It's official whānau, construction has just begun on Aotearoa New Zealand's first-ever IKEA store, which will be landing at shopping behemoth Sylvia Park.
As confirmed early this morning, Kiwis will be able to shop for affordable, intelligently designed Scandinavian furniture from late 2025 as construction on the huge 34,000m2 site begins.
The big blue box retailer was welcomed to the land by local iwi this morning and there was a fika—coming together over food—after the groundbreaking ceremony.
“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 says Mirja Viinanen, CEO and Chief Sustainability Officer for IKEA New Zealand and Australia. "
“New Zealand felt like a missing piece for IKEA and I am so pleased that, thanks to the support of the many involved, we are now able to start changing that. We are humbled by the interest shown in IKEA and our home furnishing solutions and will do our absolute best to live up to such expectations. I wish everyone a smooth and speedy construction and very much look forward to welcoming New Zealand to the big IKEA family as soon as possible,” said Tolga Öncü, Head of IKEA Retail, Ingka Group.
IKEA New Zealand will be a three-floor building, with a ground-level car park and the store spread across two levels which will also be connected to the main Sylvia Park retail precinct.
Don't live near Auckland? No problem, the Swedish furniture giant will be going online at the same time. What a time to be alive.
Can't wait? Here's how to make IKEA's iconic meatballs at home.
Image credit: Yue Iris, IKEA.