Just “hanging out” at IKEA in Beijing

By ⋅ August 27, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment
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Photo by David Pierson/LA Times

Photo by David Pierson/LA Times

The Swedish home furnishing giant IKEA opened its Beijing store in 1999. A decade later, the store sees plenty of traffic. Thousands of Beijing residents come through the doors every day. It’s just that they’re not actually buying much of anything. Los Angeles Times Beijing Correspondent David Pierson tells us why IKEA is the hang-out of choice for many a tired Beijinger.

Click here for David Pierson’s LA Times article.

Click here for more of David’s photos from the Beijing IKEA.

Click here for Chinese blogger He Peng’s photos.

And below is our World in Words podcast, which explores how the items in Ikea get their funky names:

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So, have you ever gone to Ikea just to hang out? What did you do? Leave a comment below.

Discussion

19 comments for “Just “hanging out” at IKEA in Beijing”

  • Erin

    While in college, a Swedish friend and I would go to the Ikea store in Elizabeth, NJ. We would eat food that reminded my friend of home, and watch the planes fly into Newark International Airport.

  • Kit

    Being a Swede living in the US I love hanging out at IKEA as it makes me feel a little closer to home.

  • marie

    When I lived in Connecticut, I used to frequent the New Haven, CT IKEA. I didn’t just hang out – I did purchase items on most trips, or go to the cafe.

    Having lived a few years in the metro Stockholm Sweden area in my late teen to early twenties, IKEA was my Swedish oasis in the middle of Connecticut. Every once in a while I was lucky enough to run across a Swede, allowing me to use my Swedish again!

  • Alex Siguenza

    I’ve only gone to IKEA about twice to just “hang out”.
    Sometimes it’s nice to just windowshop and grab something inexpensive to eat. Of course I don’t feel guilty about it- if I ever need something, IKEA is usually one of the first places I go, so I think it evens out.

  • kate in NC

    I’ve never gone just to hang out, but I have gone for the food! $1.99 Swedish meatballs kids menu? Oh, yeah. In my undergrad years, that happened at least once a month!

  • clinton

    I must say that while I don’t go just to hang out, I probably COULD. It’s just that I usually end up buying at least something.

    Oh, the power they have over me and my interior decorating choices…

    It isn’t so much the bins full of stuff for $1.99, but rather those elaborately staged, idyllic rooms they have.

  • Jorge Eguiarte

    It is so funny… I live in Denver, Colorado and we do NOT have IKEA, thanks to MR.Jake Jabs from American Furniture Warehouse. So I was in California last weekend and we went to the IKEA on Covina California and it was super funny to me that only the Asian people where the only ones seating and sleeping on the display furniture… like in Beijin, I think they are out of China, But China is not out of them.

  • Kenna

    My friends have gone to IKEA to play hide and seek a few times. It’s surprisingly fun.

  • Alexandra van Niekerk

    When living in the netherlands, with two small children, my children would like to hang out at smalland (play area) on rainy days. While my kids were playing I would just have a coffee or walk around. Today my kids are too tall and Ikea is one and a half hour driving from our house in Tucson, AZ.

  • Joan

    Not just the Chinese!
    When I lived in Stockholm in the 70′s, long before IKEA went international, my kids and I would make the trek (subway + bus) out to IKEA (pronounced EE-KAY-AH in Swedish) for a family outing. The kids loved the playroom, we all liked the food and I would wander around looking for home decorating inspiration. There were even times I bought something!

  • Vanessa Will

    I now live in NZ, where there is no IKEA (boo!), but a few years ago, I was back in Berlin, Germany, taking care of my mother who was dying from cancer. It was very hot that summer, and one of the 3 (!) IKEAs in Berlin was on the way to her hospital. After spending the day with my mom in her un-air-conditioned hospital room, I would stop there for a cheap dinner and, more importantly, the air-conditioning. There was also something incredibly soothing about the predictability of the store lay-out and displays, which I walked by every time on the way to the restaurant, to savor the cool air and release some of the emotional stress I was going through.

  • Nancy Brown

    Are you kidding? I just did this yesterday. I have two young kids and meet another mom friend there. What do we do? We moms stroll while our kids, run, climb, hide in the wardrobes and kitchen pantries, play with kid stations in every department, climb on couches, on beds, into cribs, open cabinet doors, try the toys, climb the stairs, ride the elevator, run in between the hanging rugs, and that’s just the warm-up before the cheap, healthy, kid-friendly food, which we enjoy at lunchtime. The bonus: kids falling asleep in the car on the way home. Oh, and p.s., the Chinese aren’t the only ones escaping the heat in August–the air conditioning is definitely another draw. As is the knowledge that you can leave without buying anything and no one will know the difference (not that we do).

  • jean riordan

    when my kids were younger (they had never been in a department store before we took them to Ikea) they saw every room display as a theatre set. They would completely immerse themselves into these sets and perform their plays, oblivious to all. Doors, closets, curtains were entrances etc. My husband, who had no interest in shopping/ browsing would sit on these sets ,reading one of the many books on the bookshelf displ ay, oblivious to all as well. And I was free to wander.

  • Grace

    Inspiration. About once each month I take “the walk”. The walk through IKEA for the simple pleasure of seeing the designs and worship the fact that they do design to a price tag target. Suggestion: Take “the walk”, it will do your mind some good. Haven’t left yet without buying something useful.

  • http://www.flickr.com/loolooimage Looloo

    I’m a Beijinger, but have never been to the new IKEA since it moved out of city center, and I have few small stuff from there such as photo frames, cups, friends around me never did (maybe they did but i don’t know, lol)something mentioned in this piece, but we all love IKEA style in general. Btw, it’s not unusual to hang out in shopping mall with AC in summer, I’ve seen some in other places too.
    Great story anyway, it’s funny to hear how foreigners view this.

  • carol

    I lived in Saudi Arabia from 1992-1996. Being a single woman, there were many times when it felt as if there was no place to go. When Ikea opened, several friends and I would go to just be in an environment that felt safe and familiar. It was a big night out…

  • John Jaramillo

    Okay, you caught me. My girlfriend and I have actually made IKEA one of our dating spots (though we keep the public displays of affection to a minimum). We do always buy something, mostly because IKEA specializes in things for the small-apartment dwellers here in Sacramento. It’s the window-shoppers’ paradise

  • Nancy Kaufmann

    A little known perk at IKEA is that every store keeps a microwave for parents to warm up baby food. Cheapskate that I am, I take my own lunch or dinner in a proper container, avail myself of IKEA’s microwave and enjoy a cheap home-cooked meal. This feature is everywhere (I’ve used it in Berlin and Chicago) and can be depended on!
    THen, I always stop by IKEA’s suggestion box and enter my complaint–to date never heeded. The piped in music, often corrupted soul or pop gospel, blasts away and gets on my nerves. The managers in both Berlin and Chicago have never seen fit to change this.

  • Susan

    Don’t really hang out, but it sure is fun to browse and the cafeteria is rather nice too.