IKEA in Ancona

Yesterday was a holiday in Italia, All Saints’ Day, and here in the centro of Ascoli Piceno everything was closed except a few bars and restaurants. We spent some time in the morning walking around the centro as there was no traffic, then decided to make a little road trip to Ancona which is about an hour north up the coast on the A14. An IKEA store just opened last month on the south side of Ancona and we wanted to check out what they had to offer.

We had heard about IKEA stores and the quality of their products but had never visited one before. This three level store was huge! We parked the car on the first level in the area beneath the building and started the maze through the store which was packed with other locals who had the same idea as us…spend a holiday shopping. The store is set-up so that once you enter you are pretty much captured until you buy something and exit at the registers. They wind you through a maze with various displays and a large part of one floor has a restaurant. At one point I needed to get back to the car without buying something so I could measure if a box would fit into the trunk, and this required having to retrace a large part of the store, going against the flow of people.

We were impressed with the quality of many of the products in this store considering the prices, and their displays were clever and inviting. They also included pencils, pads and small paper tape measures at several locations. This store is a combination of Crate & Barrel, Pier 1 and Home Depot with kitchen and bath cabinets, furniture, housewares, bath items, bedding and even some food. (and, of course, dish drying cabinets) There is just about everything one could need to furnish an average casa italiana.

If not for the fact that we have no disposable income we might still be wandering the maze at IKEA.