Iconic Swedish store IKEA is arriving in Bangkok late 2011. IKEA offers stylish and modern home furnishings at reasonable prices. The home furnishing giant was founded by Ingvar Kamprad at the tender age of just seventeen. Kamprad’s passion for design has escalated to stores in forty-three countries and now IKEA is moving to Bangkok.
The new 43, 000 sq/m Bangkok store is to be part of the Mega Bangna shopping centre opening around the same time. The shopping centre comprises of over four hundred retailers and over one hundred restaurants and eateries. Mega Bangna is situated south-west of Bangna Trat Rd and the eastern ring road at Bangplee Suksaurat expressway intersection, approximately six kilometers from Suvarnabhumi airport.
The largest IKEA store in south-east Asia will house approximately 7, 500 furnishing ideas including furniture, soft furnishings, lightning, office ware and pictures. But what does the arrival of this super-store mean for Bangkok?
Traditionally, in the west, the arrival of any large store creates unrest. The general public sentiment harps back to a time of individuality and independent stores. This however, is certainly not the case in Bangkok.
The arrival of IKEA will give Bangkok a taste of western style in a convenient and affordable manner. Somewhere like Thailand that has such strong traditional values and culture needn’t worry about quashing long-established conventional and style. Instead, the people of Bangkok welcome a greater selection of choice. Between Chatuchak market, traditional Thai boutiques and the Bangna IKEA store, Bangkok will be truly spoilt for choice.
The arrival of the Bangna IKEA store brings with it a greater selection of choice and a style that is really well suited to modern Bangkok condos. IKEA traditionally produces a range of goods suited for the modern home that include ingenious, brightly coloured and stylish pictures as well as a wide range of accessories including some fantastic rugs to snuggle up in. IKEA’s quirky sense of style produced en-mass makes these stylish goods reasonably priced. The IKEA style and design ideas will no doubt help customers to easily modify their homes without breaking the bank.
The new IKEA store will also carry favour with the people of Bangkok as it will increase employment rates. In addition to those required to build the new IKEA store, it will employ approximately four hundred members of staff. This includes eight managers chosen from thousands that have already started to build the highly anticipated Bangna store.
Despite the Bangna store not yet having opened, IKEA are planning two more stores for Bangkok on a similar scale to the colossal Bangna store. This is part of IKEA’s plan to become the number one furnishing company in Thailand.
The Bangna store will be home to, not only exciting new goods but also a children’s play area and restaurant including, most importantly of all, those famous Swedish meatballs!
