IKEA in Ireland - flatpack heaven at last!

Last Tuesday Ikea the Swedish home furnishings store opened its first store in Ireland, in Dublin. There is one in Belfast but this one was long awaited, and its arrival was hyped up beyond all, with newspaper articles, and TV news items flagging the opening party-like atmosphere. I was in Dublin today so it was definitely something on my to-do list, if only to say I was in my first Ikea store!

Ikea and us go back a while and have a bit of a history. For years we lived in the African bush, working in a refugee programme that was funded by (among others) the Scandinavian Lutheran churches. DanChurchAid, the Danish wing of the church, donated part of their aid as team support in the form of furnishing staff houses. The result was all the expats lived incongruously in Ikea-furnished houses, and became experts at wielding the Allen key which is integral to flatpack assembly. Every year we could peruse a new Ikea catalogue and the height of this bizarre-ness for us was when we lived in a small Swedish container house in a very remote refugee settlement in Burigi, near Lake Victoria in Tanzania, which was full of Ikea pine furniture! So we have a fondness for the flatpack ever since.

I went to the Dublin store with great anticipation and it was like a little outing - teenage daughter came along and was seriously underwhelmed and more than a tad embarassed by my enthusiasm and it became positively cringe-worthy for her when I took some photos, especially of my Ikea lunch. To be able to get a prawn and egg salad open rye sandwich for €2.75 in Ireland was something I wasn't going to let pass uncelebrated, not to mention the €1.00 tea (or coffee) with free refills. I understand the free refill is common in some countries but not this one, so hopefully Ikea will set a precedent and others will quickly follow suit. Maeve had the Swedish meatballs with potatoes for €2.00. I had a dessert to die for - a Swedishly unpronounceable slice of crunchy chocolate-topped layered cookie-style cake - for €1.00! Now in Rip-off Republic we are just not used to these prices at any level -coffee in a petrol station is nearly €3.00. Anyone from Ireland reading this will know exactly what I mean.

Back to shopping - Ikea is an institution and is not for the faint-hearted especially if you are in any hurry. Then don't go. It needs navigating and with a massive car park already conspiring to get you lost on arrival (I couldn't locate the car park, let alone the car, on my departure!) you need to take some time to follow the process as well as the arrows on the floors. You can look at lovely showrooms on the first floor and select and note your planned purchases, then go to the warehouse to pick them up yourself. For Irish people this is a first, as even in Argos the goods are delivered to you from the warehouse. It is incredibly efficiently done, as every item has a code and a collection point and off you go, even I mastered it.

I went to look at chairs and sofas - I left with two "Poang" beech bentwood chairs, some food storage containers and an Ikea shopping bag in the iconic blue and yellow. In fact the place was so awash with blue and yellow from the staff to the bags, and also the juggler on stilts at the entrance, that you'd be forgiven for thinking you'd entered a convention for the Tipperary GAA Team. There is an intriguing Swedish food hall which I didn't get to today, maybe next time. The only disappointment was that the chairs which I wanted and were on offer were out of stock, and they didn't know if they were getting more. So I paid about €20 more for the non-bargain ones, and they are lovely.

We must have walked a few miles today, as I kept getting lost between showrooms, warehouse and car park. No wonder Maeve's patience wore a bit thin! Three hours after entering the store, we were once again south-bound and a few hours later got home, where hubby assembled the chairs with all the enthusiasm flat-pack man greets every new arrival! He isn't too proud to RTFM (Read the ******* Manual) as he got the Allen key into starting position, and got the chairs finished within minutes.They are perfect in the sunroom and are light enough to be moved easily around the house.

I am already planning to go back in a few weeks when I am next in Dublin, as I want to see the things I missed today - like all the homewares I didn't know existed on the ground floor, and I would say to anyone in Dublin who hasn't been there - get on your bike, sunshine! The world just got that bit smaller this week.

Flatpack Man at work and the end result - a nice chair!