If you’ve been around SEB for awhile you may recall me mentioning that an Ikea store was being opened in Canton, Michigan where I used to live and where I hope to return later this summer. Well the construction is done and the store is due to open this Wednesday. Amazingly enough there are already 50 people in line as of today:
By midday, the port-a-potties had arrived and a local company sent over about 30 pizzas to feed the crowd, he said. Ikea was passing out water and Swedish candy.
The Swedish retailer creates buzz for its grand openings by offering free stuff. And for the Canton opening, the winnings are:
- The first 100 people in line will receive a free Poäng armchair, a curved wooden sling chain that gently rocks and sells for $79.
- The first 100 children in line under 18 receive a heart-shaped cushion.
- The first 5,000 people that visit the store will receive envelopes with vouchers for gift cards ranging from $10 to $250 or food.
- And from June 7 to 11 all visitors can enter a drawing for one of 10 $1,000 Ikea gift cards.
It seems some folks thought the freebies would be bigger, but seeing as they’re already there they plan to stick it out. Now I admit I was enthusiastic to hear about Ikea coming to my (then) town, but the idea of camping out in anticipation of it’s opening never entered into my head. I could probably have taken the time off if I really wanted to, but I’d rather not lose the hours from my paycheck. I’ll probably make a point of stopping by the new store sometime in the next couple of weeks and I’ll probably blog about it when I get home.
Posted on 06/05/2006 at 04:05 PM 
They announced those freebies a month in advance. So anyone waiting in line who thought otherwise just made the huge mistake of not doing their research.