IKEA has banned hide-and-seek in its Dutch stores, a smart move that has nonetheless upset tens of thousands of whimsical twentysomethings who planned to descend on the store for a few games.
Bloomberg reports that over 32,000 people RSVP’d for a game of hide-and-seek at an IKEA in the Netherlands. The Facebook event was a follow-up to an initial game, which was itself a huge hit:
About 500 people joined in the game, according to Annelies Nauwelaerts, a spokeswoman for Ikea Belgium. People were hiding in fridges, under stuffed toys, under Ikea’s blue shopping bags and even in the storage space under beds, said De Rijck, a regular Ikea shopper.
IKEA has put its foot down at the prospect of inviting 32,000 people into its stores. Could that many people even fit inside a big box store? What are the logistics of a hider finding a spot when tens of thousands of seekers are milling around the office chairs and children’s dressers? And you know at least a few (thousand) of those 32,000 people are going to be drunk when they show up.
There’s a fine line between fanciful adult fun and obnoxious adult fun, between the No Pants Subway Ride and SantaCon. Showing up anywhere with 32,000 people for anything except a protest or the World Series is obnoxious. Either way, the company dodged a bullet here. There are plenty of other ways to satiate your boredom at IKEA. See below. [Bloomberg]
Picture: Karpova