What to expect on Auckland’s IKEA opening day and a first look inside

Source: Radio New Zealand

After years of anticipation, IKEA is set to open its doors to the New Zealand public for the first time on Thursday, December 4.

IKEA’s management said they’re expecting between 15,000 to 20,000 visitors to the Sylvia Park store on its first day of trade.

As a result, motorists have been warned to brace themselves for significant travel delays across the region on Thursday.

On Monday, media were given a first look inside the 34,000sqm store which had been in the works for seven years.

What is it like?

IKEA is well known for its bright colours and staged home environments – both of which could be found in the Auckland store.

Customers will be greeted by multiple rooms set up including lounges, kitchens, bedrooms, bathrooms and even patios. Each room was adorned with artwork and furnishings down to fake vegetables in the fridges and fake meat on a barbecue.

Everything in the rooms has price tags along with the Swedish name for each item.

After wandering through the showrooms, shoppers would come across the restaurant – complete with IKEA’s famous Swedish meatballs.

Customers were advised to download the IKEA app which would help them navigate the store which was across two levels and hep them find where to pick up flatpack items.

What will the roads be like?

Motorists have been told to expect 40-minute queues in the area along with potential hour-long waits for carparks.

Auckland Transport and NZTA have encouraged road users to plan ahead for the day and allow plenty of extra time for their journeys.

Auckland Transport Operations Centre (ATOC) Manager Claire Howard said substantial crowds were expected at IKEA for weeks or even months which would have a substantial effect on the transport network across Auckland.

“Surrounding streets in Mt Wellington will also be busy, with forecast delays of up to 40 minutes on Mt Wellington Highway in peak traffic.”

ATOC – a joint Auckland Transport and NZTA venture for managing the network in real time – has been working with the retail giant to ensure their traffic management plan minimises the traffic impact as much as possible. It would be actively managing light signals and diverting traffic where possible as congestion levels increase.

Congestion was expected to be at its worst during peak hour during the week and on Saturdays between 1 and 4pm – particularly heading northbound from South Auckland toward Mt Wellington.

Staff would be on the ground at Sylvia Park Train Station to help direct people to the store who were travelling by train.

IKEA’s NZ manager Johanna Cederlöf, said for anyone who wasn’t in Auckland or who wanted to avoid the opening day crowds, they could shop online from midnight as a way to beat the crowds.

In terms of when traffic in the area would ease, Cederlöf said she hoped the crowds at the store would not die down for “quite a while”, but it usually took a couple of months for the initial excitement to die down.

She urged anyone travelling to the store to try taking public transport.

What time does the store open?

Cederlöf said the store would open at 11am on Thursday and the carpark would not open to shoppers until 8.30am.

Anyone who arrived earlier than 8.30am would be asked to leave and come back to make sure everyone stayed safe.

“We chose to open at 11am so that we avoid the morning traffic,” Cederlöf said.

“Normal work traffic should be already gone and then you can hopefully, conveniently, come to IKEA and we will monitor the situation.”

The regular IKEA opening hours from 5 December onwards would be 9am to 9pm, seven days a week. The carpark and queue would open daily at 7.30am.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand