Ikea, Apple draw crowds
Ray Allegrezza, Editor-in-chief -- Furniture Today, March 9, 2009
I'm not buying the notion that consumers just aren't buying.
Here's why. A few weeks ago, we sent our senior retail editor, Clint Engel, to Charlotte, N.C., to report on the opening of Ikea's newest store. Armed with our trusty Flip Mini camcorder, Clint stood in a steady rain and filmed a seemingly endless line of shoppers, many of whom had waited days to be among the first through the retailer's doors.
Granted, Ikea gave chairs away to the first 100 people in line and had other giveaways, but even so, you don't get thousands of people waiting outside your door for the chance to get a free chair.
To give you an idea of how wild the opening was, local authorities were forced to reroute Interstate traffic in order to minimize traffic delays. Watch the scene (and any of our other videos) at /video/.
At a time when most retailers can hardly get shoppers in the store, Ikea opens to thousands of consumers waiting patiently in line to hand the retailer their disposable income.
And they are not alone. Last week, Apple opened its first store in Greensboro, N.C.
Different products, different store, same insane results. My son works at the store and said that when they opened the door, close to 1,000 excited shoppers streamed into the store and were high-fived by my son and all the other Apple employees.
Unlike Ikea, Apple wasn't giving away any product. They did hand out T-shirts, but didn't even need a grand-opening sale to draw a crowd. Still, the excitement and applause that erupted when the doors were opened was identical to the Ikea event.
Hats off to Ikea and Apple. These are smart merchants who don't merely open stores. Instead, through their ability to create a bond with their shoppers, they open the door to longstanding relationships with their customers.
Bad economy or not, the consumer is still buying. She just may not be buying from you.
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