IKEA Bahrain, set to be the Swedish furniture giant's largest store in the region, will open to the public on September 5, it has been revealed.

 

The store will be open from 9 am to 10 pm from Sunday to Wednesday and from Thursday to Saturday, it will be open from 9 am to 1 am, according to a social media posting by the store. The restaurant at the store will be open from Sunday to Wednesday from 8.30 am to 9.30 pm and from Thursday to Saturday from 8.30 am to 12.30 am, it said.

 

The store in Bahrain's Salmabad area will have an official opening ceremony on September 4.

 

IKEA Bahrain is set up on an area of 37,000 sq m and it will boast a 6,200-sq-m showroom, a 6,000-sq-m market hall for accessories, a 5,000 sq-m self-serve area and a 4,000-sq-m full-serve area. The bistro and Swedish food market will take up about 500 sq m of the total area.

 

The prominent free-of-charge play facility called ‘Smaland’ will come up on a 220-sq-m area, while the indoor 1,000 parking spaces will be spread over two levels. In addition, there will be 200 outdoor spaces.

 

The giant complex will also house a 650-seat restaurant, the biggest in the kingdom. 

 

The store will have products to match the needs of the local market, said store manager Fatima Gustafson in an interview with TradeArabia last week.

 

“As people move through our ‘Inspiration rooms’ they will be able to touch and feel products that were created keeping them in mind. We’ve truly focused on creating a better everyday life for the many people that will be part of the IKEA family,” she said.

 

“Also at our restaurant, we will cater to local tastes and sensibilities by introducing halal beef meatballs and other options like chicken and vegetarian meatballs,” added Gustafson.

 

"The store's USP will be sustainability at low prices. We want as many people as possible to afford our products. Moving closer to the East simple implementation is impossible, instead, we have to adapt," he said. 

 

Keeping in line with the brand’s sustainability mission, the design of the Bahrain store features transparent roof hatches, minimised glazed areas, skylights and solvent-free paints. In addition, condensate recovery technologies will optimise water flow in lavatories to save 50 per cent of water consumed and an intelligent lighting control system will automatically control lighting levels to suit the outdoor environment.

 

Last week, the store played host to more than 1,500 guests at the Family Day event ahead of the opening. 

The event, which served as an operational test for the store, saw IKEA employees’ family members and those from contracting company and media, get a sneak peek into the store.

 

It was the first time all departments were running their full range of operations in a live, controlled environment, said the statement from IKEA Bahrain.

 

To date, all IKEA employees have undergone rigorous training to ensure they perform well. 

 

Adding to the customer’s experience, each area in the showroom will have a sales desk where specialists can answer questions or offer home furnishing advice. 

 

"Customers will find that everything in the store has price tags that also contain important information about size, colour, craftsmanship, measurements, features and care. Tags on large items will also tell customers where to pick them up in the self-serve furniture area," observed Gustafson.

 

The IKEA Bahrain store will also include a market hall, where customers can find everything from rugs to linens, picture frames to clocks, kitchen accessories to home lighting and even unique gifts. - TradeArabia News Service