IKEA opens their southeastern space station June 29 to thouands of desperate, crazed, sweaty and sleep-deprived shoppers hoping to win prizes

I went to see Atlanta Tuesday to see Clare and we woke up at 4:30 (EST) to go to the IKEA grand opening in Midtown. As I expected, there were hundreds of people who had camped out and we weren't anywhere close to being the first 100 to the free arm chair. Clare's friend and Asian counterpart Mary Ann met us there with her brother Peter. They had been there hours before us. The guy who was first in line came Wednesday and beat out the rest of us because he doesn't have a job. The bedroom suite he won ws nice enough I guess, but his wife, or girlfriend, didn't look happy sitting in the little glass showcase with him. They were like human hamsters. Maybe she just wants him to get off his ass and stop being a crazed store opening camper and get a job. The store is amazing. Clare and I were both very captivated by the children's furniture, toys and bed linens as well as many kitchen items, pillows and area rugs.

IKEA's designs are classic, minimal and timeless. The nicest part of the big midtown mega store is that they have rooms already set up so you can see how furnishings work together with rugs, pillows, shelves. In one room this bizarre person had sprawled out on one of the couches like it belonged to her and we were all supposed to walk around her. There was also this smell that seemed to follow us into each section of the store that can best described as fecal. We tried to get away from it, but it kept following us and it was not us!

Like their furniture, the design of the store is well thought out and includes a nice cafeteria, coffeeshop and plenty of resting areas and big unisex bathrooms for parents and kids. With the thousands of people in the place, it only felt really crowded a few times. Clare's bargain hunting ass found a bunch of one dollar good in the "as is" section and I got a nice braided rug with a small hole in it for buck. That is the section where we will go first next time. IKEA is an amazing store, but would probably be better viewed when some of the frenzy dies down and you don't have to pay to take a shuttle bus to the place. Our early arrival at least got us free parking.

Here's what The Macon Telegraph had to say:
http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/business/12017987.htm