Ikea, Beijing
I am sure the product mix and food sales at Ikea vary by country, but a unique feature of the Beijing store must be the way people hang out. People sleep on the beds, lounge on sofa's and have informal chats on the chairs. People read, nurse babies and eat lunch on the furniture. Its crowded and chaotic!
What is interesting is what is different about the Beijing outlet of the global chain British magazine Icon called the most influential in contemporary design. Ikea, with its Swedish style, and its finger on the global home furhishings zeitgist, makes a good case study of what Tyler Cowen calls creative destruction; the sometimes positive effects of a global cultural synthesis.
Philip Greenspun colourfully summarizes an article on Ikea's founder, Ingvar Kamprad. There is also an extended discussion about Ikea here.
Comments and faves
LeBernadin, quigleyfam, Andreas Bemeleit, georgivar, and 37 other people added this photo to their favorites.
Oldtasty (100 months ago | reply)
Great photo! I noticed the same thing when I was living in Beijing. It's certainly interesting to see how local norms about what is appropriate behavior can so thorougly change the feel of what is a pretty standard retail setting.
Peter Bowers (100 months ago | reply)
great shot...you have the gift of capturing the feel of the moment...also very interesting comments
pmorgan (100 months ago | reply)
Thanks very much pbowers and Oldtasty. Shift1 also has some shots of the sub niche photo category of Ikea Beijing shoppers.
Dror Poleg (100 months ago | reply)
OMG, there's an IKEA in Beijing?!
pmorgan (100 months ago | reply)
Yes Gogi, there is an Ikea in Beijing. And a whole whack of Starbucks. Pizza Hut, which serves really intriguing 'globalized' foods, is still my favourite: they had a Greek theme during the Athens summer Olympics, and on Friday we had curried-chicken pizza.
Dror Poleg (100 months ago | reply)
well... i havent been there in 3 years. I remember the Starbucks etc... but IKEA... that's an escallation... I am moving to Guangzhou next week. Is there IKEA there too?
Kouzi.Chan (73 months ago | reply)
yes,there's an ikea in Guangzhou too.i'm quite sure of that.
Dimoru (71 months ago | reply)
Que sillones tan agradables.
qgil (68 months ago | reply)
Nice picture. I have used it to illustrate flors.wordpress.com/2007/10/19/n810-maemo-dev ice-program/
Thanks!
shambalileh (68 months ago | reply)
When we were living in Beijing, we would go to IKEA whenever we got homesick. It was an instant cure.
Scottski (64 months ago | reply)
Great story to go with an interesting photo. It's a great way to learn new things through imagery.
Michiel_ (59 months ago | reply)
Awesome Ikea! =D
poeloq (56 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Best of Beijing (Creative Commons!), and we'd love to have this added to the group!
Talldio (56 months ago | reply)
Great photograh!
Stella Dacuma Schour (51 months ago | reply)
nice pic!
back when i was staying in beijing for a couple of weeks, i was told that communist china had tenement housing for its people that didnt have large living areas in their units so they mostly congregated in the outdoor parks, plazas and what other open public space they can use to socialize and interact. i was also told that such units didnt have bathrooms inside of each and instead had communal ones.
this ikea behaviour, after learning all of that from hearsay, totally explains everything to me.
ZenFlex Studio (47 months ago | reply)
good composition.
helentrees (45 months ago | reply)
sigh...