Comment by dkarl | Hacker News Reader

Comment by dkarl | Hacker News Reader

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I think the IKEA hate is amplified by the experience of being in their stores. I like IKEA products and do go and shop there, but I plan ahead to get in and out in less than half an hour, because after twenty minutes or so I start to get nauseous and feel like I'm having trouble breathing.

It's not because I have strong feelings about the products or the company, or just that I dislike shopping. There aren't any other stores that create the same reaction. Stores filled with products I hate, stores filled with products I love, stores filled with temptations, big stores, little stores, ugly stores, beautiful stores, malls, they're just places to shop, and while they might make me feel bored or irritated after a while, I don't get nauseous. They don't fill me with dread.

I honestly don't know why IKEA stores affect me like that. At first I thought it was anxiety about being disoriented, but it happens to me even in the local store where I know the layout. I have a lot of faith in habituation, mindfulness, and thinking things through as ways of mitigating anxiety, but they haven't helped. The only thing that affects me as viscerally and predictably is my fear of heights, so whatever it is, it feels primal.

I feel the same, one trick I use is to park close to the checkout doors, walk in through the exit and go immediately to the kiosk to find the location of the item I want.

I've purchased $100's worth of item in less than 20 minutes.

I usually end up giving up trying to buy anything after 20 minutes in Ikea. I am a runner that runs about 25 miles a week (so I am in decent shape) and the place exhausts me mentally, physically and emotionally.

I hate IKEA stores because of the way they force you in a specific direction, like rats in a maze. It's almost claustrophobic. So I associate their brand with authoritarianism.

The best way to shop IKEA, IMO, is to identify all the parts on their website. The website is good, it will show you the rack where everything is at the selected store. Make the parts & location list at home.

Then walk in from the exit side straight into the warehouse and pick up the boxes from the aisles you identified before.

The only drawback is that often things which are shown as in-stock are actually not (maybe it is a pandemic era thing).

I really hate being in the store. I hate going to the store, because it means a long drive out into the middle of nowhere. The time it takes to actually shop at ikea isn’t worth the price.

For whatever reason, I also hate being in the store. Something about it feels like I'm in some kind of evil villain's gauntlet fortress, like Bowser's levels.

I know this makes me look a lil crazy to others in the store, but if/ when I go to IKEA (for the prices, honestly), I have no qualms running through the store at my easy pace, to get what I need and get out as quickly as possible.

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