Ikea, the Swedish retail giant opened its first Indian store in Hyderabad on Thursday and going by the photos and videos floating online, it is already a blockbuster hit.
The store in the southern city of Hyderabad is the first of 25 outlets the Swedish furniture giant hopes to open by 2025 across the country of 1.25 billion people.
"I've come all the way from Bangalore (575 kilometres, 357 miles away). I am excited to see what's there," garment factory employee Krishna Mohan Dixit, 39, who began lining up 90 minutes before the 10 am opening
#WATCH Stampede like situation at public opening of Swedish home furnishing brand #IKEA in Hyderabad, yesterday. pic.twitter.com/Ta5izho02E
— ANI (@ANI) August 10, 2018
"We are looking forward to it. Actually it's my wife who got me here. Her sister sends a lot Ikea stuff from Dubai. So here we are," said IT manager Nasrullah Khan, 34, another early bird.
Traffic jam @IKEA @IKEAIndia Dear Hyderabadis IKEA is not a day exhibition, it's a STORE 😑 🙏🙏 NAMASKARAM #ikea #IKEAHyderabad #IKEAIndia #IkeaInIndia pic.twitter.com/I8O6EFFD8k
— RJ Chaitu (@RJChaitu) August 9, 2018
As the retail giant finally opened its doors for Indian customers, thousands of enthusiastic customers thronged the 400,000 sq feet store, easily the largest single brand outlet the country has seen.
Madness at #IKEAHyderabad Relax people. This is not #Tirupati. Crazy scenes in the inaugural day #IKEAIndia #IKEA pic.twitter.com/z02BHyr1yg
— Aswin Kumar (@aswinkumar88) August 9, 2018
As the videos on social media suggest, a stampede-like situation was captured on film. According to The Times of India, Ikea saw customers coming in as early as 10 am, store's opening time and thronged till 11 pm.
"This madness at #Ikea opening today at Hyderabad looks like temple Darshan queue," wrote one user on Twitter. "First Day First Show BlockBuster," wrote another.
Welcoming the first customers in the first IKEA store in Hyderabad. #ikeaindia pic.twitter.com/lfMMCintkF
— IKEA Sverige (@IKEASverige) August 9, 2018
But the madness wasn't just limited to the store. Thousands in the store meant the traffic too swelled exponentially.
Jam packed #HitecCity after #IKEAHyderabad opens to public. #IKEA #HappeningHyderabad pic.twitter.com/l9DJItwDih
— Jella Harsha Sai (@Harsha_Jella) August 9, 2018
Just received this on WhatsApp. First day of #Ikea in #Hyderabad.
— Uday Tharar (@udaytharar) August 9, 2018
Conclusion: India's consumption story is very much intact. pic.twitter.com/OoTztXgqkn
What a terrific traffic it was!! My routine 40min drive from office turned to 2Hr drive. Now every #Hyderabadi knows what @IKEAIndia is and where #Ikea is in #Hyderabad #Telangana #India #traffic #HyderabadWelcomesIkea pic.twitter.com/awDOwM97ef
— Rakhi (@rishi337) August 9, 2018
Hats off to our urban Planning.. Permitting a Furniture retail Outlet in the Middle of the Hub and making the already chaotic traffic even more worse.#IKEAHyderabad #ikeaindia #Hyderabad #TrafficWoes #UrbanPlanning pic.twitter.com/rdNJ4QNZWl
— Kiran Baddi (@Kiran_baddi) August 9, 2018
Traffic jam near #IKEAHyderabad on the inaugural day. Madness pic.twitter.com/8kX0EqSoSF
— Aswin Kumar (@aswinkumar88) August 9, 2018
When citizens took to Twitter to complain about the chaos on roads, Cyberabad Police blamed the 'grossly insufficient parking space at IKEA building.'
"That’s not due to poor traffic management. But due to grossly insufficient parking space at IKEA building and no information to the IKEA customers regarding their external parking arrangements. Also, the roads around IKEA are not totally operational," responded Cyberabad Police on Twitter.
In fact, the situation was so bad that city cops had to issue a traffic advisory to warn the public about the traffic congestion.
Sir, That’s not due to poor traffic management. But, due to grossly insufficient parking space at IKEA building and no information to the IKEA customers regarding their external parking arrangements.Also, the roads around IKEA are not totally operational.
— CYBERABAD TRAFFIC (@CYBTRAFFIC) August 9, 2018
