The head of IKEA in Australia and New Zealand says whether it opens further stores across the country depends on how the first one goes.
Swedish furniture giant IKEA announced on Thursday its flagship store in Auckland will open on 4 December.
Chief executive and chief sustainability officer Mirja Viinanen said entering a new market in a new country was something very special.
"It's one of the biggest stores we have, actually, when it comes to (franchise owner) INGKA and IKEA," she said.
More than 500 staff will be employed at the 34,000sqm store at Sylvia Park.
Viinanen said she was surprised by the 25,000 job applications IKEA received from locals.
"We are amazed and we are very happy as well," she said. "We are just blown away because we can see that there is so [much] attractiveness having us as an employer as well."
The opening was going to be "crazy", Viinanen added.
"We are expecting to have a lot of visitors coming to our site and coming to the store, a lot of people probably from Auckland, most likely people from outside of Auckland as well."
Now that the store's opening date was public, Viinanen said the next hot question was whether New Zealanders could expect more stores across the country.
Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Addressing media at the store, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said he wanted to encourage companies like IKEA to invest even more in the country down the line.
Viinanen said their priority was the Auckland store.
"This is the full focus we have right now," she said. "To get it right when we open the big-size store in Auckland, the first one, and then we will see."
It depended on how attractive they were as a company, Viinanen said.
"We need to get it right first and then see the results coming as well for the big investments, and then we will see."
Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
The prime minister hoped IKEA's opening would drive more competition in the New Zealand market.
"That's the idea of running a business - is that you build a competitive proposition for your customer, you build an outstanding internal culture, and you generate superior commercial returns, and the best businesses do all three at the same time.
"The fact that New Zealanders will be beneficiaries of that competition is a good thing, and so, yes, it may mean that other competitors have to sharpen up - that's a good thing."
Both the physical and online store would go live on 4 December after a full week of testing the operations, the store systems and family days for staff.
The store in Sylvia Park features a restaurant - complete with the iconic Swedish meatballs - and showrooms. Construction began in 2023.
Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Construction project manager Sean Schmidt said the opening was a must-hit date.
"We had a date in mind… and that was pretty close to a date we had," he said. "We can't miss this date, IKEA don't miss openings."
Schmidt said he had never come across the restrictions the Sylvia Park site had before.
"We can only build from corner and move back out of this site, which gives you a lot much longer programme," he said.
"This site is at the bottom of a floodplane, it's on basalt, it kind of threw everything at us, so I'm screaming 'don't build here', but they needed to be next to Sylvia Park and it's a great location for IKEA."
Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
IKEA was required to submit a management plan to Auckland Council at least two months ahead of its scheduled opening date. Schmidt said it would be in for the deadline.
IKEA's Sylvia Park market manager, Johanna Cederlöf, said there was still a lot to plan in the months to come. She said they were working with partners like Auckland Transport and traffic management company Chevron to prepare.
"There will be a party, there will be celebration, and we will all have fun for sure."
Auckland Transport said its operations centre would monitor the store's opening, and respond in real-time to keep traffic moving.
"The IKEA store is likely to be a popular destination, especially on its opening day," a spokesperson said.
"AT is committed to ensuring there is great communication to all our customers to help them navigate their travel on what could be a very busy day on the network."
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