Ikea Furniture Shopping: A Store Guide for First-Timers

I’ve been furniture shopping at Ikea for years now, but every time I go, I see some confused souls who looked daunted and overwhelmed by the scale of the store. They’re unsure how to “shop it” because it’s different from other retail experiences. They may adore the spiffy designs and delight in the low prices, but they’re a little confused about how to best undertake Ikea furniture shopping. With these folks in mind, I’ve created an Ikea store guide for first-timers – an explanation of how the store works and some tips for shopping efficiently.

Ikea Furniture Shopping: Start at the top.

Ikea stores resemble giant, multi-floor warehouses. The upper floors are showrooms for furniture and furnishings while the ground floor is primarily for checking out and loading. They’ve usually engineered the space so that it’s intuitive for you to enter the atrium and ascend the escalator to the top floor. You then circle/spiral your way down through the various showrooms, using the special escalator to move you alongside your cart.

Ikea Furniture Shopping: Get your accessories.

Grab a cart, a paper tape measure, an Ikea golf pencil, and a map (which doubles as an item list). These things are available throughout the store, but it’s easiest to start off prepared. Ikea also offers ginormous blue-and-yellow shopping bags, but I find them awkward, bulky, and a little dangerous on your shoulder in some of the parts of a crowded Ikea store (i.e. around fragile items).

Ikea Furniture Shopping: Begin shopping.

There are three ways to get your merchandise at Ikea. For smaller items stocked on the display floors, simply carry them with you to the checkout. This includes things like linens, kitchen and bath accessories, small rugs, prints and frames, pillows, office supplies, etc.

The other furniture items will be picked up using one of two methods (self-serve or counter-serve) once you reach the bottom floor.

Ikea Furniture Shopping: How do self-serve items work?