These People Who Spent the Night Snowed In at IKEA Got to Live My Dream

The store manager reported that “everyone had a full night’s sleep" and "enjoyed each other’s company.”

By Kylie Cheung | December 3, 2021 | 6:10pm

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These People Who Spent the Night Snowed In at IKEA Got to Live My Dream

On Wednesday evening, while Americans wrangled with abortion rights’ impending doom and yet another devastating school shooting, six customers and 12 employees at an IKEA in Aalborg, Denmark, got to live my dream. Stranded at the store by a heavy snowstorm that night, this lucky group did what they had to do to survive: They cozied up on the exhibit beds and couches, reportedly chowed down warm cinnamon rolls and other signature IKEA food, and watched TV through the night.

According to Aalborg IKEA store manager Peter Elmose, it was “too dangerous to drive on the roads” because of the snow, forcing them to take shelter — and, look, I’m not calling him a liar, but if I were at an IKEA, I would capitalize on any reason to stay the night there, too.

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“We slept in the furniture exhibitions and our showroom on the first floor, where we have beds, mattresses and sofa beds,” Elmose told the Danish tabloid, Ekstra Bladet, also noting that customers and staff were allowed to “pick the exact bed they always have wanted to try.”

Elmose told the paper that “everyone had a full night’s sleep, our mattresses are good,” and the group of 18 had a pleasant time “enjoying each other’s company.”

Another IKEA employee described the store as “nice and warm,” and said the group “just laughed at the situation, because we will probably not experience it again.”

The Aalborg IKEA even gave a thorough tour of the world’s most perfect sleepover on its Instagram, yesterday.

IKEA is, in general, a nearly perfect place — it’s stylishly decorated while also feeling like home, and you can’t beat those cinnamon rolls and meatballs. The Swedish furniture chain’s one singular flaw, however, is that as comfortable and familiar as the store might feel, it’s not actually your home, and you can’t actually lie down in its beds or make a pillow fort in its display living rooms, inviting as they may be.

I can’t help but be jealous of the group of mostly strangers who were trapped in the store by the 30 centimeter (12 inch) snowstorm that raged outside — especially since, by all accounts, it sounds like they had a wonderful time, and possibly formed lasting, lifelong friendships. They got to not just sleep in the IKEA exhibit beds of their choosing, but spend the night roleplaying as residents of the cutest, coziest little model homes in the world.

I’ve never even allowed myself to dream of what I’d do if given the chance to spend a whole night at an IKEA store, toasty warm in a display bed as snow fell outside — why torment myself with an ultimately unattainable fantasy?? If I do ever have the chance to live every Taurus’ dream, I’d probably want my night to go something like how the staff and customers’ at the Aalborg IKEA’s went. What more could anyone ask for, really, than IKEA beds, TV, and all-you-can-eat cinnamon rolls? The only thing I’d add would be to spend the night searching for precisely where they store all of their meatballs, or search for what treasured, secret family recipe might be behind those tasty Swedish balls.

The store confirmed that it replaced all of the sheets of its display beds before reopening Thursday morning, shortly after the snowed-in customers and staff took their leave, undoubtedly forever changed by their one night in paradise.