South Florida Gains New Landmark

If you don't live in South Florida, you may not be aware of this morning's festivities. Today marks the grand opening of an IKEA store in the Sawgrass Mills area, and what amounts to a new landmark, possibly even bringing more "tourism" into the area.

What amazes me is how many people really need to get a life. Don't people have anything better to do than hang out in front of a store all night (at least most of it) so they can be there as soon as the store opens? For over a thousand people, apparently not.

There are the typical festivities associated with the grand opening...music, flag raising and log cutting (a tradition for Swedes that brings good luck to the home and all who enter it). Most rock concerts have less people hanging out all night to get tickets, so why a furniture store?

So, how well will the new store do?

Since they are opening in an area where home prices have plummeted and will likely continue to drop, probably not as well as they would like. Since most South Floridians have tapped out their "home ATM", getting more money to blow on new furniture is going to be hard.

However, they can always do things the American way, add an IKEA credit card and go further into debt hoping reality won't bite them in the behind. Expect foreclosures to increase in the near future due to this way of thinking.

Personally, I do like the store as they have lots of good furniture and other household items. I visited the IKEA store in Potomac Mills (Virginia, about 1/2 hour ride south of Washington, DC) and I like what they offered there. I refuse to "live" there like many do, but it never hurts to drop the kids off at their facilities.

So, now that South Florida, particularly Broward County, has an IKEA store, I imagine I will stay away from that area due to traffic "issues", but if the kids start acting up, it may be worth it (I hope their child area is still free).