Best of 2001: Best Store To Get Lost In

Ikea
2149 Fenton Parkway, Mission Valley
619-563-4532

You'll get out eventually, but not until the crafty Ikea floor planners have routed you past every sofa and bookcase in the store. Once you mount the stairs, you'll turn right at the chairs, then right at the side tables, then left at the dining rooms. There's a map here, but it shows only the contiguous departments with no reference to compass points. (There are discreet shortcuts here and there between displays -- no doubt for employees' use.) Bear left through the work areas, then right at the bedrooms, right at the kitchens, right at the children's section, and right again to the stairs going down. You're on the other side of the wall from where you started, but you can't get there from here. Downstairs it's the same story, all the way back to the front of the gargantuan store. Hours: Monday-Saturday. 10:00 a.m.- 9:00 p.m., Sunday, 10:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m.