Ikea. Land of cubist bookshelves, affordable throw pillows and ... daycare for men?
We are all familiar with the childcare services Ikea offers: drop off your children in Smaland, where they can play with their peers in a giant ball pit under the watchful eye of paid staffers as you shop. Just make sure you keep that Smaland buzzer on you at all times so you know when to pick them up.
Now, picture that scenario, only replace that kid-friendly jungle gym with foosball tables, free hot dogs, flatscreen TVs playing nonstop sports, and video games. A Sydney, Australia location of the Swedish furniture chain is testing out their notion that men would be happier in a special room rather than cruising Ikea's notoriously twisty aisles picking out matching drapes.
The company calls this sanctum -- what else? -- "Manland."
Women are given a buzzer that goes off after thirty minutes to remind them to pick up their partners in Manland -- "or else, you know, we may have to all the authorities," a sales associate joked to a local Australian newscaster. That newscaster called the concept, "basically a creche [the Australian term for a daycare] for husbands and boyfriends with short retail attention spans, a place to hang out while their wives and girlfriends run the aisles of Ikea."
Full story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jessica-rotondi/ikea-australia-creates-in_b_966894.html
We are all familiar with the childcare services Ikea offers: drop off your children in Smaland, where they can play with their peers in a giant ball pit under the watchful eye of paid staffers as you shop. Just make sure you keep that Smaland buzzer on you at all times so you know when to pick them up.
Now, picture that scenario, only replace that kid-friendly jungle gym with foosball tables, free hot dogs, flatscreen TVs playing nonstop sports, and video games. A Sydney, Australia location of the Swedish furniture chain is testing out their notion that men would be happier in a special room rather than cruising Ikea's notoriously twisty aisles picking out matching drapes.
The company calls this sanctum -- what else? -- "Manland."
Women are given a buzzer that goes off after thirty minutes to remind them to pick up their partners in Manland -- "or else, you know, we may have to all the authorities," a sales associate joked to a local Australian newscaster. That newscaster called the concept, "basically a creche [the Australian term for a daycare] for husbands and boyfriends with short retail attention spans, a place to hang out while their wives and girlfriends run the aisles of Ikea."
Full story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jessica-rotondi/ikea-australia-creates-in_b_966894.html
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