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January 18, 2007
A Place About Nothing (Ikea edition)
This area is some kind of weird out-of-control experiment in suburban planning to see if, in the sense that Seinfeld was a "show about nothing", you can't create a major metropolitan area that is "a place about nowhere". Today our local rag tells us that we have been passed over by Ikea.
Incredible. The home three counties of the Triangle, with a population over 1 million, are growing like cancer; the population is young, educated and forming households...and yet we can't even attract this ultimate cliche in retailing.
(Mind you, I'm not complaining about this development; I just think it highlights the strange nothingness of this place. I'd think a city without a McDonalds was strange too, despite the fact that I basically never go to McDonalds.)
There are some states where you don't even get a zip code without having at least two Ikeas within one 25 square mile area. It's as if we are completely cut off from the national retailing scene.
This really is a place about nothing.
At least the restaurant scene is progressing well. Next stop for the wife and I: Bonne Soiree.
Posted by dag at January 18, 2007 11:15 AM
Comments
Last time I went to Ikea, I didn't buy anything except some swedish meatballs.
Posted by: Justin Watt ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://aging-disgracefully.com/blog/nav-commenters.gif)
at January 18, 2007 1:44 PM
And that's exactly why I have issues with Ikea. First, I find it exceptionally odd that a furniture store also sells Swedish Meatballs.
Second, if you've ever bought Ikea furniture (as the fiancee frequently does), putting it together is an exercise in all sorts of rage. Who came up with the idea of instruction manuals/assembly instructions with no words?
Third, there's something odd about the store in that every time I go there (much like Potomac Mills, by the way), I wonder if I'll need to make arrangements to have myself buried there - such an ennervating experience...
Posted by: The Good Rabbi at January 18, 2007 10:10 PM