East Belfast To Go Kitsch

Somewhere in Ikea HQ, someone is putting together a massive instruction leaflet to help the Northern Ireland builders assemble their new East Belfast store in the empty units in Holywood Exchange, just up the road from Belfast City Airport.

At last, B&Q and Secret Sainsbury’s (“secret” because so few people shop there) will be lonely no more, but will be joined by a 25,800 square metre store full of Swedish kitsch.

Some essential IKEA facts:

• “IKEA” is a composite of the first letters in the founder’s name in addition to the first letters of the names of the property and the village in which he grew up: Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd.
• Last year IKEA’s 221 worldwide stores had over 453 million visitors.
• A massive 453 million vistors. China’s first IKEA opened in Shanghai in 1998.

The Belfast IKEA will apparently include a 400-seat rstruarant, along with a smaller café, and a Swedish food hall.

If you're looking for a job, Ikea Belfast are recruiting (summer 2007) at www.ikea.co.uk/belfast.