Ikea has finally come to Bengaluru and citizens’ response to it has been overwhelming. On June 25, the first weekend since the launch, thousands flocked to the store in Nagasandra.
Traffic jams occurred as residents drove to the store in huge numbers.
"All roads leading to @ikea Bangalore, is it!? What terrible traffic," said a Twitter user named Sambit Dash.
Another wrote: "Anyone who is coming to Ikea Bangalore, please use metro. Please avoid car. Make your life easy."
Anyone who is COMING TO #ikeabangalore use Metro. Please avoid car. Make your life easy
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— ramkumar sambasivam (@ramkumars90) June 25, 2022
Outside the Ikea store, there were long queues.
Crowds at the IKEA store in Bangalore today. Looks like Tirupati finally has some competition pic.twitter.com/fQiS4e87rA
— Suyog Gaidhani (@suyogg) June 25, 2022
Visitors had to wait for up to three hours to be able to enter the store.
People waiting for 3hr to enter @Ikea Bangalore on it's the first weekend. Plus Crazy traffic. pic.twitter.com/rBrqJIPtqL— Kaustav Mukhopadhyay (@KaustavMukho) June 25, 2022
As many as 25,000 people went to Ikea on Saturday, some Twitter users estimated. Amid rising COVID-19 cases, many expressed concern about the crowd.Bengaluru, we are overwhelmed by your response Current wait time at Nagasandra store is 3 hours. Please plan accordingly or shop online. For latest wait time updates, visit: https://t.co/XF0WzAZPFE
— IKEAIndia (@IKEAIndia) June 25, 2022
@IKEAIndia#ikeabangalore#Bangalore...ikea . welcome to Bangalore...q everywhere n u r not spared....cause of u...more q at metro..more money to metro... pic.twitter.com/UfMCZ6u2PL— raggy raggy (@raggygowda) June 25, 2022
"PSA: If you are planning to visit the new #IKEA Bangalore, don't," a user named Vijay Sankaran said. "Covid cases are rising, so wait for rush to settle."
PSA: If you are planning to visit the new #IKEA Bangalore, DONT.Also covid cases are rising, so wait q few weekends for rush to settle.@peakbengaluru(Pic via Whatsapp) pic.twitter.com/x5eCqfKjFb
— Vijay (@vijaysankaran) June 25, 2022
Another user blamed Ikea for poor crowd management. "Registration-based entries to limit the crowd could have helped you," they said.
Ikea's store in Bengaluru opened for customers on June 22. It is the Swedish furniture retailer's third flagship store in India. The other two are in Hyderabad and Mumbai.
The store in Bengaluru, spanning 4,60,000 square feet, is the largest in India. It offers a massive range of home furnishing products and hosts a 1000-seater restaurant offering Indian and Swedish delicacies.
The Bengaluru facility also has a children's play area called "Småland".
IKEA India CEO Suzanne Pulverer told Moneycontrol that the company will concentrate on local sourcing to make its products affordable.
Read: IKEA’s Bengaluru store, its fourth in India, aims to source 50% of products locally
“Everyone is impacted by what has happened in the world with the pandemic, and then we have disruptions because everything is connected," she said. "So yes, we are seeing a lot of pressure, on prices, on costs… We are trying to absorb and we are also adjusting our prices so that we can keep the balance between affordability and margins."
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