As I drove up the hill to Ikea, I was greeted with many signs and banners pointing towards the entrances. I was utterly amazed by how much thought had gone into the parking alone. Most store just a have parking lot and a front door, but not Ikea. My Jeep was immediately taken under the building to a 1,200 spot parking garage, where there were pick-up lanes and employees working tying boxes to cars. I found a spot, parked my car and mentally prepared myself for what was about to happen.

Although it was a Monday at 4p.m., the store was busy, full of people from every walk of life. Business men, teenagers, couples, families and a myriad of other people sauntered through the new store, which had opened 4 days earlier. I made my way up the large staircase to the entrances of the store, where a sign that said “hej,” the Swedish translation of “hey,” greeted me. Immediately I felt like I had left Kansas and gone to another country. I had never seen anything like this store.

Confused and frantic, I found my way to the entrance of the top floor show room. I started walking with the flow of people through the snaking paths made in the furniture displays, occasionally stopping to sit in a chair or take a selfie. I was about halfway through the top level when I realized that I had absolutely no idea where I was. The floor plan didn’t make sense, there were no exits once you started walking through the displays and traffic was one-way only, so I was stuck in this line of people.

Traffic was slow, but I finally made my way to the end of the first floor, the food court. Why a furniture store needs a cafeteria style restaurant I am not sure, but the smell of chicken tenders mixed with cinnamon rolls was not a pleasant one. I strolled through tables of people taking full advantage of the store while trying to find a staircase. I got lost a time or two at this point, but I came across where I entered and discovered that I had already walked passed the stairs about three times. Yay. Down the stairs I went.

The lower level had a layout similar to the upstairs, but it was filled with ceramic mugs and placemats rather than walls of couches and beds. Now that I had been through one furniture maze, I thought I knew what this floor would be like, but there was a sign above that said “self serve furniture area” that immediately stood out. I excitedly walked through the bathtubs and shower curtains to get to this promise land. As I grew closer, for some reason I thought of it as self-serve ice cream, which I knew it couldn’t be, so my curiosity peaked even higher. Once I walked about a half mile through the basement, I saw the sign leading into a giant room and walked in.

It was huge. I was in awe of how enormous it was. Think of Costco or SAMs Club, but bigger and with furniture instead of cheese balls. It reminded me of the giant room in Monsters Inc. where all the doors are stored. It was that big, and it had that much going on. I made my way through the main aisle, which turned to a straight shot to the checkout where dozens of customers were waiting to be helped. At that moment I was glad I put back the fake plant I was going to buy for Le Journal because there was no way I was waiting in that line.

I walked through some closed checkout aisles and a gate I’m pretty sure was off limits and ran into ANOTHER restaurant. It smelled even worse than before so I left there as soon as I could. I went out the wrong exit and ended up in front of the store, and on the exact opposite side of where I parked my navy Jeep. I played with the complementary twine and took a few more selfies with the sign, then I made the trek back to my car.

After I drove in circles around the parking lot for a few minutes, I found the exit and my Ikea adventure was over. I picked up some well deserved QuikTrip on the way home and reflected on my day. All in all, Ikea was a great idea. I know that Kansas City will benefit from the store being so close. If you’re planning a trip to Ikea, make sure you have a lot of time to spend browsing and go on a full stomach!