Ikea, the Swedish furniture retail giant opened its first Indian outlet in Hyderabad on Thursday and judging by the response of people who went to visit the store on its opening, it clear that Ikea’s launch in India is a hit.
“I’ve come all the way from Bangalore (575 kilometers, 357 miles away). I am excited to see what’s there,” garment factory employee Krishna Mohan Dixit, 39, who began lining up 90 minutes before the 10 am opening, told AFP.
“We are looking forward to it. Actually, it’s my wife who got me here. Her sister sends a lot Ikea stuff from Dubai. So here we are,” said IT manager Nasrullah Khan, 34, another early bird.
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As the doors got opened for the public, thousands of customers jammed the 400,000 sq.feet store.
As videos and images started to go viral on social media, a stampede-like situation was captured.
According to The Times of India, Ikea saw customers coming in as early as 10 am, store’s opening time and thronged till 11 pm.
“This madness at #Ikea opening today at Hyderabad looks like temple Darshan queue,” wrote one user on Twitter. “First Day First Show BlockBuster,” wrote another.
When citizens started complaining about the chaos on roads, Cyberabad Police blamed the ‘grossly insufficient parking space at IKEA building.
“That’s not due to poor traffic management. But due to grossly insufficient parking space at IKEA building and no information to the IKEA customers regarding their external parking arrangements. Also, the roads around IKEA are not totally operational,” responded Cyberabad Police on Twitter.