Ikea

On Friday the Hepworth family experienced Ikea for the first time. It was as grande and as massive as everyone says. We walked in and stood there for a good minute before a nice Ikea lady came up and said, "You've never been here before have you." She gave us some tips, and pointed us in the direction we needed to go to find dressers. Having never been there before, we did learn some things. If you've never been, take note.

*Right when you walk in, there are little stands with maps of the store and little pencils. Get them. Along with the map, on the back there is a spot for you to write down information on any big ticket items (like dressers, which is what we bought). Each display item has a ticket with all the information on it that you need to write down.

*As soon as you can, head for the babysitting area and get your name on the waiting list asap. I LOVED this perk! Shopping with no kids, I like that! We did have to keep Gavin with us as he was too small. But shopping minus 2 kids=mother's paradise.

*Don't think that you can ever just run in, make a quick purchase and get out of there. Once you are in, it's like you are trapped. You have to go through the maze to find the checkout stands. Of course before you get to them, you've seen the entire store. The place is massive.

*If you buy any big ticket items, be sure to refer to your map brochure on the back where you wrote down the item information. After finding the isle and row location, pick up your items. Alot of items at Ikea are broken down and you have to assemble them yourself. This helps keep pricing down. If you have the time and the patience to assemble it yourself, you'll find the prices to be sweet.

*When you check out, you bag your own goods. And if you want a plastic bag to put your stuff in, it's gonna cost you .05 cents per bag.

*They do have a place where you can sit down and eat. We didn't try it out, but I've only heard good things about it.

All in all, I really enjoyed my Ikea shopping experience. They have some really cool stuff. And I will be going back. We bought some dressers for the boys' room, now I just have to coax Kurt into getting them put together.

Sidestory: When we were getting ready to leave we were standing inside the store, but by the doors to go out. Outside I noticed a little boy standing there crying. In the meantime, a few minutes had passed and several people had made their purchases and had gone out while we were still getting our stuff and kids gathered up. Finally when we went out, this little boy who was probably 7 years old was still standing there crying his little eyes out. Just sobbing. He had gotten separated from his parents. The whole time we were inside all these people who left the store never stopped to help this little boy. I could not believe it. It was obvious he was lost and the loudness of his wailing cry should've given it away. Not even the Ikea guy with the bright yellow vest on who was 10 feet away just standing there waiting to help someone load items into their car asked the boy if he was okay. He just stood there like nothing was happening or wrong.

I was so surprised that not one person stopped to help this little boy. Well, I did. I asked him what his name was, if he knew where his mom was, etc. He was crying so hard I couldn't understand what he was saying. While I was talking to him a lady and her dad came up. She immediately started talking to the boy, do you know where your mom is, etc. She then turned to me and says, My dad is a retired cop, we'll take care of this. And she starts to take the boy inside.

Okaaaayyyy. See ya later! And that was the last I saw of the sobbing boy. I sure hope that retired cop helped you find your mom. Because you know retired cops know everything.