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Swedish home furnishing multinational retailer IKEA opened its doors in the Pearl City on Thursday and the first day saw a whopping 40,000 visitors.
More than 15,952 samosas and 4,830 yoghurts were consumed in its massive 1,000-seater restaurant, and some 45,000 kalas (spoons) purchased.
What began with a score by a music band ‘Sare Jahan Se Achacha, Hindustan Hamara,’ amidst the waving of Swedish and Indian flags by IKEA employees, ended up being a hectic affair for the staff at the jam-packed store.
Swelling numbers
Traffic was choked for hours in Hitec City and the situation was compounded by a recently- completed underpass getting flooded after a heavy downpour.
The store managers had to allow shoppers inside in batches as the numbers swelled in the second half of the day, after a relatively smaller number of visitors in the morning.
According to IKEA, which expects the Hyderabad store to see more than 6-7 million visitors a year, there were some interesting insights from the social media.
On the opening day, the store saw over 30,000 tweets, 2,35,615 website visits and 61,100 followers on Instagram.
It saw over 8,896 people signing up for the IKEA family membership in Hyderabad on the opening day alone.
“We have a total of 1,69,500 members till date, pan India, and approximately 1,45,000 only in Hyderabad,” an IKEA spokesperson said, but did not share the total amount billed on day one.
The company compiles the day’s data after 11 pm when the store closes.
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