Construction has begun on the first-ever IKEA store in New Zealand. Located at Sylvia Park, Auckland, IKEA New Zealand has confirmed an anticipated opening date to customers of late 2025.
The beginning of construction was recognised by a ground-breaking event, which took place following a Māori blessing with local iwi who officially welcomed IKEA to the land. After the blessing, a Fika, a traditional Swedish ritual of coming together over food, took place.
Today, Mirja Viinanen, CEO and Chief Sustainability Officer for IKEA New Zealand and Australia, confirmed that the first store would open alongside online shopping, enabling IKEA to be as accessible as possible to many New Zealanders. The traditional big, blue box will be a large format store, approximately 34,000m2, showcasing the latest design and home furnishing solutions to help create a better life at home.
“We know anticipation has been building since we first announced our intention to come to New Zealand, so we are excited to share our plans today as we take an important step closer to saying hej to the many New Zealanders. We’re so grateful to iwi who have welcomed us to the land, in addition to Kiwi Property, our partners who have enabled construction to begin as we look towards our anticipated opening date of late 2025,” Viinanen said.
Wherever IKEA operates, we aim to be a good neighbour and consult with the community and businesses in the best way. We have been working closely with our partners at Kiwi Property Group to consult community groups and local iwi. We are very appreciative of these relationships and look forward to continuing these consultations as IKEA moves to build and open its first store. We welcome the expertise, advice, and input on our journey.
Tolga Öncü, Head of IKEA Retail, said the interest shown for IKEA in New Zealand has been humbling.
“We will do our absolute best to live up to such expectations. I wish everyone a smooth and speedy construction and look forward to welcoming New Zealand to the big IKEA family as soon as possible,” said Tolga Öncü, Head of IKEA Retail, Ingka Group.
New Zealand has felt like a missing piece for IKEA, and officials are pleased this development has commenced.
