IKEA Edmonton Opening Chaos

February 10, 2005
IKEA
Today at 00.01am o'clock IKEA has opened its largest retail store in the UK. However, it didn't remain open for very long. Already after 42 mins it was closed (and is still closed; according to IKEA's website at 20:17pm today). The reason for that was, that an unpredicted number of people charged the store to secure some special bargains IKEA offered just for the big opening night. Bargains have been a leather couch or the famous but 'everybody has it' bookshelf 'Billy'. In order for customer and also staff safety, IKEA decided to close store. Excerpt from IKEA's press release titled 'An incident at the opening of IKEA Edmonton':

The incident occurred as an unforeseen number of customers joined the midnight opening event and turmoil erupted outside the IKEA store. Crowd control precautions were in place according to plans but proved insufficient as some 5.000 to 6.000 people had arrived for the event. At the official time for the opening, 00.01am, a crowd outside of the controlled queue surged forward, causing a crush at the entrance to the store. The police have confirmed a number of injuries, but no further details are available at this time. Police is also investigating a separate incident near IKEA’s premises, in which a man was stabbed. The safety of customers and co-workers is of the highest priority for IKEA, and IKEA would like to express its concern and deep regret to what has happened.

[Full press release]
Other articles about that opening tragic and certainly one of the worst events in IKEA's history can be found at The Guardian, BBC News and REUTERS.

This entry was posted at February 10, 2005 20:10 (UTC) from London, UK.