India receives first IKEA store

The Swedish retail giant, IKEA, has opened its first ever store in India a decade after it first proposed the idea.

The store is located in India’s city of Hyderabad, in the Telangana state in the south of the country.

The 400,000sqft shop, which officially opened on 9 August, breaks two records for the firm – its home to IKEA’s largest restaurant with 1,000 seats, and has the largest amount of on-ground staff in any of its shops with 950 members.

The firm plans to open 25 outlets in the country by 2025, announcing it will be investing at least $1.5bn in the nation.

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Construction of the store began in August 2016 – the firm initially planned for the site to launch by the end of 2017.

“We want to make promises today,” remarked the CEO of IKEA, Jesper Brodin, during a press conference the day prior to opening.

“The first promise is, we will try to become affordable… [offering] 1,000 products below Rs200 is a good start. We want to meet many more Indians with our affordable price.”

“Secondly, we want to be accessible. From tomorrow, we will be accessible in Hyderabad, and now we will take our efforts to speed up our expansion… we are already ready with a spade in the ground in several parts of India.”