Ugly behaviour in Shanghai's IKEA?
Swedish furniture giant IKEA is famous for its cheap furniture,
its Swedish meatballs, and for letting its customers try out its
products in the shop - and not necessarily in that order.
However, in its Shanghai branch in Xuhui, it has become popular
with locals for something else.
Internet reports reveal that for the past two years, locals
would swamp their local IKEA branch every Tuesday and Thursday
afternoon to take advantage of the free coffee served there as a
perk for their Ikea Family members.
The crowd has been known to swell to up to 700 people.
Wall Street Journal reports that those between the ages of 45
and 65 have another mission: To find new love while drinking their
free cups of joe.
It says the store was forced to cordon off a special area for
them inside the cafeteria to accommodate the large crowd while
still allowing space for regular customers.
Apart from the hordes of loveseekers, some netizens have also
complained of locals who are treating the Shanghai branch as their
'home'. They say some people stay very late in the store, spending
their time sitting to chat, relax & use their laptop or mobile
phones as they would at home.
Ikea has two branches in Shanghai, and nine in China.
Yin
Lifang, public relations manager at the store, told China Real
Time: "Every Tuesday, our restaurant business goes down by about
20% and we are consuming 6 boxes of coffee cream and sugar compared
to 2 boxes during peak hours on weekends and holidays."
According
to the participants, the so-called "match-making corner" has
existed for at least two years.
Free
coffee drinkers have their own reason to love the IKEA canteen
because the city has few affordable places for middle-aged people
to date and make friends, said China Daily.
IKEA
had posted a notice in the restaurant saying that the group has
caused trouble for the operation of the restaurant.
According
to the notice, the group occupies seats for a long time, preventing
other customers from sitting down, reported China Daily.
They
also talk loudly and sometimes quarrel or fight, which disturbs the
other customers, said the paper.
Some
have also turned the store into their own 'home'
