Liu Minxia

IKEA, the world’s largest furniture retailer, opened its long-anticipated Shenzhen store yesterday, drawing large crowds from the city and beyond.

The four-story store, in IKEA’s traditional blue and yellow colors, is the backbone project of the new European City shopping mall in Nanshan District.

Occupying more than 30,000 square meters, it is the largest IKEA store in South China and the fifth opened by the Swedish retailer after entering the Chinese market 10 years ago.

Word started to spread years ago that IKEA would open an outlet in Shenzhen but construction didn’t start until November 2006 as “it was a complicated process” to choose a location and buy the land, the company has said.

IKEA, promoting simple and comfortable living with modern designs, enjoys worldwide popularity. Young people in major Chinese cities are particularly attracted to IKEA products because they excel in the efficient use of limited space.

“I’m not really keen on shopping, but I became attracted by IKEA designs after touring the store just now,” Shenzhen Vice Mayor Chen Yingchun said at the opening ceremony. “I’m now considering throwing away my old furniture and buying IKEA products.”

One shopper, Gan Lin, was happy the Shenzhen store had finally opened.

“Everything in my 40-square-meter home, from potted plants to furniture, were purchased at IKEA in Guangzhou and I moved them back (to Shenzhen) bit by bit during the past two years,” he said.

Among those at yesterday’s opening were about 300 expatriates from other parts of China and even overseas, according to Julia Shen, marketing manager of IKEA’s Shenzhen store.

The store, which stocks more than 7,500 items, ranging from kitchenware to furniture, aimed to become a leading player in Shenzhen’s furniture market, the company said.

“We see no rivals here providing such one-stop home solutions,” said Tomas Kvidar, IKEA Shenzhen’s store manager.

The United Kingdom-based home improvement store, B&Q, opened an outlet in the same shopping mall last month, but Kvidar feels the two stores will “complement each other” as B&Q mainly sells home decoration requisites.

Kvidar also dismissed concerns that the current downturn in Shenzhen’s housing market would have a negative impact on IKEA sales.

“In our experience, more people would turn to IKEA for small-house solutions when the real-estate market becomes sluggish,” he said.

Kvidar previously predicted sales at the Shenzhen store would reach 500 million yuan (US$71.52 million) this year, taking up roughly one-third of the city’s market share.

The company said its low-price strategy would apply to the Shenzhen store and it could respond to the Shenzhen market to better cater to customers. But, the store would offer few discounts, countering the tradition of specials being offered at newly opened stores.

IKEA has two floors for underground parking with more than 1,200 free parking spaces at the new store. It also provides a free shuttle bus service from Window of the World Metro station to the store.

Other IKEA stores are in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu. Another would be open for business later this year in Nanjing and a Dalian store was expected to open next year, the company said.