A TRADITIONAL Swedish log-cutting ceremony and lots of blue and yellow confetti marked the opening of the Republic’s first Ikea furniture complex in Ballymun yesterday.
Smiling employees lined up to welcome excited shoppers, and distribute store maps and tape measures, as Irish Eurovision 1986 entrants Luv Bug belted out Abba’s Dancing Queen.
Charlotte Johansson, an Ikea employee from Sweden, was delighted to see so many people waving her national flag. “Ikea’s kind of put us on the map,” she said. She recommended the store’s Swedish Food Hall. “It’s the real deal.”
However, another Ikea worker, Hayley McHugh from Australia, was in tears as the first customers came up the escalators at 11am. “It’s just emotional. It’s all too much,” she said.
Hundreds of customers queued outside the store ahead of the opening yesterday morning. A company spokesman said 3,000 customers had entered the store within the first hour and by 3pm that number had risen to 5,000; these estimates did not seem exaggerated.
At the top of the queue was Stacey Harcourt from “only across the road” in Ballymun, who said she arrived at 4.30pm on Sunday afternoon with five friends. Ms Harcourt said she was surprised other customers had not begun arriving until about 6am yesterday.
Some said they felt they had arrived unnecessarily early but had enjoyed the wait thanks to the entertainment provided by calypso bands, stilt walkers and jugglers.
Many queuing customers said they had visited Ikea’s Belfast store recently and were planning to compare prices. Amanda Scott from Portmarnock in Dublin, who has just bought a house in Swords, said: “If there’s a huge fluctuation we’ll just go back up North. Ideally I’d like to spend here but money talks.”
Inside the store, Ella Daly from Limerick claimed a sofa she had bought in Belfast in January was “a good chunk” more expensive in the Dublin store.
However, Alison Prince from Kilkenny, said prices seemed “about the same” in Belfast and Dublin. “I don’t think they’ve added anything on.”
The busiest section was children’s bedroom furniture and many customers said they were looking for “storage solutions”. The 31,500sq m store was busy but not uncomfortably so by early afternoon.
Ballymun resident Elizabeth Morris had spent “20-something euro” on a bag of goods including tea towels, candles, candle holders and other small items. She said she had also enjoyed a reasonably priced meal in the restaurant, where Swedish meatballs were on the menu.
“It’s for nothing, and they’ve thought of everything,” she said. “It was the best idea ever to put it in Ballymun,” she said.
Sylvia Harte from the North Circular Road in Dublin, who described herself as a pensioner, said the store was “absolutely breathtaking”. Ms Harte said she was “scouting” for household items on behalf of her three daughters.
“I hope there’s good public transport here, that’d be very important especially for people of a certain age group,” she said.
“I’m lucky enough to drive, although I can’t even remember where the car is!”
The store has 1,850 car parking spaces. It costs €3 to park between 4pm and 8pm on weekdays. Dublin Bus said its Route 13/a serves the store and Route 140 will be extended in the coming weeks.
Linda Owens, from Co Kildare, described herself as a “fanatic”, having shopped in Ikea in the UK, Italy, Austria and America. “My husband hates them. He sees the colours and he hides,” she said.
