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Ikea reveals opening date of new Southampton store
10:40am Wednesday 7th January 2009
Comments (26)
IKEA’S multi-million pound Southampton city centre store is to open its doors for the first time on Thursday, February 12, the Daily Echo can reveal.
Thousands of shoppers from across the south are predicted to flock to the opening of the Swedish home furnishing giant’s 18th UK store.
The new 900-space multi-storey car park is expected to be completely full hours before the 10am opening with shoppers keen to be the first through the door.
Police will be on patrol to control the crowds, while plans are being drawn up to deal with congestion along West Quay Road.
Despite the predicted traffic chaos, city council deputy leader Royston Smith said the opening could not have come at a better time for Southampton.
The Cabinet member for economic development said: “In these dire economic times it’s a real boost to have a store like IKEA opening, creating hundreds of local jobs for local people and giving retailers a bit of a lift.
“IKEA is a real draw, its catchment area is going to be huge and people will travel an hour or more to visit, so I think we are going to see a significant boost in retail in Southampton.”
“The roads are going to potentially be busier than they have been in the past, but in these uncertain economic times anything that will increase and improve retail has got to be good for Southampton.”
Top level meetings between IKEA, city council bosses and the police are taking place to ensure there is no repeat of the frightening scenes that occurred at the opening of its north London store in 2005.
IKEA was forced to close its new store there after just 30 minutes when a riot erupted after the shop opened at midnight with offers promising cutprice bargains for the first shoppers through the doors.
IKEA said it had gone to extensive lengths to ensure that any increased volume of traffic would have little impact on the city.
Store manager Allesandra Taffe said: “We have adapted the road layout slightly so that the flow of traffic into the store is eased and our car park is situated at the top of the fourstorey store which means we can have the capacity for a lot more cars queuing within our confines and not on the road.”
A major test of the city’s roads will come on Saturday, February 21 when the Saints host Preston at St Mary’s and Cinderella on Ice appears at The Mayflower.
Special opening day offers include coffee tables for £3.99 and bookcases at £20, while all children wearing yellow and blue will also receive a surprise gift.
The four-floor store, one of the biggest in the country with 34,000 square metres of floor space, has created 500 new jobs.
The iconic blue building will stock 9,200 different products and boast a 600-seat restaurant, bistro, cafe and Swedish Food Market.
Due to the global financial crisis it will also be the last IKEA to open in the UK for some time, with all other future sites put on hold.
To coincide with the opening, WestQuay will be permanently extending its opening hours to 8pm every weeknight and 7pm every Saturday from Monday, February 2.
Your Say YourDaily Echo
wizzle, southampton says...
11:24am Wed 7 Jan 09
SFC4EVA, Southampton says...
11:32am Wed 7 Jan 09
Iain, Lordshill says...
11:42am Wed 7 Jan 09
S!mon, Romsey says...
11:44am Wed 7 Jan 09
SFC4EVA wrote:Hmmm... with the credit crunch and people with the prospect of losing their jobs I'm not sure many will be rushing into Southampton to do their shopping or rushing to Ikea to pick up furniture... but maybe I'm wrong.
Haha, plans are being drawn up to deal with congestion! My god a bit late for that. West Quay is already a nightmare for traffic it is going to be gridlocked on opening day and weekends will be 100x busier on he city roads for a long long time!
itsmehere, hythe says...
11:56am Wed 7 Jan 09
Northamboy, Southampton says...
12:21pm Wed 7 Jan 09
disgusted observer, totton says...
12:38pm Wed 7 Jan 09
mr.southampton, Southampton says...
1:04pm Wed 7 Jan 09
It makes me laugh that to get planning permission Ikea's developers had to argue that it wouldn't have an overly detrimental affect on traffic, which led to them saying things such as: people would travel there by train and people would combine a trip they would be making to the town centre anyway with a trip to Ikea. What a load of rubbish! They are very soon to be proved wrong.
The Council also insisted on the development having less than the usual number of parking spaces than other Ikea's as part of the planning deal, supposedly to discourage people driving there. Not going to happen!!!!!
