Ikea is not OK with you sleeping over in its stores
It must be the meatballs or the risk of getting caught, but young people keep overstaying their visits to Ikea stores. And it's not to get in some extra shopping, but for bonafide sleepovers.
It looks like the prank took off after this Belgian duo filmed their experience in August hiding in a closet at the Swedish furniture store until it closed.
Since then, others around the world have tried to imitate their successful sleepover. Videos of sleepover attempts in the UK and elsewhere have popped up online. In an explicit rip-off of the Belgian video, two boys in Poland try to recreate the original "Two idiots" video.
The BBC reported Wednesday that Ikea is not pleased with this YouTube-worthy prank that has spread beyond Belgium to Australia, America and Japan. The store isn't charging the Belgian vloggers, but store officials are strongly reminding customers that sleepovers aren't allowed.
Mashable has a call out to Ikea, but has yet to hear back about the sleepovers.
A Swedish newspaper reported in October that two teen girls were arrested for trespassing after they were discovered the next day after their Ikea sleepover.
Since Ikea is cracking down on the overnight stays, it might be worth it to bring back Airbnb stays at the store. Like the duo said in the original sleepover video, the beds are like heaven -- even if they've been touched by shoppers all day.
Sasha is a news writer at Mashable's San Francisco office. She's an SF native who went to UC Davis and later received her master's from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She's been reporting out of her hometown over the years at Bay City News (news wire), SFGate (the San Francisco Chronicle website), and even made it out of California to write for the Chicago Tribune. She's been described as a bookworm and a gym rat.
