Last week I read an article about a shul in Ikea (hattip: Muqata for finding me the link)

So as part of the JoeSettler policy of going to the scene and getting the inside story, I packed up the Settler family and traveled into parts of Israel usually reserved for the Leftist elites (actually Ikea’s biggest buyers are from the “territories”). (Special Thanks to Jameel for directions from Kvish 6).

I even took pictures of the shul (but am having trouble downloading them from my phone, so they will have to wait).

There is a sign there explaining that the shul’s furniture was designed and built by Kibbutz Lavi – and is presumably for sale, though no price tag was visible.

But that is hardly the point of this post.

Last time I went to Ikea was the week they went Kosher sometime last year I think – I immediately wanted to try it out their cafeteria which in the past I merely had to pass by.

What was interesting was the reactions of the people in the shul, “There’s a shul/minyan in IKEA!” being the most common exclamation.

But that isn’t the whole story.

You see, ever since Mathew Bronfman took over Ikea, the store has undergone an even more serious change, beyond opening a shul and going kosher.

You see, the store is now closed on Shabbat (open Thursday nights till midnight, and Motzei Shabbat a ½ hour after Shabbat ends).

Of course if you listen to the rhetoric of the secularist in this country and their demands to open malls on Shabbat as a basic economic necessity you would be confused by this decision.

Furthermore you would be confused by the results.

You see, not only has IKEA not suffered economic devastation by closing on Shabbat, but their business improved.

In fact, since becoming Shomer Shabbat, IKEA Israel sales have improved to the point where all employees received a 2.5 month bonus on their salaries at the end of the year – their largest bonus ever, because it was their best year ever.

Let that be a lesson.