The Why of Ikea...

Atomizer at Fraters Libertas wonders why anyone would wait in line overnight to be the first to get into a new Ikea. I have two words for him - free shit.

Last May, Ikea opened a store in College Park, Maryland. They had a number of giveaways at all their area stores, including in White Marsh. The first 100 people through the door got a free Poang leather chair worth $200. I got there around 10pm the night before and was one of the first people there. I called my friend BSOM, finally got him to come around 12pm. It was pretty fun - we actually bumped into some people that BSOM knew and hung out with them.

While you could get to White Marsh as late as 4am and still get a chair, there were people there who had gone to the College Park store at 10pm the night before and there were already over a hundred people there. College Park also had other giveaways, including a ton of furniture for the first person willing to camp out in the parking lot for a couple days. They also gave away gift cards if it was your birthday and had contests, big sales, ect.

So the reason that people will wait outside all night outside an Ikea opening is because Ikea makes it worthwhile for them to. It's pretty brilliant - they get a ton of publicity in exchange for giving away some furniture, and they build goodwill among those customers who got free stuff - I'm typing this while watching my TV sitting on it's Ikea TV stand, with my feet resting on the corner of my Ikea bed.

BTW, pics of the chair are here.