Since the friend we’ve been staying with lives across from Shanghai’s IKEA store – near Shanghai Stadium and Caoxi Road metro stations – we decided to go there for breakfast. The restaurant in IKEA is quite large and it was packed with people, as was the rest of the store. If you want to see China’s ‘new middle-class’ you keep hearing about all the time, IKEA is as good a place as any to find them.

I had a 4 RMB croissant and a 6 RMB coffee which came with unlimited refills. Considering how much a decent cup of coffee costs in Shanghai, this is not a bad deal at all.

Most interesting though is outside IKEA: many merchants are hanging out with carts, tables and laid out blankets full of IKEA-like goods for sale at discount prices to entice shoppers on their way in or out of the store. Genius!

Update: Went back to IKEA to get some bed stuff for the new apartment, and I noticed some other things:

- In Shanghai’s IKEA, the arrow directions on the floor are almost completely ignored.
- Many locals seem to go there just to chat on the couches and use the demo living rooms as hang-out spots.
- The cafe near the exit has hot dogs for 3 RMB and ice-cream cones for 1 RMB.