In Denmark, a snow storm means people overnight in an IKEA

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — In northern Denmark, an IKEA showroom turned into a vast bedroom. Six customers and about two dozen employees were stranded by a snowstorm and spent the night in the store, sleeping in the beds that are usually on show.

Up to 30 centimeters (12 inches) of snow fell, trapping the customers and employees when the department store in Aalborg closed on Wednesday evening.

“We slept in the furniture exhibitions and our showroom on the first floor, where we have beds, mattresses and sofa beds,” store manager Peter Elmose told the Ekstra Bladet tabloid. People could “pick the exact bed they always have wanted to try.”

Elmose said they spent the evening watching television and eating, adding it went “super well. It’s been a good night. All fun.”

Denmark's public broadcaster DR said people working in a toy shop that is next door to IKEA also spent the night in the department store.

“It’s much better than sleeping in one's car. It has been nice and warm and we are just happy that they would let us in,” Michelle Barrett, one of the toy shop staff, told DR.

“We just laughed at the situation, because we will probably not experience it again,” Barrett added.