEA was not permitted to build.....Argh!!! Fool (keep Mr T in your mind when you read that word).
- A rumour has it that IKEA offered the Irish government money to complete the IKEA roundabout and exit faster, but it was refused.
Finally, IKEA started to build their huge blue/yellow flatpack box in Ballymun and announced the opening date to be 27th July 2009. People even started to queue Sunday afternoon! On the day of the opening, 3000 people enter the main doors in the first hour alone.
- they even considered the M50 commuters when planning their opening hours, to ensure that traffic to IKEA didn't cause unnecessary delays - mucka bra, my Swedish friends. Only the Germans would have outdone you and build a dedicated road to IKEA, to take the traffic away from the hot spots.
The Pilgrimage to IKEA - my story:
The day had come and we planned a family trip to IKEA, like you do, to buy some furniture for our daughter's room - and a few extra bits I'm sure. We have always agreed a budget before we enter the IKEA stores, and we always agree afterwards that the budget was too small! This time we took the same approach.
- Budget: €500
IKEA Ireland opens at 11.00 on bank holidays, so we left the house at 11.30 and arrived at the giant blue cathedral 20 minutes later. And, due to the time we arrived, the car park was "only" 80% full - keep in mind, it had only been open for less than an hour. And, because of our sons impressive hunger, and outbursts if he doesn't get food, we went straight to the cafeteria to get the mandatory Swedish meatballs.
- Personally, these meatballs are nothing compared to the Danish meatballs.
So, after lunch we cruised the showrooms, wrote down all kinds of furniture and looked at all the furniture on display. You have to admit, they surely understand how to use the space and sell their furniture ideas VERY well.
We found a few things for our daughter, but they were sold out. I asked a friendly person, wearing a YELLOW IKEA shirt that would give any normal person an instant tan, when the goods will be delivered again. To my surprise, I was told that they don't get any shipments to IKEA in Ireland, until they can fill a giant shipping container. WHAT?! So, Irish people are no better off than they used to be, waiting for weeks (normally 4-12 weeks) for furniture to arrive from e.g. IKEA UK stores.
That unfortunately meant that we didn't buy the desk or shelves as planned. Thankfully my daughter didn't know we were planning to buy this, otherwise should would have skinned us alive and screamed so loudly that the windows in IKEA would burst - all of them.
Instead, we bought goods for almost €600, more than the agreed budget I know, but it was important stuff we brought home - right? That evening I assembled the furniture we bought and our daughter was over the moon when she saw her new bed (not from IKEA, but a Danish designed HC Andersen bed).
Was the IKEA experience as expected? Well, it's a bit like eating a McDonalds burger, a burp and a fart, and you are hungry again. IKEA is great and they have loads of excellent ideas and furniture. We could spend thousands of Euros there, and probably will.
Happy shopping to all you ABBA enthusiasts and IKEA fanatics. Sweden has only produced a few memorable things to the World:
- ABBA
- IKEA
- Volvo
- Drunken longhaired Swedes in Copenhagen
- Wasa crispbread
...and by the way, Denmark beat Sweden in the World Cup qualifier. :-)
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