| IKEA
opens! |
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IKEA update Friday,
20 February 2009
• More than 100,000 people had been through the doors by
the close of play on Monday, 16 February
• Top selling product since IKEA Southampton opened its
doors on Thursday, 12 February is the Bastis Lint Roller Blue
- 4,009 have been sold.
• The busiest day at IKEA Southampton so far has been Saturday,
14 February when the store had more than 25,000 visitors.
The long-awaited IKEA
store in West Quay, Southampton has celebrated its first official
day of trading with a recession-busting 15,450 customers crossing
its threshold.
An eager crowd of more than 1,500 shoppers generated a real party atmosphere
as they danced to ABBA music, witnessed the official launch by the Mayor of Southampton
and took part in a countdown signalling the doors being opened for the very first
time.
The queue circled the car park long before we were due to open
and, even though we’d welcomed 3,000 people in the first
hour, a constant stream of shoppers ensured we hit record levels.”
The first 100 people in the queue received a special gift from
IKEA – a
POANG chair and 1,100 children gave a new home to a FAMNIG
cuddling heart cushion. |
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Camped out from
10pm on Wednesday |
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Ben Moore, 17, from
Fareham, camped out from 10pm on Wednesday evening armed
with lots of coffee and a warm sleeping bag.
He was rewarded for his stamina with a £1000 voucher to spend in the store,
a huge cheer from the 500 co-workers watching the spectacle - and a sea of media
filming and photographing his arrival. |
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“Sales have been
phenomenal with bedrooms topping the department charts, while
the best-selling products were the RATTVIK wine glass – 1,302
of these were snapped up by our customers,” explained
IKEA Southampton marketing manager, Rob Cooper. “Hard
on its heels was the BASTIS lint roller and in third place,
came the sale of hundreds of silver-look BAREN toilet brush
selling for just £3.74 each.
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Meatballs
The most impressive statistic of the day was
the sheer number of iconic Swedish meatballs consumed
by hungry shoppers – no less than 18,000!
The store is open from Monday to Friday 10am to 9pm, Saturday
9am to 9pm and Sunday 11am to 5pm. |
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Despite the numbers
of visitors, publicised fears of traffic congestion did not
materialise with many customers arriving on public transport.
Police Sergeant, Martin Conlan, responsible for the police operation said: “We
were very pleased with the traffic management on the day and are happy to report
there was no congestion other than what we would expect on a normal busy Thursday.”
www.ikeasouthamptonstore.co.uk |
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