Interesting. I wonder if they have the same social obligation of purchasing something in order to hang out in Ikea for extended periods of time. Kind of the same way in the US where you should purchase a cup of coffee if you're going to spend hours in a coffee shop.

But if Ikea wants people to shop rather than hang out on their premises, they certainly will find ways of enforcing it... Like restricting access to the furniture on display, or not displaying any beds, couches, chairs...

In Europe, where Ikea dominates the home-furnishing market by leaps and bounds, they have deliberately designed the stores to be treated as a full-day experience and family activity. It is nearly impossible to go in, quickly find the product you want, and check out; instead, you must navigate a maze of colorful showcases and interactive features. And it's the only major retail chain (here in Germany, at least) that offers childcare service.

Although Western social conventions discourage behaviors like napping on the furniture, Ikea is certainly an outlier when it comes to encouraging people to spend a lot of time (as opposed to just spending money). Being a deeply integrated part of family life is essential to Ikea's brand in Europe, and clearly it's using a similar strategy in China - which is not a country with any history of people hanging out and napping in furniture stores.

For Americans, the idea of hanging out all day with your friends in a shop might sound weird at first, but it was actually the US that first perfected that experience, in the form of indoor shopping malls. They are ostensibly places to buy stuff, but they also function as social ecosystems with some of the functions of public space, where people go to "read their morning newspaper, socialize with friends, and snuggle with a loved one." (Perhaps not nap).

If not encouraging it, this might at least be tolerated in the US, or was for this one-off event a few years ago: http://www.cockeyed.com/pranks/ikea_party/ikea01.shtml

I think the next time my mom and I go on our Ikea pilgrimage I'm going to talk her into trying this out (reading, not napping- I'm not crazy) and see how everyone reacts. If Ikea wasn't so far away I'd assign something like this for an assignment for my students.

I spent a year in Taiwan recently and the whole concept of public space is /much/ different. People would nap on the sidewalks, loiter on the steps to the subway system, have dancing contests in the terminals, etc. Its as thought public space was welcomed to be used by everyone for any reason. In the US there is a constant pressing desire to keep people out of public visibility. Whether it's laws stating folks can't sit on the sidewalks or sleep on benches, or the complete lack of sidewalks and benches, in the States it's only acceptable to be seen in public if you're a certain kind of person (wealthy, white, attractive, etc.). Sure, we seem to have "good reasons" for it, like prohibiting skateboarding or climbing on 'public furniture' in order to keep it from deteroriating; however, I can't help feel that it just contributes to culutral conscious' idea that one cannot truly embody a public space.

I used to live near an Ikea. When my son was small, I would sometimes take him to the child care area, then go find a secluded couch and knit or read for about half an hour. We'd get ice cream before we left, and we'd both be happy. I did sometimes feel a bit awkward about hanging out, which I compensated for by finding a couch that was in a corner near the lighting section, rather than a couch that was displayed in the couch section for people to buy. I figured that couch had been placed there for resting, and that I was resting.

Yes, Ikea is very flexible: https://www.change.org/petitions/mona-astra-liss-support-lgbt-people-in-russia

Sounds like Barnes and Nobles before they took all the cushy chairs away.

I actually think people in America spend TOO MUCH time in shopping centers and stores. Shopping--a literal emersion into modern marketing marvels-- is one of the most boring exercises I participate in in my life. In-and-out should be our mottos.