Okay, I have posted some things about my trips to Ikea - like people sleeping in the various beds and the family photo shoot in various "rooms" (actually quite ingenious if you ask me). Ikea in Shenzhen is certainly and adventure - especially if you don't like crowds. I have to say though, besides the awesome people watching Ikea in China is pretty much the same as the Ikea stores back home. They all have the cheap Meatballs (these cost about $2 USD)
The store furniture looks pretty much the same - I don't see any "special Chinese" styles or anything (that is right, a decided lack of gold gilt, frills and Louis the something styles). And of course they sell tea lights by the thousands (and once again I felt compelled to stock up because they were both cheap and useful...I now own 1 billion tea lights spread across 3 countries).
My main problem with the Ikea in Shenzhen is that they don't speak English or rather I don't speak Mandarin. And all the signs are in made-up Swedish and Chinese (I refuse to believe that Tord Bjorklund is real).
Those of you familiar with the Ikea model know this lack of sign clarity is not a problem for most shoppers. You can still find things by their handy-dandy system of aisle/location tagging (see red tag)...if you have shopped one Ikea you can shop them all...as long as you are okay with only buying things with a red tag or off the shelf. The real trouble comes from the dreaded yellow tag - because we all know this means you have to talk to someone to order what you want...
Now I have to say I was pretty proud of myself. Using my very limited Mandarin (Hello!), my iPhone and a delivery pamphlet I was able to communicate that I wanted to buy, in the right size (I hoped) and colour (again, I hoped) an Ikea mattress and a sectional sofa. I was even able to arrange for delivery (after we figured out that it had to be delivered in the next 5 days and I couldn't wait for the next weekend). I came away from the whole experience feeling pretty proud of myself. So proud I walked over to the Ikea grocery place (past the long line of people lined up for soft ice-cream and the $1 hot dogs) and bought myself a big bottle of vodka - well, mostly because I could. You aren't in NW Arkansas anymore girl. Life was good and I was feeling happy... until they delivered everything...
Delivery day (Wednesday) started out well. I got to leave work half-way through the day to meet the always huge deliver window on a beautiful sunny day. Even better true to my awesomeness, the furniture is delivered right on schedule which meant I was going to have the rest of the afternoon to nap on my new sofa.
Feeling pretty smug I open the door to the tiny little Chinese Man single handedly wrangling my new queen size mattress. Woot - the guest bed is here - I am open for business...Awesome. This feeling of euphoria lasted about 6.2 seconds...long enough for me to look out into the hall and realize that the Ikea business model does indeed mean you put it together yourself...as witnessed by the multitude of boxes strewn in the foyer. Crap, I forgot to arrange for someone to put this stuff together and now my new sofa is in a bunch of boxes...what am I going to do now?
After a few moments of dread and nausea I said to myself "Okay Sharon, you are a modern woman and more than capable...You can do this, where is the Damn Allen Key?!!!"
This optimism lasted just about long enough to unpack about 3 boxes...that was when I knew I had a big big problem...
Tune in next time to see just how Shenzhen Sharon solved this vexing dilemma...
My main problem with the Ikea in Shenzhen is that they don't speak English or rather I don't speak Mandarin. And all the signs are in made-up Swedish and Chinese (I refuse to believe that Tord Bjorklund is real).
Now I have to say I was pretty proud of myself. Using my very limited Mandarin (Hello!), my iPhone and a delivery pamphlet I was able to communicate that I wanted to buy, in the right size (I hoped) and colour (again, I hoped) an Ikea mattress and a sectional sofa. I was even able to arrange for delivery (after we figured out that it had to be delivered in the next 5 days and I couldn't wait for the next weekend). I came away from the whole experience feeling pretty proud of myself. So proud I walked over to the Ikea grocery place (past the long line of people lined up for soft ice-cream and the $1 hot dogs) and bought myself a big bottle of vodka - well, mostly because I could. You aren't in NW Arkansas anymore girl. Life was good and I was feeling happy... until they delivered everything...
Delivery day (Wednesday) started out well. I got to leave work half-way through the day to meet the always huge deliver window on a beautiful sunny day. Even better true to my awesomeness, the furniture is delivered right on schedule which meant I was going to have the rest of the afternoon to nap on my new sofa.
Feeling pretty smug I open the door to the tiny little Chinese Man single handedly wrangling my new queen size mattress. Woot - the guest bed is here - I am open for business...Awesome. This feeling of euphoria lasted about 6.2 seconds...long enough for me to look out into the hall and realize that the Ikea business model does indeed mean you put it together yourself...as witnessed by the multitude of boxes strewn in the foyer. Crap, I forgot to arrange for someone to put this stuff together and now my new sofa is in a bunch of boxes...what am I going to do now?
After a few moments of dread and nausea I said to myself "Okay Sharon, you are a modern woman and more than capable...You can do this, where is the Damn Allen Key?!!!"
This optimism lasted just about long enough to unpack about 3 boxes...that was when I knew I had a big big problem...
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