When we went to Scandinavia, we saw IKEAs everywhere and as I understand there are not too many in the United States (maybe 3 in Texas and about 10 more across the US). For the uninitiated, IKEA is a basically a Swedish furniture store that sells soooo much more than just furniture. To begin with this is the most “child friendly” store I’ve ever been in. On entering, we headed for the family bathroom where free diapers of all sizes are there for the mother who ran out or forgot to bring any. There is a playground for kids only, and a very kid friendly cafeteria which has high chairs (natch) and bibs and small cutlery and dishes. Altho we didn’t try the cafeteria, my guess is very child friendly food is also available.
The furniture sold in the store is mainly wooden and is sold in “put it together yourself” boxes. Display models of the available items are set up like rooms, but what is purchased is downstairs in a huge warehouse. Scandinavian furniture has very simple functional "clean" lines with no fussiness about it. There are however some interesting color choices--a white cabinet with a bright red (or blue) door.
Some unusual items found there which aren’t furniture would be: toys, dishes, pots and pans and cooking items, lamps (semi-furniture) bedding and curtains (called textiles)
A scary looking toy
Lily fell in love with a kitty toy (not the frightening one pictured above, but a sweet gray tiger-striped kitty ) so he accompanied her throughout the shopping trip. Another visit to IKEA, several years ago, gave us the opportunity to purchase a “money tree”, which Nki gave to her grandpa Pike (family joke here) On leaving the store Swedish packaged food is available for purchase. We didn’t get any today nor did we see any plants.
Why is it called IKEA? It is an acronym for the founder’s name Ingvar Kamprad, the Swedish name for his farm (the E word) and the name of the county where he lived. Simple! So it really doesn’t MEAN anything.
I was asked "Didn't we buy anything at IKEA"? And the answer is of course, but nothing huge and no furniture. N bought the little gray/black kitty and some sippy cups. I looked for several items and only found a few. I got a cool turquoise colored dishwashing brush, which Lily immediately upon arriving at her house decided was hers. I found a duvet cover to use as a bedspread, some baby sized clothes hangers, a small (7 inch) skillet and an even smaller pyrex type dish (6 x 6) for baking purposes. I had a fairly long list of items I was looking for, but so far the majority are still on the list.
And before the IKEA visit, we stopped in at the Blue Mesa restaurant for lunch. The chips w/ salsa were a real treat, being of 3 types. Regular corn tortillas, blue corn tortillas and sweet potato chips. Lily really enjoyed the sweet potato ones.
The food was very good and portions ample, we enjoyed this lunch and our waiter was very attentive.
As we were leaving the restaurant, I saw Sam Moon in the distance and commented that altho’ I’d heard of “Sam Moon”, I’d never been there. Nki decided that I should experience this unique place, so we went after our IKEA visit. It’s a good thing we didn’t take Lil’s stroller in, because one part of SM has a sign “No Strollers Allowed everyday”. Wonder how many customers turn around and leave because of this sign. I saw one family who did leave.
Sam Moon’s is best described as luggage and accessories. I am lumping purses of all shapes, sizes and types into the luggage category. Another description for it would be Eclectic Stuff. There were hair bows in multi-colored packages of a dozen, all sorts of necklaces and rings (the “blingier” the better) Scarves were prolific, and one entire wall was taken up w/ hair-pieces/wigs and there was a sales lady there to assist in matching, if you so desired. If you need any tiaras, this is the place.
It was a busy place on this Thursday afternoon and one man was overheard saying “What is this? Disneyland for Women?” Another comment which was overheard (and which I’m not sure I understand) was “I think the integrity of the other is better”. Two ladies were discussing the merits of a possible purchase. I'm not sure I saw anything in the store that had a great deal of "integrity", but that's just me.
Since I’m doing research an the origins of names of stores, I’m not sure why Sam Moon is called that. My source says that the founder’s name is David D. Moon. Maybe he named it after his dad or his uncle or his son?
We didn’t find anything there that we couldn’t live without, so we left without any purchases. But now I’ve experienced Sam Moon.
Just a side note, on the way home I got tickled at the name of a road we passed until Nki told me the correct pronunciation—How would you pronounce HUFFINES? (Shouldn’t it be huffy-ness?)
No comments:
Post a Comment