Many have been anticipating the opening of IKEA’s first store in the Philippines ever since rumors about it started to circulate in 2016, but a lot of people did not expect what the Swedish furniture giant announced today.
Apparently, the Philippines is getting the biggest IKEA store in the world come 2020.
IKEA Southeast Asia Managing Director Christian Rojkjaer announced this earlier today, via reports by various local news outlets.
The store will reportedly occupy 65,000 square meters — equivalent to the size of 150 basketball courts — in the SM Mall of Asia Complex in Pasay City, ABS-CBN News reported.
Rojkjaer added that a regular IKEA store is only around 35,000 square meters.
That ought to make Filipino shoppers feel a little special.
IKEA also launched its pre-opening website today, where interested shoppers can browse through its home furniture catalog.
ABS-CBN News reported that IKEA will carry over 9,000 products in its store.
It will also have a warehouse, an e-commerce facility which can serve those in areas outside of Metro Manila, and a restaurant where shoppers can get a taste of the famous IKEA Swedish meatballs.
There will also be a supervised playroom for kids, GMA News reported.
“Come 2020, we will open an IKEA store to give millions of Filipinos easy access to a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low almost everyone will be able to afford them,” the IKEA Philippines website’s welcome message reads.
