The Wonderful World of IKEA

Friday afternoon, after seeing Mom and Gail off on their way to Georgia, Chuck and I drove to IKEA in Stoughton, Massachusetts. We first went to an IKEA down in Elizabeth, New Jersey more than 15 years ago. It was about 5 hours from where we lived at the time and worth every minute! The next available one we were able to get to was at Islip on Long Island. We took the ferry over from Connecticut and yes, it was worth every minute as well! At long last, the IKEA in Stoughton opened over a year ago and it’s less than two hours away!!!

Anyhoo, we were tired but just rounding the bend and seeing that blue and yellow facade caused us to perk right up. We stocked up on several items from the Marketplace and Chuck was able to get the chalkboard door he wanted for the cabinet in his shop. As we checked out, we were tickled to learn that the store has gone over to charging a nickel for every disposable plastic bag you want to use. To encourage you to buy the giant blue reusable IKEA bags, they dropped the price from 99 cents to 59 cents each.

We then rode the elevator down to the parking garage with a gentleman who had all the bits and pieces of a PAX unit loaded on a flat cart. We tried, somewhat unsuccessfully, not to scare him with our unbridled enthusiasm for PAX. We told him PAX had changed our lives. He said he hadn’t expected an existential transformation, just a place to put his junk. He’ll see...

After stowing our bag in the car, we went back in and had dinner in the large Cafe. Don’t you love those little open-faced shrimp sandwiches with the sliced hard boiled eggs? Refreshed and recharged, we made a quick circuit of the showrooms. That’s when we finally made the decision to buy a Poang chair (beech frame, Sirkon Sand fabric). We have been admiring it for ages and thanks to the generosity of a gift card from C, A, K, & P, we took the plunge! It’s now happily ensconced in our living room, post assembly by Chuck. It was another great trek to IKEA. We’ll be back!