Ikea is one of those companies that catches my attention because I do not conceive that everything around it is so planned and planned. We can agree or not with what it offers: whether it is of quality or not, the origin of the materials, the labor policy of the manufacturers, but I am certain that they invest a lot in R&D (research and development) , and I do not mean only the products, but the environment in which it is sold.
Go shopping in Ikea with the children It is a quite satisfactory experience (taking into account what usually happens after sixty minutes of being in a closed place and with fragile things at your height). My opinion is that they have clearly advanced to other shopping centers. I will explain why.
- It offers a play room at the entrance for children from three years, in which some monitors attend them while their parents make the purchase. We have not used this service so I have no experience in how it works but it offers more security and comfort than typical ball parks.
- They already know that in Ikea an itinerary is more or less established by the store, well, every certain distance there is a children's space composed of a column with different games (especially rotating puzzles with cylinders and interactive screens). With my children (two and four years old) they worked perfectly at the level of interest (they immediately addressed them) and by distribution (it coincided that they appeared more or less when they started to get tired).
- The toys (stuffed animals and others) had open units with which the children played at their leisure in tables and chairs of their size (this only in the area of sale of children's items) with which you got two things, which distract another more time (it is located at the end of the exhibition) and find out which one they liked in case you wanted to buy one.
- Finally, in the food area they had several comfortable things. The children's menu (pasta, yogurt and juice) cost one euro. You have a microwave to heat the pots or mash you carry, as well as cutlery and a children's bowl. And in the table area there are a few oriented towards a central space equipped with the toys they sell themselves (without packaging, of course), stories and a television with cartoons.
Anyway, if the idea is to make us spend, they do their homework very well. What I have shared with you belongs to the Ikea of Oviedo (I say this in case you go to another and there is not the same), but that is the least. My intention is to review that with imagination and a small investment we can make children more pleasant their experience of accompanying parents during shopping (not to mention how pleasant it is for us).
