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The Real Key To Our Economic Recovery Could Lie In Ikea Meatballs

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By STEVE OTTO

sotto@tampatrib.com

Published: March 22, 2009

W

hile the rest of the world wonders what is going to save it from economic ruin, Tampa's salvation rises on Adamo Drive.

If you haven't read or heard about the Ikea store that is scheduled to open in less than two months, then you haven't been paying attention. We've run stories and even had a preview tour of the store in Mother Trib and pretty much concluded that it is the Eighth Wonder of the Civilized World.

One story noted that the Swedish retailer has a cultlike following around the world. They've even announced that shoppers will be allowed to set up camp outside the store's front doors 48 hours before its scheduled May 6 opening.

I've heard of people camping out to get tickets to ball games and rock concerts, but to buy modular furniture?

I'll be honest. Being old and apparently not all that hip to the cultural changes around here, I hadn't paid much attention to the coming of Ikea.
Home Depot Meets Sam's Club

About all I knew was that another big-box retailer was setting up shop in a most unlikely place on 22nd Street and Adamo, where they were going to sell modern modular furniture that you had to put together yourself and it was going to be sort of a combination of Home Depot meets Sam's Club.

That didn't do much for me. I lost interest in shopping after they closed Maas Bros., which used to be the jewel of downtown Tampa as well as the rest of Florida. It was a place where they had real clerks who not only knew their products, but backed them to the hilt. I won't even get into those cinnamon rolls they used to serve in the coffee shop.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, our oldest son wondered if we might take him to Ikea's Orlando store over the weekend to look at a bookcase he was interested in. It wasn't so much he wanted our advice on the furniture as that we have a minivan he normally wouldn't be caught dead driving but which could carry back his purchase.

We pulled out on Saturday morning and as we rolled across Interstate 4, I had that same feeling we had the first time we went to Disney World. To me there really is no Orlando, only a series of theme parks and parking lots surrounding them.

The Ikea store is in what you could call Shopping Center World, a road that takes you by what seems to be every retail store and brand name there ever was. It's easy to pick out the Swedish blue and yellow colors that are the trademark of their stores.

Meatballs Come To Tampa

The first thing I noticed when we walked in was the cafeteria advertising a full breakfast for $1.99. Already I was in love. The Frau and son were less enamored but they owed me something for driving 90 miles. The guy behind the counter told me they just stopped serving breakfast but I was in time for the daily special of Swedish meatballs and lingonberry sauce. He added that was the special every day.

Stuffed with meatballs, we began working our way through the store. Whoever designed these things did it so you cover everything instead of just going to one section. The idea is that when you see something you like, you write it down on a piece of paper they give you, and when finished, you go to a vast warehouselike space to pick it up. There are also the smaller things you take with you in your cart.

I'm not going to spoil this for you. The Tampa store will be 353,000-square-feet of stuff, more than 50,000 feet bigger than any other Florida store. But if you are at all like the Frau, come May 6, the Florida economy is going to be booming again, especially if you like meatballs.

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