Our family has tried a couple of times this week to visit the recently opened Nebraska Furniture Mart, without success. On Thursday afternoon it was unaccountably closed to the public for some kind of private function—lucky for us we hadn't made a special trip. Then again this afternoon we drove by the place and simply couldn't get into it because of the heavy traffic. NFM reportedly has the capacity to hold 11,000 customers, and parking for 3,200 cars, and since they're apparently full up most of the time they obviously don't miss our business. It's a little surprising considering the current economy to see a place that popular, but my wife reminds me that right now they're cruising mostly on novelty value. It'll be interesting to see how things shake out in a couple of months or so.

Meanwhile, I visited the web site and and they're unusually cagey about their prices—meaning they aren't listed online at all, except for the sale flyer you can download. Even the flyer uses tricks like showing some prices only after a mail-in rebate, without telling what the original price is or how much the rebate is for.

Anyway, we'll eventually find out if the place is worth the trouble, assuming we're ever allowed to go inside.