Saintlygirl, Southampton says...
1:19pm Wed 7 Jan 09
Northamboy wrote:Are you joking? Have you ever been to an IKEA? You get excellent furniture and home items really cheap and they are really good quality - unlike Primark!! You can't compare IKEA to them shops anyway. IKEA deal primarily with household items, not clothes or toys.
How long before Ikea follow Woolies and the like. No money, no jobs so everyone will go to Argos and Primark.
S Pance, Morten Harkett says...
1:25pm Wed 7 Jan 09
So not at School then?
S Pance, Morten Harkett says...
1:27pm Wed 7 Jan 09
Table lamps for a quid. Table for a tenner.
Not only is it cheap, it's rugged too!
You get the idea..
Tommy News, southampton says...
1:35pm Wed 7 Jan 09
movedawaythankgod, exsouthampton says...
1:48pm Wed 7 Jan 09
MSK, Russia says...
3:14pm Wed 7 Jan 09
fuzzyfelt, soton says...
4:49pm Wed 7 Jan 09
end of lecture
Dave of Dibden, Dibden says...
4:55pm Wed 7 Jan 09
More money grabbing by Soton City.
S!mon, Romsey says...
5:21pm Wed 7 Jan 09
Dave of Dibden wrote:Its actually probably to stop all those people parking there, but not shop there.
Has enyone noticed that parking meters have been installed in the car park by Mothercare / Halfords because Ikea will be charging for parking. More money grabbing by Soton City.
Its not all that expensive to park in West Quay, but loads of people park by Mothercare/Halfords just to save a couple of quid.
wilsamsaints, southampton says...
6:18pm Wed 7 Jan 09
timster, Southampton says...
6:21pm Wed 7 Jan 09
wilsamsaints, southampton says...
6:26pm Wed 7 Jan 09
itsmehere wrote:you would be better off parking in town and walking to the store if going just for a look round but wear a face mask to stop breathing in all the fumes from the queing traffic
Do you reckon the trafic will really be as bad as they are saying? I would have liked to go and just have a look in store, i'll think i'll leave it for a few weeks after opening if there's gonna be riots and gridlocks lol.
DinkDankDoo, Lordswood says...
9:37pm Wed 7 Jan 09
The best store ever...for FREE GOLF PENCILS!
joenice, southampton says...
9:41pm Wed 7 Jan 09
fuzzyfelt, soton says...
8:40pm Thu 8 Jan 09
fuzzyfelt, soton says...
8:42pm Thu 8 Jan 09
joenice wrote:here here joenice
Fab news, and it will increase income to the city. Ikea is one of the best shops to have, I live close enough to walk or get the bus so dont mind so much about the traffic.
Darkangelv2, Southampton says...
2:12pm Mon 12 Jan 09
fuzzyfelt wrote:Are you kidding??
you load of moaners .....yes royston smith is in his own highly paid bubble but ikea will be good for southampton ....if you are tied to a car and refuse to shop outside of 9 to 5 hours then you will meet traffic . ikea will also bring competition for john lewis furniture villge , tesco home plus asda , argos bhs ,matalan and any place selling home wares and furniture kids toys etc ikea priced rom cheap and cheerful to just below jon lewis depending what you are looking for...the resteraurant is great . i live in the city centre 5 minute walk with no car so get off your four wheel drive arses and find another way ...they will deliver too end of lecture
We bought a single TV cabinet to hold DVDs. It weighed 43kg! All IKEA furniture is very heavy. There's no way to get it home without driving. Delivery starts at £50 so that's not a fantastic option either when said TV cabinet only cost £78!
Agreed traffic is not so bad now....but we ARE in a recession. What happens when the economy turns round and people are shopping again? Carnage.
Let's be honest. Some councillers have received some tasty backhanders to allow this through. Whitely village would have been the perfect location.
Ikea Southampton
The first delivery at Ikea Southampton
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10 Minute Man, Bitterne says...
10:15am Wed 7 Jan 09