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IKEA Day Care Center A Hit With Non-Shoppers

062309ikea1.jpg New Yorkers have been taking full advantage of the freebies offered by those friendly Swedes in Red Hook, where the city's first IKEA location opened in 2008. Their free buses and Water Taxi service have long been enjoyed by the locals, many of whom use the services without even stepping foot in the store, just to get from the subway to their homes/methadone clinics. Another popular free service is IKEA's in-store daycare center, where you can unload any minor from 36 inches to 50 inches in height. The catch? You must collect them within 45 minutes on weekdays and 30 minutes on weekends. Staten Island mom Jean Taylor tells the Daily News, "I love it. I wish you could leave them here for two hours." The kids get the use of a ball pit and an arts and crafts station, while the parents get time to lounge around on the furniture in air-conditioned comfort. But those Swedes insist they're not chumps; IKEA spokeswoman Lorna Montalvo says, "The parents who come back over and over again know what's on sale." And surely they'll buy something someday?

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Comments [rss]

  • Mr Mel

    Today must be a slow news day.

  • babyhitler

    this place is pretty awesome if you don't buy furniture. Just eat lingonberries and lounge around swedish furniture all day in an air conditioned climate. It's like that married with children episode where the bundies live in the supermarket.

  • Outter Burrougher

    i haven't been to this one, but 30 minutes was barely enough time to stand in line in nj

  • Global Wombat

    I'm sure they have no trouble packing away those frozen boxes of meatballs using their husband's credit cards.

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