The company will employ 500 people in its store which specialises in flat pack furniture. It will begin recruiting for 395 floor staff positions in the middle of March. The company has already recruited 55 managers and is about to start a recruitment drive for supervisors. An Bord Pleanála approved the store in 2007 despite concerns about its impact on the wider retail environment. It is estimated the some 2.3 million visits were made to IKEA in Belfast last year with large numbers travelling from the south.

I assume that the M50 upgrade wll be completed before that date, as I was under the impression that this was one of the requirements in the planning granted. Maybe, maybe not! I think I will give it a few weeks for the fuss to die down before venturing up to give a visit.

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Paul Reid, manager of the new IKEA store, celebrates the opening of the IKEA branch in Belfast,The store has the largest sales floor of any IKEA branch in the UK and will have over 9000 products

It’s a mecca for bargain-hunters across Europe.

And tomorrow, thousands are expected to flood through the doors of IKEA when it opens its first store in Ireland.

So hyped is the opening of the shop by the Swedish furniture giant, that a special traffic plan has been put into operation in Belfast. Additional PSNI officers will be on the beat and a PSNI helicopter on standby.

Belfast’s Lord Mayor Jim Rodgers and store manager Paul Reid will officially declare the new 29,000 sqm store open at 10am through the company’s traditional log-cutting ceremony.

The flagship store has carried out an advertising blitz in recent weeks, distributing over 640,000 catalogues to households in the North.

But thousands of people from the South are also expected to take advantage of the cheaper flatpack furniture.

Warehouse

Located at the Holywood Exchange close to Belfast’s George Best Airport, the IKEA store is equivalent to 5.5 football pitches. It has over 50 showrooms, a market hall and a warehouse stocking the full range of IKEA products totalling 9,500 items.

The new store is considered to be one of the most environmentally friendly stores in the UK and will recycle 90pc — approximately 1500 tonnes — of its waste in 2008. Tomorrow’s opening will mark the 270th IKEA store in the world and will employ over 450 people.