Stop staying the night at our stores, Ikea warns teenagers
Swedish furniture giant Ikea has warned teenagers not to follow a new trend after two young girls were discovered to have sneakily stayed the night at one of their stores.
Wandering through one of the more elaborate bedroom displays at Ikea and dreaming of having a similar room back home isn’t an uncommon experience for kids, but deciding to actually sleep there for the night is. Yet that is exactly what two teenagers managed to do in southern Swedish city Jönköping at the weekend.
“On Saturday morning before opening, two Ikea employees at the store in Jönköping found two girls aged around 14 who had stayed behind after closing and stayed the night in the shop. The girls were handed over to security who in turn contacted police,” Ikea Sweden press spokesperson Jakob Holmström told The Local.
Luckily for the two girls concerned, the company decided that punishment should be dealt out by their parents rather than the police this time.
“Ikea chose not to file a police report on the grounds of the girls’ young age. Ikea had a good dialogue with their parents who really appreciated the seriousness,” Holmström explained.
Incredibly, this isn’t the first time that someone has managed to stealthily stay at an Ikea store beyond closing. In August, two Belgian comedians filmed a video of themselves doing just that, and it quickly went viral on Youtube with more than 1.7 million views notched up since.
Holmström said similar stays have occurred previously in Sweden:
“In the last half a year Ikea in Sweden has had a handful of incidents with youngsters staying the night. But we hope we see an end to overnight guests at our stores.”
The stay wouldn’t be much fun anyway, the Ikea spokesperson pointed out, as the stores have movement sensors which can set off an alarm if triggered.
“We can guarantee that the fun in it is overrated. It would be a long night of sitting still, only to then risk getting into trouble with the law,” Holmström observed.
Even if setting off the sensors is avoided, anyone managing to intentionally stay beyond closing time is also committing a crime, he emphasized:
“At Ikea we’re taking the trend of staying the night at our shops seriously. In part on the basis that we can’t guarantee safety, and in part because people are by default making themselves guilty of a serious crime: trespassing.”
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Wandering through one of the more elaborate bedroom displays at Ikea and dreaming of having a similar room back home isn’t an uncommon experience for kids, but deciding to actually sleep there for the night is. Yet that is exactly what two teenagers managed to do in southern Swedish city Jönköping at the weekend.
“On Saturday morning before opening, two Ikea employees at the store in Jönköping found two girls aged around 14 who had stayed behind after closing and stayed the night in the shop. The girls were handed over to security who in turn contacted police,” Ikea Sweden press spokesperson Jakob Holmström told The Local.
Luckily for the two girls concerned, the company decided that punishment should be dealt out by their parents rather than the police this time.
“Ikea chose not to file a police report on the grounds of the girls’ young age. Ikea had a good dialogue with their parents who really appreciated the seriousness,” Holmström explained.
Incredibly, this isn’t the first time that someone has managed to stealthily stay at an Ikea store beyond closing. In August, two Belgian comedians filmed a video of themselves doing just that, and it quickly went viral on Youtube with more than 1.7 million views notched up since.
Holmström said similar stays have occurred previously in Sweden:
“In the last half a year Ikea in Sweden has had a handful of incidents with youngsters staying the night. But we hope we see an end to overnight guests at our stores.”
The stay wouldn’t be much fun anyway, the Ikea spokesperson pointed out, as the stores have movement sensors which can set off an alarm if triggered.
“We can guarantee that the fun in it is overrated. It would be a long night of sitting still, only to then risk getting into trouble with the law,” Holmström observed.
Even if setting off the sensors is avoided, anyone managing to intentionally stay beyond closing time is also committing a crime, he emphasized:
“At Ikea we’re taking the trend of staying the night at our shops seriously. In part on the basis that we can’t guarantee safety, and in part because people are by default making themselves guilty of a serious crime: trespassing.”
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