ALMOST FIVE years after it was first mooted, more than two years since it received planning permission and now six months after being fitted out the Republic’s first Ikea store is set to open.
On Monday morning thousands of shoppers are expected to descend on Ballymun in Dublin for the opening of the 31,800sq m Swedish chain store, which expects to attract some 2.75 million visitors in its first year.
Ikea’s Belfast store, which opened in December 2007, was visited by some 2,500 people during its first hour of business.
The Ballymun store will employ about 500 people and it has a predicted first-year turnover of about €100 million.
The car park on the site, which holds 1,825 vehicles, will open from 7am on Monday, with a range of entertainment for those who arrive early beginning at 8am.
A traditional Ikea log-cutting ceremony begins at 10.50am and the shop doors, which will have about 9,000 kinds of home furnishings waiting behind them, will open for business at 11am.
A traffic management plan is in place to handle the volume of shoppers expected. AA Roadwatch said traffic signs will be visible on the M50 from junction 11 at Tallaght to the M1/M50 roundabout. Signs will also be erected on the N32 Malahide road, on the M1 Belfast Road and the Swords Road.
The store will be served by the 13 and 13A Dublin bus routes from the city centre and the terminus of the 4 and 4A routes is a short walk from the store.
A team of stewards will be directing traffic on site on Monday and parking is free except from 4-8pm where there is a €3 charge.
Ikea Ballymun will open from 11am-9pm on weekdays, from 10am-8pm on Saturdays and between 11am-7pm on Sundays and public holdidays.
“After a long wait we’re really excited,” said Ikea Ballymun store manager Garry Deakin.
Consultations about developing Ikea Ballymun were first reported in October 2004 and planning permission was granted in June 2007, but it carried a condition that the store could not open until upgrade works on the M50 were finished.
The date for the completion of the road works was pushed back on several occasions and Mr Deakin last year told The Irish Times that Ikea had never experienced such a delay in opening any of its 282 stores in 36 countries. The company estimates it has has lost some €70 million in revenue as a result of the delays.
Assembled and ready for use If Ikea had known how the boom was going to end, it might not have gone ahead with its Dublin mega-branch
