MAKING A HOME IN KAOHSIUNG: IKEA

(07) 537-7688
1201, JhongHua 5th Road, Kaohsiung City
Hours: Everyday 10 am-10 pm
Major credit cards accepted.

IKEA Kaohsiung officially opened in November and it lives up to expectations. It is hard to miss the four storeys of bright blue and yellow marking this Swedish home furnishing import store, which offers a wide range of western-style household items. Following the maps and large arrows on the floor will lead you through the various showrooms, where you can see the products laid out in mock rooms. You then write down the product numbers to collect them at the bottom floor later.

After the showrooms you arrive at the cafeteria-style restaurant, which serves Swedish meatballs (NT$99 - NT$120), salmon (NT$180), veggie curry, baguettes and open-faced sandwiches (NT$60). Small dishes such as soup are available for NT$20. There is also a kids menu (NT$60) and a children's play area. The restaurant can seat over 200 people and is non-smoking.

Next you take the escalator down to the third floor with is the self serve area. This floor houses smaller items such as dishware, or larger items such as rugs. Following that you take the escalator down to the flat-packed storage area. (This is where noting the number on the product you wanted from the showroom comes in handy.) The storage area is two storeys tall and isles are marked in English and Chinese.

After the checkouts comes the imported food section, where they sell packaged Swedish candies, cookies, cakes, meats, preserves and meatballs (among other things). A final smaller cafeteria sells Swedish hotdogs, ice-cream, coffee and soda. IKEA has ample scooter and car parking located under the store and the staff are friendly and bilingual. IKEA is open everyday 10am to 10pm, but weekdays are notably quieter than weekends.

--By Jana Holbrook, translated by Annie Liu