The first IKEA store in Thailand, and the largest in Asia, opened this past week in Bang Na – the eastern suburbs of the city. I went with some friends to check it out. Here’s the video:
christao408
The adventures of an expat American who moved to Bangkok for his husband.
christao408 
Well, at least you got to try the Swedish meatballs! Even though they’re made in Thailand? LOLI can’t imagine driving an hour (just guessing) over there from Bangkok….but hey, it’s the new thing! And the place is huge, about 10x the size of the one here in Burbank!
They opened an IKEA despite or because of the floods?! It actually may prove to be a smart move. People might have to replace their furniture.
@beowulf222 – yup, i agree. smart move indeed. too bad they don’t open one here in indonesia. with tons of apartment buildings in the city of jakarta, they could make lots of profit.
chris, ikea should pay you for this commercial.
You are doing a good commercial for Ikea. Don’t know about the meatballs lol. Actually, you will find some Ikea items in my house and at the office!
How exciting. I love Ikea! I’ve already visited the one here in HK (in Causeway Bay) a few times. Funny thing, I was browsing videos for work on YouTube the other day and ended up stumbling across your channel. I watched the video about the Star Ferry thinking that the username looked awfully familiar and then I realized it was you!
I’ve never purchased IKEA but it looks like an adventure in shopping! You have more stamina than most men for shopping. My husband would have been bailing after 30 min. The meatballs looked anemic hope they were better tasting….
Nice video blog! That ikea is really huge. One time I took my mom. I enjoyed looking at the different furniture ideas. My mom just focus on handbags and shoes, lol. She said she like Time Square in CWB more. Obviously it took her awhile before it sank in that this a a furniture store. Hehe. Her most enjoyable part was the ice cream at this end. I guess , as she grows older, she starts to behave like a kid. Hehe.
i can’t believe you spent that much time in ikea! i’d be exhausted after wandering around for that long. some ikea products are good, but at times i wish i could buy better quality furniture (even if i had to assemble it myself) for that price — things with a little more durability or longer lifespan.
thanks for contributing to global bigboxification
@AppsScraps – Oh, the big global boxes have been in Thailand a long time. The arrival of IKEA isn’t changing that, nor is my making a video about the experience. If anything, now at least people can buy some of the products that are made locally for IKEA, locally! =D@kunhuo42 – While there was a place and time in my life for IKEA furniture (immediately after college), I don’t find it worth the money and, per Brent’s comment, do believe that it contributes to a “disposable lifestyle” mentality. We’ve tried to save our money for furniture purchases that will last much, much longer.@stevew918 – IKEA is a fascinating place to visit but not necessarily a fun place to shop, if you don’t particularly need furniture.@murisopsis – Oh, I have almost zero patience for shopping. In this case, though, neither I nor my friends were really shopping. We were just going as a distraction from the dismal news about the floods. The meatballs were tough… something meatballs shouldn’t be!@mizz_chan – I’m everywhere! Ha ha ha!@Fatcat723 – They’ll probably want to cut that bit about the food, huh?@rudyhou – Pay me to bad-mouth their meatballs? LOL@beowulf222 – IKEA actually was really smart about how they handled this situation. They pulled way back on the advertising, but went ahead and opened anyway. They made a donation of 20 million baht, about US$670,000 to local flood relief charities, and their remaining advertisements were along the lines of, “Hey, we’re ready for you when you’re ready for us,” laying out the idea that there’s no rush but if you do need to replace your furniture, etc., IKEA will be there for you. Well played on their part.@CurryPuffy – The store is MASSIVE, Gary. And the larger complex (not open until May 2012) in which it is situated (called “Mega Bangna”) reminds me of Ontario Mills but bigger. They operate a free shuttle from the Udom Suk BTS station (two or three past On Nut) that takes about 15 minutes in no traffic to get to the store.
