i had my first ikea experience today.
the ikea in bloomington in huge. gigantic. i was overwhelmed to the level that i could only stand there and stare blankly at things. they have some nice furniture and everything with unusually reasonable prices, which may lead you to believe that it's just a run-of-the-mill furniture store that takes up an abnormally large amount of square footage, but you would be wrong in assuming so. this place is amazing.
and i'm not the only one who thinks so. the couples were out today -- young and old alike, looking for things to furnish their new places or to spice up their tired living spaces, and everyone was enthusiastic about everything they saw.
"oh my," i heard an older woman say, "look at this tacky loveseat. it's so tacky! john, come look at this tacky, tacky loveseat. tacky, tacky, tacky. john, come sit on this tacky loveseat with me. see how awful it is? it's so tacky. tell me how much it costs. how much? that's pretty reasonable, do you think it would fit in our foyer?"
a big man wearing a vikings jersey was trudging behind his wife. her eyes shone as she looked at the sheets on the bed in the fake bedroom on the showroom floor. the big man grunted, concentrating on his shoes. his wife lead him to the fake bathroom and fawned over the towel rack. the man grunted again, staring at the tiled floor and glancing at his watch. the woman flitted over to the fake kitchen and began admiring the glasses on the table. the man grunted a third time, trying not to look interested. he turned his back to her, but something caught his attention. a gleam appeared in his eye. "honey!" he cried, enthusiastically. "look at these cabinets! we've got to have them!"
the most interesting couple, however, was a young man and his girlfriend, who were ten steps ahead of us the whole time. i had the privilege of hearing their fascinating conversations throughout the entire trip through the store. i believe the phrases, "yo, these pillowcases are the bomb!" and "baby, that office chair would look phat in the office!" were uttered.
ikea caters to the likes of everyone. even poor college kids looking for something to spruce up their shoddy living spaces. i'm giving it an A-.
(it would have gotten a better score, but the down escalator on the way out was more of a slope than steps. i got hardcore vertigo and would not relive the experience for anything.)

oh yeah, ps: if you search for "ikea" in the yahoo! image search, there's a surprising amount of x-rated pictures that come up. just fyi.