The Mercury News‘ Sheila Himmel explains IKEA dining options.

You could eat all day at Ikea, and you may need to. The shortest path through the 290,000-square-foot store opening today in East Palo Alto runs more than half a mile. On average, customers spend more than two hours in Ikea stores, which means many people stay a lot longer.

Wait a month and you can eat at Ikea 30 minutes before the store even opens for the day. On Oct. 1 the ground-floor bistro will begin serving breakfast starting at 9:30 a.m. every day but Friday and Saturday, when the gates to coffee and cinnamon buns open at 8:30 a.m.

The linked article also has a series of photos of the cafeteria and bistro areas of the new store.