Looks massive indeed! I still need to take one of those pencils home. haha
I always feel like a rat in a maze when in Ikea! Last time, though, I rode the escalator up, and just as I got to the top there was an alarm (fire alarm?), and I went right back down and left the store, meatballs and all. It may take a while before I go into an Ikea again!
This must be such a morale booster, given what’s going on in other parts of the city. Stay safe.
Long live meatballs! It’s kind of interesting how a place known for furniture is also know for the food they serve. Who would have thunk?Your video are always edited in a professional way, btw. Kudos!
woo whoo!!!
Wow…that looks EXACTLY like the IKEA here, in…not-Thailand!!!! Great video. Very professional.
@christao408 – well, maybe not THAT part 🙂
I hear in some Ikea locations they also encourage customers to take their plates of Swedish meatballs and have a picnic on their furniture to really get a feel for it. Did that go on here or was the whole opening day chaotic or were the comfy futons located further away?
I do not like too much the hypermarkets but this is the modern way to sell .all kinds of things .They have been lucky to not be flooded In friendshipMichel
I guess my comment from the YouTube did not go through after all. Sorry that you were disappointed with the swedish meatballs. I wonder what they would taste like if you ate them in Stockholm. That store looks humongous Chris. About twice the size of Sam’s or Cotsco’s here. I have been to the one in Dubai, and I thought that was big.
You really should consider moonlighting as a travel/lifestyle correspondent. Your video blogs are always very entertaining and give just the right balance of information and “ooo-aaah”
@RighteousBruin – Thanks for the recommendation! Yes, I think that having something new to do is a bit of a bright spot, at least for those folks who are not yet inundated with water.@oxyGENE_08 – Pencil thief! Ha ha ha!@slmret – I know that feeling. When I recorded the video bit about “hour number twelve” I was beginning to feel like I was caught in a lab rat experiment.@Roadlesstaken – Thanks for the rec, Alex. I’m not sure if the store is really known for its food, per se, but I was looking forward to trying their meatballs. Probably was more interested in it just because we had cooked meatballs at a Swedish friend’s house a few months back and were speculating whether his were better. They were!@ordinarybutloud – Exactly – every IKEA is like every IKEA with very little difference.@yang1815 – Right back at you.@drung888 – Really!? How cool would that be? In this case, they didn’t seem to want anyone to be eating in the living room, but then Thais generally don’t eat meals in the living room anyhow. Or, at least, not while on the sofa.@fauquet – I agree with you, it isn’t a nice direction in which retail is moving. Smaller, local shops would be ideal. Unfortunately, I think we’re headed in a one-way direction, especially as the world is more interconnected and people want to consume more and more for less and less.@ZSA_MD – That’s the question on my mind, too. Maybe I need to head to Sweden to do a comparative meatball tasting? =D@blueflowe – I thought I already moonlight as a travel/lifestyle correspondent… or did you mean on some platform other than Xanga? =P
@christao408 – That does make sense. Eating a meal on a futon is comfortable but easily becomes a juggling act to a prevent mess.
You sing! I tried the meatballs once and didn’t like it. It didn’t taste real.
Yay for IKEA, I love that place! Someday I will have wall to wall Billy shelves 🙂
@ElusiveWords – Reminded me of the inexpensive meatballs you can buy from a street vendor!@drung888 – Would be a good opportunity to demonstrate how stain resistant the fabrics are, though!
@NVPhotography – Wall to wall Billy shelves = key to happiness?
@christao408 – It may be, but I see it as being able to put all my books on shelves…I have way too many books! Not a bad thing I suppose, but I’m lacking the space so I’ve cut back on my purchasing of the written word.
OMG IKEA is now in Bangkok? Superb! Too bad I’m in Burma at the moment. I’ll definitely go try that once I get back. Thank you for the post, Chris. You’re awesome!
i love ikea! especially the frozen yogurt cones!
@I_love_Burma – Good news is, IKEA will be here waiting for you when you return! Ha ha!@jace1982 – You know, I saw the soft serve but didn’t get one. Guess I have to go back!