Ikea

This weekend I went shopping at Ikea for the first time in about 6 months.  Upon arriving there I realized why I have not been there in so long.  As I shopped around and filled up my cart with all of my items, I then proceeded to the higher levels.  I shortly found out that I could not take my cart up to the showroom which was completely fine, I just wish I was informed about that before I filled my cart to the top. I left my cart behind a register as I was instructed and would come back for it before checkout. After reaching the showroom I could not find the table I was looking for and found myself walking forever following the signs on the floor trying to get to the candle and picture frame section of the room.  I finally had what I had came there for and much much more, only to find out that I had to follow the arrows on the same path back down the hall, to the left, the right, the left again and down the broken escalator.  There is like one way in and one way out to each floor.  After reaching the main floor, I went to retrieve my cart that was still sitting there with only one of my hundreds of items.  I then turned around and proceeded to the cash registers with my candles and picture frames only to find three registers out of about ten open and the lines were forever!

After doing this weeks reading about the importance of “user-centered” design and user-friendly layout, I wish the designers at Ikea would have also done this reading.  Just here sharing my weekend frustrations…until next time, Blessings!