Over the years of scrolling through home decor ideas on pinterest I have seen countless references to the wonderful home decor items you can find for great prices at IKEA. We are not blessed to have IKEA here in East Tennessee, but straight down the highway the great city of Atlanta has this wonderful big blue store. Recently I took my husband so he could explore this great wonderland for the first time. We planned to stay an hour and left after 3 hour of exploring and spending more money than planned. I realized while exploring this wonderful place that if you haven’t been before you might want some IKEA shopping tips as the shopping experience is different (but completely wonderful) than any other store.
The entrance greets you with a big menu of incredible food that they offer and bins of big yellow shopping bags. Trust me you will want to grab at least one bag and a snack or two. IKEA has both a snack bar and a restaurant. We grabbed a hot dog combo- 2 hot dogs and a soda for $2. They also have the most delicious cinnamon rolls that you must try. They are $1 each or you can indulge in a 6 pack of cinnamon rolls for just $4! Upstairs they have a “sit down” restaurant with more sophisticated food also.
IKEA is a home decor wonderland complete with a map to help you explore and shortcuts if you need to take them. There are maps place throughout the store so you can’t get lost and you can see where you would like to wander.
As you explore the store you walk through vignettes of rooms set up. There are bathrooms, kitchens, offices, living rooms. All decorated with things that you can buy at IKEA. This way you can get inspiration for your own home and also see how the product looks and functions. It is so fun that you can spend hours exploring. Along the way you can fill your bag with little treasures that you find.
The bigger items are found on the ground floor in the marketplace. The warehouse area is found just before you check out. If you are purchasing a larger item, there are flat bed carts available just before you enter the land of boxes. Also keep in mind that when you purchase smaller items, IKEA provides no bags for you to take your treasures home. So you can bring your own or purchase a nice big blue IKEA bag for $1.
Because as you wander you find more and more things that you will love, they have these great little stations positioned around the store. They have paper measuring tapes, pencils, a map and paper pad where you can write down the item you want in the warehouse, where to find it and how much it is. If you don’t pick any of this up at the beginning, just check around the next corner and you will probably see one of these handy stations.
IKEA also knows that your bags will get heavy and you just might need more. You can pick up a handy little bag cart and there are also bins of bags throughout the store.
IKEA has most everything you could ever think of for your home and it is so fun to explore. Plan at least a couple of hours to just have fun or make a whole day of it. You can find great stuff for your home at reasonable prices. Plus there is always great food too. I hope these tips help you on shopping at IKEA. And don’t forget to bring home a 6 pack of cinnamon rolls for the family!
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