The Big Box

Today i drove my mother out to Ikea to get a few things for her house. I had forgotten how huge and vast and crazy this place is. Driving there is like going to an airport, replete with rotaries and blue signage. The parking lot is vaguely reminiscent of six flags or some other amusement park, designed to handle thousands of cars a day. I didnt take too many pictures inside because it was really, really dark. So i ended up spending a fair amount of time outside while my mom did her shopping.

Going to a place like ikea reminds of one of the biggest differences between NYC and suburban boston (or really any other suburb). In NYC you don't have huge enormous stores like this. Suburbia is dotted with these mega strip malls with places like Ikea, Target, Home Depot and Best Buy all lined up next to one another. Even the supermarkets are friggin enormous here. While i definitely did my share of ranting about the lack of good produce and other stuff when shopping at bodegas and small markets in brooklyn, it was also kinda reassuring. You saw the owners and clerks stocking the shelves and you could find them when you needed them to ask them if they had something. At one point when i was in the warehouse at Ikea the nearest clerk I could see was 100 yards away. At least they all have high contrast color coordinated uniforms so you can spot them at far distances.