A touch of Scandinavia

As I had to head towards Coventry to exchange a faulty hard drive at PC World and experience their famous ‘Customer Service’ (or rather lack of it!), I took the chance to visit the new IKEA store in the heart of the city, next to the SkyDome, the Swedish company’s first ever city centre store. It opened in December, but I hadn’t had the chance to visit before today, and it made a rather shorter journey than to the previously nearest store, near Nottingham.
From its own parking, large lifts take you up to the showroom level to walk the winding route through the room displays and furniture section. The floor below is the marketplace, with smaller items to pick up and buy, before a three level flat escalator- magnetic so the trollies stick to it like glue- takes you down to the furniture collection hall and payment desks, from where a lift takes you back quickly to the car park. I came away with some cutlery, a tray, and an anglepoise lamp- though their room planning software looks useful.