IKEA Brooklyn

The first IKEA in NYC just opened yesterday on the Brooklyn waterfront, and it's been all over the local news so I went and checked it out.

IKEA is operating a free water taxi from lower Manhattan and bus service to bring people in for the grand opening weekend.

IKEA had to go to Brooklyn because their stores are so enormous there was no (affordable) room anywhere else. It's hard to appreciate the size of the store until you have seen it. The store is 346,000 square feet and employs 500 people. It's an entire old warehouse the size of St. Louis Center. Pulling onto the parking lot reminded me of pulling into Six Flags being directed and routed by a small army to a parking spot.

I've never been to an IKEA store and was really interested to see what all the hype is about. IKEA has the best looking and best quality cheap crap I've ever seen. It would have been great to have had an IKEA handy when I was in college or just out and trying to furnish an apartment. That stuff is really perfect for NY and I'm surprised their so late arriving. And I would have bought some of it, if I wasn't flying.

(Posted from the Hilton Garden Inn, Staten Island)