Brokelyn

Slightly creepy kid shot courtesy of Ikea.

We’ve been accused of nursing a little Ikea obsession, so if you’re not a breeder, you can skip this item. But if you are, and you join “Ikea Family,” you get 30 minutes extra at the Småland  play area (thank you cut and paste), the only reason why any parent might leave Ikea with their bookshelves and sanity in tact. Everyone else just gets an hour, according to the web site, though we swear it was 45 minutes on our last visit. Ikea Family is free and members also get discounts on some items, a chance to win a $100 gift card whenever you shop and free coffee or tea. We’re guessing they also get a chip embedded in the neck to track Karlstad purchases and meatball consumption but that’s only a theory and did we mention that extra half hour of play time? Join here, if you want. By the way, Ikea is open until midnight this Friday (8/19), with extended water taxi and shuttle service.

The New York Times has a story about how the Red Hook Ikea’s Smaland—the playspace where parents can deposit kids for 90 minutes while they shop—is becoming the most popular babysitter in Brooklyn, and the store doesn’t even give a Fakse that the parents are dropping off their kids and not buying anything:  Read the rest of this entry »