IKEA?

Dropped up to IKEA Belfast today. What a place, its ginormous! To find it, if going from Dublin, go around Belfast towards the George Best airport (that's Belfast city airport, not the International one....) and it's just beyond that. Huge though.

First of all, you park. Then you go into the shop. After that you pick a trolley, but you don't really need a trolley for a bit. So you follow the arrows on the ground, perusing their furniture, furnishings and generally clever products, storage-wise. You choose what you like, and what you want to buy, then you note the storage aisle and location for the flatpack box (though some smaller items, like breadboards, and small storage boxes, are laid out more like ordinary goods in a shop than the bigger flatpack stuff), and continue on your way, probably noting more product locations.

You then pass through a part of the shop selling the smaller stuff, then into the warehouse area. Most of the packs are there for you to lug onto the trolley, but I got the impression that some of the heavier pieces would need help from a co-worker (There are no staff members, or personnel, or assistants - they're called co-workers and responsibles in IKEA). Then through the magic laser scanner bay with you (it's not that magic, it's a lot like the supermarket) where you hand over some money (real or pretend, depending - they take Laser/Maestro "up there", for your information)

All the measurements are there for you on the item's ticket - both for the assembled item and for the flatpack package, so you can get an idea if it'll fit in the car. I recommend bringing a car with folding rear seats, at least. I also recommend putting aside a fair chunk of time for your visit, if you don't know exactly what you're buying. A browsy visit will take maybe 3 or 4 hours, it's huge. And there's a coffee shop, bargain corner, and a swedish food shop too. Crazy.

More on buildability later.

Oh, and Coldplay are offering some songs free on an album, here.