IKEA for 1 please!

Ikea and all its Swedish grandness lacks one thing... a forgiving attitude towards the singleton.

In my newly minted "hipster adjacent" lifestyle with the beau, he's now found an excess of space in some areas, and a decrease in space in others. Finally having a breakfast nook, eating on the coffee table is no longer a necessity, and the hunt for the perfect dining room set begins. Within a realistic price range of course. However his downgrade from closet that could easily be converted into another bedroom, to merely a simple walk in requires a creative outlook on storage spaces.

In comes Ikea, the perfect place for penny pinching assistants, still waiting for their big break, yet finding a bit of extra cash in their pockets thanks to the move east (yet still JUST west of the 101).

Having watched 500 Days of Summer one too many times, the notion of running through the store & finding little Asian families in the bathroom makes the trek out to Burbank even more worth while... and the meatball sundaes seal the deal. (Granted, I would not partake in the running through the store, and I was accidentally the Asian in the bathroom, rather than the adorable couple on the bed.)

In looking for parking, I noticed something interesting. In front of the store was the loading & unloading zone, while the actual lot was a little further away. Big stones caged in the carts, so in reality, the only way to transfer your goods from your cart to your car (without carrying them) requires you to have a partner in crime. One to watch the stuff, while the other grabs the vehicle. This puzzled me, could one not come to Ikea alone?

As a weakling, this thought has never really hit me, because I know that my scrawny arms would never be able to get my Hagalund sofa bed into the cart in the first place, and I've also never suffered from the situation of being "new in town." But what would they do? Those "new in town" and "without a friend" people?

I suppose the easy answer is, have it shipped... But really IKEA, with your "couple necessary" parking, you're just making the lonely feel even more ostracized than they already are. Sad.