As home decorators both amateur and professional likely know, IKEA is one of the most popular interior decorating companies in the world, and the Swedish corporation has now taken root in Fishers with the opening of a new installment on Oct. 11, only a short drive from campus. For the uninitiated, it is important to understand that IKEA is not a store so much as an experience. Shoppers walk along a designated path to avoid becoming lost in the massive building. On either side of the path are pre-designed kitchens, bedrooms, offices and bathrooms, fully decorated in a variety of styles. There are also hundreds of different chairs, lamps and essentially any other home appliance imaginable in stock. Each piece of furniture, such as bed frames or desks, has a tag attached to it with a brief code. At the end of the standard path, directly before the exit, is a warehouse containing the objects seen throughout the store. Arranged in alphabetical rows, each piece of furniture is disassembled in a box with a label that corresponds to the tag attached to its assembled form in the store; this is how shoppers find the items they wish to purchase. The purpose of visiting IKEA is not really to shop. More than anything else, IKEA is a chance to get to know your own preferences and channel your inner designer. IKEA is a place where you get to try and decide which office chair best describes you as a person. There is even a food court within the store, which emphasizes the fact that IKEA is a place where shoppers are meant to spend entire days. And if there is a store worth spending an entire day in, it is this one. Like iced coffee or reality television, IKEA is truly a love it-or-hate it experience. If you loved IKEA before the arrival of this one in Fishers, you will enjoy the addition. The new establishment is no different than any other installments of the company, but fans of IKEA will not find it lacking the charms that made the corporation such a success in the first place.
11400 IKEA Way
Fishers, IN 46037
