Ikea Grand Opening: Discussion Starter

February 23rd, 2009 Jonathan Piscitelli Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Wednesday 2/18/09 was a cold, rainy and all around nasty day.  But still there were hundreds of people camped out, in the freezing rain for the Grand Opening of Ikea.  Below is a quick video of Ikea’s big day here in Charlotte.

I got there at 5:30 am, and there were already lines of people waiting to be the first to shop. People were huddled under tarps, camping out in tents, and just waiting in line. The network news stations were there with their crews and remote vans.  I’m probably not the target market for Ikea, but is their furniture really that great?  I’d never been to an Ikea before, so I went inside, and even grabbed a bite to eat (Swedish Meatballs and lingon berry sauce).  I was impressed by the layout of Ikea, as well as its overall aesthetic and the energy of the day, but I’m still not sure why it was such a big deal.  Did anyone else go to the Ikea Grand Opening?  They gave away a free chair to the first 100 shoppers, did Ikea run any other Grand Opening promotions to drive traffic through their store on the first day?  How much of this is just hype about having something new, and how much do you think is actual excitement about Ikea products?  What can we learn from Ikea, their Grand Opening (Bands, DJ’s, News Crews, opening ceremony), the promotions they ran to bring people out en masse, and the whole “shopping as an experience “vibe they have going on?   (Similar to the Apple Store in that respect.)  Feel free to answer these questions, leave comments and add some questions of your own.