Opening of Ikea in Ballymun

I'm sure you've heard the name Ikea somewhere on your travels, who hasn't? Well they opened a big store in Ballymun on the northside of Dublin on the 27th of July 2009. Having a bit of time on my hands I went along to see what it was like. I cycled to the store to avoid all the traffic tailbacks and got there at about 08.30. At that stage there were about 500 people there already. It was well organised because they had staff giving out water, biscuits and sweets. I think they were doing face painting for the kids too??

Anyway they also had some local bands and dancers to entertain the waiting crowd. To officially open the place they cut a log of wood and that marked the opening at 11.00. I got this clip of a local samba band.


Ikea is known for selling cheap goods that look stylish / designery (I think) and as it's the first Ikea store in the Republic of Ireland, the place was mobbed after it opened. I didn't hang around very long after the opening but I got this photo which was taken from the restaurant and it shows the queue of cars waiting to get into the carpark.