Ikea shoppers in Reading camp for 27 hours for opening of a new branch

Queues: Large crowds gathered outside Ikea in Reading for the store's grand opening on Thursday
Aidan Owen
Jamie Bullen14 July 2016

Shoppers desperate to get their hands on flat-pack furniture and meatballs spent 27 hours camped outside a new branch of Ikea.

The Swedish furniture shop opened a new superstore in Reading, sparking a frenzy of interest among shoppers.

Katie and Ella Cook travelled nearly 50 miles from Southampton to Reading to be among the first customers when it opened today.

The mother and daughter pitched their tent at 7am on Wednesday ahead of the highly anticipated opening, Ikea’s first in the UK for seven years.

Busy: Shoppers reported a carnival atmosphere inside with conga lines inside the store
@SRA_Architects

They told the Daily Mail: “I went to the original opening of the IKEA Southampton store in 2009 as I have been a fan since I was a teenager and shopped in their Wembley store.

"As I was at the opening of Ikea Southampton, I wanted to bring my daughter along to the opening of Ikea Reading to enjoy the excitement and buzz that a new Ikea store brings."

Ikea fans Katie Cook daughter Ella

Hundreds of people were pictured queuing outside the store. One man joked the “whole of Reading” had turned up.

Inside the store, customers told of a carnival atmosphere as Swedish flags were flown and conga lines danced through the aisles.

Gemma Brown posted: “#IKEAReading may have over estimated how many people were gonna turn up this morning.”

While Aidan Owen ‏tweeted: “The whole of reading has turned out today.”

And another woman said she hoped the store’s arrival would result in Reading being awarded city status after a failed bid to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012.

She posted: “Surely City status for Reading now we have an #ikea? #yaymeatballs”.

Johanna Heuren, IKEA Reading Store Manager, said: “We want all of our customers to have an enjoyable shopping experience and have worked hard to create a thorough traffic management plan to minimise traffic disruptions that may occur over this opening period.”

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