Letters to the editor

Justin Norfleet Chugwater
Posted 1/22/25

To the Editor: Going to IKEA is like stepping into an alternate universe. You might’ve come for a bookshelf or a desk, but in the end, you always look for the door. At what point did furniture …

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Letters to the editor

Posted

To the Editor:
Going to IKEA is like stepping into an alternate universe. You might’ve come for a bookshelf or a desk, but in the end, you always look for the door. At what point did furniture shopping turn into a real-life Swedish escape room?

When you enter this Swedish labyrinth, you are directed further in like cattle in a working pen. The further you go the more mock houses you see that try to pull you in and make you buy something you don’t need. These mock homes scream, “you could be happy too, just buy this furniture.” You can’t simply grab the desk you saw online and leave, you have to walk through the entire store to find it first. It’s very immersive but has to be one of the most manipulative stores.
Once you find what you were looking for, you have to put together the 1000-piece puzzle with instructions only a scholar could understand. Once you have it put together, you’re left with a pile of pieces that leave you wondering where you went wrong.
Maybe IKEA is not just selling furniture, maybe it’s trying to sell an experience, but we all know it truly sells frustration. So, is IKEA an escape room? Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t, but it sure feels like it.