IKEA has announced that it will open the doors of its new Canberra store on Monday 16 November 2015.

Speaking at Floriade, where the Swedish giant is bringing the cover of the iconic IKEA Catalogue to life, Store Manager Mark Mitchinson said the IKEA concept is about bringing a wide range of affordable, well designed home furnishing products to the many people.

“We’re so excited to finally reveal the opening date of the Canberra store and we look forward to welcoming our new neighbours,” Mark said.

16 November will see thousands of diehard IKEA fans and first-timers line up to be amongst the first through the doors.

At 26,000 square metres, the store will feature over 8,500 products from the IKEA range, and will service Canberra and the surrounding areas including pick and delivery services to regional areas.

The seventh IKEA store on the East Coast of Australia, the opening of the Canberra store is a landmark in the IKEA long-term national expansion. It is expected to attract over 1 million visitors per year and will feature:

• 11,200 square metres of combined furniture showroom and market hall space
• A 280+ seat IKEA Restaurant
• 740+ car parking spaces
• Smaaland, an internal children’s care facility
• Jobs for 250 staff across all areas of the store

The Canberra store will be one of the most sustainable stores in the country built with a solar panel energy system, estimated to generate approximately a quarter of the energy consumed by the store. It will also include 2,500 LED lights, which consume around 85 percent less energy than other lighting.

“At IKEA, sustainability is at the core of everything we do,” Mark said.

“We’re proud to be leaders in the development of products and solutions that help customers save energy, reduce or store waste and use less water. This is part of our ‘People & Planet strategy’ for 2020, designed to minimise our impact on the environment and become resource and energy independent.”

In the first year of operations, it is anticipated IKEA Canberra will sell:

• Around 25,000 soft toys
• An estimated 24 tonnes of meatballs – approximately the weight of 2 fully loaded double Decker buses
• An estimated 23 tonnes of Cinnamon Buns – around the weight of 22 African Elephants
• An estimated 300,000 hot dogs – which when laid end to end equals approximately 53 kilometres (each hot dog is 17cm long). Roughly the distance from Canberra to Yass.

For further information visit IKEA.com.au