Overnight camping was banned and motorists were told to plan their journey as New Zealand finally joined the flatpack family
“I’ve been waiting 25 years for this,” says Annie Sattler.
A quarter of a century after she emigrated from Germany, and seven years since the store was first announced, Sattler was prepared to wait just a few hours extra to be among the earliest through the doors of Ikea’s first outlet in New Zealand.
She was joined by hundreds of shoppers queueing on Thursday morning to mark the end of the national waiting game. Ikea was founded more than 80 years ago – and now has more than 400 stores worldwide – but the Swedish furniture giant had until now been absent from these shores, making New Zealand one of the last developed nations to get a store.
Sattler, who grew up with family trips to Ikea to furnish her childhood bedroom, says the opening event reminds her of home. “It was such a treat. I loved it – the staff, the furniture, the whole story of it.”
