IKEA RIOT

Dr. Cool passes on this terrifying story of an Ikea store opening gone horribly wrong north of London:

Several people were hurt in the crush as thousands flocked to the midnight opening of Ikea's newest store.

The store in Edmonton, north London, stayed open for just 30 minutes because of safety fears and five people had to be taken to hospital for treatment.

The company blamed the chaos, in the early hours of Thursday, on "an unforeseen volume of customers".

The (current) Red Hook, Brooklyn resident asks, "oh my god is this going to happen in red hook??" b/c Ikea has plans to open up a store there within the next year or two I think.  The answer is, of course, YES, YES IT WILL - this is not the first Ikea riot:

A stampede of hundreds of shoppers in western Saudi Arabia has left at least three people crushed to death.

A Saudi man and a Pakistani man were among those killed, officials in the port city of Jeddah said.

The incident occurred after shoppers rushed into a branch of Ikea to claim a limited number of credit vouchers being offered to the public.

And it will not be the last!  Ikea's prices and selection are downright INCITEFUL! 

South Philadelphia Athenaeum professor emeritus Brandon Joyce has thought deeply on the meaning of Ikea and even more deeply on the potential for creating NEW meaning in Ikea - please see his essay IKEALISM for more on taking advantage of this riotous phenomenon.  Sadly I have never been to an Ikea store...  Though I will, one day - that's a promise, NOT a threat!