Knowing that even two years after the pandemic many are still quite content to stay home, Ikea is coyly trying to give them reason to venture out with reminders of why they enjoy staying in.
Hundreds waltzed through the company’s “Sleepeasy,” a two-floor, 14,000-square-foot immersive experience at 51 Crosby Street in SoHo. Guests — many with smartphones held high — entered through a hidden door in what was meant to be a Swedish bodega stocked with Ikea beverages, snacks and home products. En route to the main area, visitors stopped to leave their marks on a graffiti wall with neon glow-in-the-dark markers.
Just as the Prohibition-era, liquor-loaded speakeasies encouraged people to mix and mingle, Ikea’s Sleepeasy is designed for visitors to interact and linger. In addition to an abundance of beds, there were loungers piled high with pillows, throws and blankets. As the Swedish company’s double-entendre moniker spells out, the Sleepeasy destination is geared to better sleep. Point taken, given that 13.5 percent of adults report feeling tired or exhausted on most days, according to the National Council on Aging.
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The Stockholm-based furniture company has plans to really settle in more to Manhattan. Last month Ingka Investments, an arm of the Ingka Group which owns the majority of Ikea stores, revealed plans to open an 80,000-square-foot Ikea store at 570 Fifth Avenue. That will be housed in the one-million-square-foot mixed-use commercial building that Ingka Investments has invested in and is developing with the Extell Development Co. The project is said to be the largest development on Fifth Avenue in more than 60 years and is expected to open in 2028.
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For fiscal year 2023, Ikea generated 47.6 billion euros in retail sales — an increase of 6.6 percent compared to fiscal year 2022. Post-COVID-19, the home market has become increasingly competitive with domestic retailers from specialty stores like Nordstrom to big-box ones like Target having ramped up their offerings. In addition, Bed Bath & Beyond’s shuttering of multiple stores and RH’s luxury lifestyle branding have created opportunities to more affordable options. Last year Ikea rolled out smaller format stores in San Francisco; Almeria, Spain; Cabo, Morocco; and Rome.
For fiscal year 2023 Ikea’s total sales of goods and services in North America were $6.3 billion — a 6.6 uptick compared to fiscal year 2022. This year Ikea has debuted plan & order points with pick-up in Austin, the Atlanta area and two Los Angeles outposts. Somewhat similar to Tesla showrooms, point teams consist of specialists who help shoppers design their kitchens, bedrooms and living rooms.
But back to the New York City Sleepeasy. It is open to the public through Sunday and will reopen on Aug. 15-18. Another Sleepeasy is planned for Art Basel later this year.
Although there is no clear path, guests wind their way through areas that play up the six sleep essentials — Comfort, Light, Temperature, Sound, Air Quality and Decluttering. True to its name, the Temperature area featured a mountain of pillows and throws on an oversized bed, as well as comforters that were hung to look like icebergs and a lighting fixture made of blue cone-like forms that resembled icicles.
While some of Wednesday night’s attendees beelined it for the bars, others took heed to the writing on the wall that advised, “Take two deep breaths before you enter” and then sprawled out on massive chaises for Instagram-able settings. Around the corner was the “Dream Station NYC,” a subway-inspired white-walled space with three rotary wall phones, silver benches and puffy clothlike clouds overhead. To keep the theme going, a Grand Central station-like Solari board listed a few “Train Arrivals” including “En Route to a Relaxing Moment.” Layne Dalfen greeted guests there with a handshake, a business card and “Tell me your dreams.” She wasn’t kidding. Known as “The Dream Analyst,” Dalfen writes columns for O, The Oprah Magazine and Psychology Today.
Others meandered into what seemed like a campsite inspired by Wes Anderson’s “Moonrise Kingdom,” which touted pitching tents “lakeside, mountainside or city wide.” Less of a reach than that might have sounded, apartment dwellers took notice of the collapsible drying rack, stackable pans, plush animals and plastic carryalls. Another room was strewn with mounds of white clothing on a bed, and more styles were strung together and spinning from the ceiling like an art installation. The adjacent ultra-organized Barbie pink-colored room was meant to relay the calm that comes with decluttering. However, the all-pink selection of dresses, sweaters and ankle boots that were neatly displayed are not being sold. But the pink gumballs in a cylinder on the wall were up for the taking.
Expansive as Ikea’s offerings are, apparel is not currently in the mix. But Ikea rolled out Tyg, a collection of three-meter pre-cut fabrics in 20 Scandinavian patterns in June. (There is no tie to Meghan Markle’s lifestyle blog “The Tig.”) The Swedish brand tapped 13 designers to dream up the assortment of textiles — the idea being that consumers can sew their own clothes.