We weren’t able to make it over to IKEA for the grand opening last Thursday, but throughout the day 15,450 others did.
Apparently 1,500 curious shoppers were present at the official opening, carried out by the Mayor of Southampton and they boogied away to songs from Abba to get them in the party (and Swedish) mood.
One young lad, 17 year old Ben Moore from Fareham, braved the very cold weather on Wednesday night and camped out with just a sleeping bag and lots of coffee.
It was all worth while though, when IKEA presented him with a £1000 voucher to spend in the mammoth store, along with a huge cheer from the 500 co-workers watching on.
Don’t forget that you can win £250 to spend in IKEA thanks to the VentnorBlog/IKEA competition. Closing date for entries this Thursday (19th).
Allesandra Taffe, IKEA Southampton store manager said:
“We had all known the store was going to be a big draw – but we could never have imagined the support Southampton has given us – it’s been a truly fantastic day. The queue circled the car park long before we were due to open and, even though we’d welcomed 3,000 people in the first hour, a constant stream of shoppers ensured we hit record levels.”
The first 100 people in the queue received a special gift from IKEA – a POANG chair and 1,100 children gave a new home to a FAMNIG cuddling heart cushion.
“Sales have been phenomenal with bedrooms topping the department charts, while the best-selling products were the RATTVIK wine glass – 1,302 of these were snapped up by our customers,”
explained IKEA Southampton marketing manager, Rob Cooper.
“Hard on its heels was the BASTIS lint roller and in third place, came the sale of hundreds of silver-look BAREN toilet brush selling for just £3.74 each.
“But the most impressive statistic of the day was the sheer number of iconic Swedish meatballs consumed by hungry shoppers – no less than 18,000!”
The store is open from Monday to Friday 10am to 9pm, Saturday 9am to 9pm and Sunday 11am to 5pm.
Image: The 650 seater restaurant at IKEA Southampton
