We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
Updated: 12.08pm
IKEA is sick of people playing hide-and-seek in its shops, and has called on customers to stop the practice.
More than 32,000 people had signed up on Facebook to play hide-and-seek at Ikea’s Eindhoven store in the Netherlands, while 19,000 people registered to play in Amsterdam, and 12,000 people signed up for a game in Utrecht.
An IKEA UK and Ireland spokesperson told TheJournal.ie: “While we appreciate playing hide and seek in one of our stores may be appealing to some, offering a fun, relaxed and safe shopping experience for our customers is our highest priority. We would not facilitate this kind of activity taking place in any of our stores.”
According to Time, IKEA Group spokeswoman Martina Smedberg told Bloomberg that the games are “hard to control”, adding: “We need to make sure people are safe in our stores and that’s hard to do if we don’t even know where they are.”
Operation Build / Twitter#FridayReads 18 thousand people signed up to play hide and seek in an #ikea http://t.co/wwAAPnGb72 pic.twitter.com/tmtXeyXs4S
— Operation Build (@OperationBuild) March 13, 2015
Last summer, hundreds of people played the game in IKEA stores in Belgium.
Joseph Weisenthal / TwitterWell that's some BS. Ikea has banned playing hide-and-seek in its stores http://t.co/ViDmY7q45M (via @sfnick) pic.twitter.com/9hWVpj3Wlu
— Joe Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) March 16, 2015
Originally published: 10.18am
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Sounds like fun. Might sign up for the next one, thanks for letting us know about the game IKEA.
Decomposed body found in ikea wardrobe ,mystery of missing world hide and go seek champion 1987 solved .
Stockholm syndrome!
Between the name and comment i believe that’s one of the cleverest comments on here in ages..
That’s hilarious ! If i was 20 years younger no wait I’d still do it
Love it
They’re just asking for more games of it now! Definitely more fun when you’re not allowed to do something
Ever been to IKEA? Its so bloody big that you play hide and seek whether you like it or not!
Maybe stop changing the floor layout and people might not get lost :-)
Follow the arrows folks!
seriously….
Hilarious!
People are so creative in subverting the consumerism of IKEA.
IKEA therefore I am.
In 4th and good couple of friends and I played it in the Dublin store. It actually lasted a good while!
In 4th year a*
PR stunt. Make your shops easier to navigate
Agree Huey! Went to IKEA 3 weeks ago for some picture frames and I still can’t find my way out !!!
Ever been to Eindhoven? Probably the most exciting thing to ever happen there.
There was one organised for the dublin store last year. I don’t know how successful it was though!
I went to that one last year but no one turned up, that or I couldn’t find them!
Never been to Any of their stores
As if it doesn’t take long enough to get around an IKEA store already!
I so gotta have a go at this.
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say