Ikea Northern Ireland 306 Airport Road West Holywood Exchange Belfast (Off the A2 Belfast Road)   Ikea Northern Ireland

Ikea Open Store in Belfast City

Hooray Ikea Has Arrived in Holywood Exchange, Belfast, Northern Ireland! No more traveling to Glasgow on cheap days out, the Swedish Furniture giant has arrived in Belfast town. The scenes reminiscent of other Ikea openings were absence from this, Ireland's first store. The store had decided not to have massive opening offers, which lead to the opening feeling like a damp squib. Yes it has a bit of razzmatazz, it even had Northern Ireland's political elite but no huge bargains and as such no huge crowds. The traffic congestion predicted by the PSNI and others did not materialize either. In all, it was a withered start to what we hope is a great success!

Editorial 

Unfortunately I am a little bias when it comes to Ikea, I love it, I am used to the endless journey round the London store, with a hotdog at the end, a self-congratulatory snack for having finished a marathon trail. 

However, all did not go well when I decided to attend the opening of this Northern Ireland's first Ikea store with my young nephew. As you can see from the photos below the furthest I got was the top floor of the multi-story car park. For having been forced to park on the top level of Ikea's multi-story car-park, I found myself stranded with a young child, all his paraphernalia and no working lifts to get to ground level. 

Still these things happen at grand openings and whilst I didn't get in on the opening day of Northern Ireland's first Ikea, I have returned since and had a good poke around. Now that the chaos of opening day has subsided, normal Ikea service has been resumed.

Welcome to Belfast, Guys!