Furniture giant IKEA has given media a behind-the-scenes peek at its Auckland store ahead of the grand opening on Thursday.
After years of anticipation, the Swedish furniture retailer was nearly ready to open its flagship store in Auckland’s Sylvia Park – which was expected to cause “substantially longer than usual” traffic delays across the city on Thursday.
A 1News camera was given access to the store this morning for a first look at some of the products on offer.
Construction on the 34,000 square-metre store began in June 2023, and work was completed on an external warehouse near Auckland Airport in December last year.
The retailer was famous for its bright displays and crafted home environments that can be walked through, to help people visualise how products could look in their own home.
In November, the retailer shared some of its prices for key pieces including a FRAKTA carrier bag at $1.99 or a watering can at $4.99.
IKEA Australia and New Zealand head of marketing Kirsten Hasler said the brand aimed to “understand what home life is like in all the different cities we’re in”.
A 1News camera was given access to the store this morning for a first look at some of the products on offer. (Source: 1News)
Another anticipated talking point was the food court, which would sell IKEA’s take on Kiwi classics such as fish and chips and pavlova, as well as the famous Swedish meatballs.
Sylvia Park will be the country’s only physical place to shop in person, but the full IKEA range will be available nationwide.
Online shopping will launch the same day as the store opening, with 29 pick-up points from Kaitaia to Invercargill.
IKEA’s loyalty programme, IKEA Family, has already rolled out nationwide, offering members exclusive discounts and early updates ahead of opening day.
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Meanwhile transport authorities warned of a worst-case scenario of 40-plus-minute queues at the motorway exit near the store’s Mt Wellington location.
Both Auckland Transport and the NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi urged road-users to “plan ahead and allow plenty of extra time for their journeys”.
“We expect the opening day, and subsequent weeks or even months to draw big crowds to the Sylvia Park area, and for this to have a substantial effect on the transport network both locally and across Auckland,” Auckland Transport Operations Centre manager Claire Howard said.
She said modelling had shown travel times across the network were likely to be “substantially longer than usual”.
