Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
Hiroko Suzuki from Japan in the queue as the first IKEA in Ireland opened in Ballymun, Dublin in July 2009.
PA Archive/Press Association Images
flatpack fun
IKEA: Stop playing hide -and-seek in our shops, seriously
They are not amused.
Updated: 12.08pm
IKEA is sick of people playing hide-and-seek in its shops, and has called on customers to stop the practice.
More than 32,000 people had signed up on Facebook to play hide-and-seek at Ikea’s Eindhoven store in the Netherlands, while 19,000 people registered to play in Amsterdam, and 12,000 people signed up for a game in Utrecht.
An IKEA UK and Ireland spokesperson told TheJournal.ie: “While we appreciate playing hide and seek in one of our stores may be appealing to some, offering a fun, relaxed and safe shopping experience for our customers is our highest priority. We would not facilitate this kind of activity taking place in any of our stores.”
According to Time, IKEA Group spokeswoman Martina Smedberg told Bloomberg that the games are “hard to control”, adding: “We need to make sure people are safe in our stores and that’s hard to do if we don’t even know where they are.”
Last summer, hundreds of people played the game in IKEA stores in Belgium.
Originally published: 10.18am
have your say