By ABS-CBN News
Swedish home furnishing firm IKEA has formally opened its second branch in the Philippines at Trinoma Mall in Quezon City, Thursday morning.
It’s a ‘Plan & Order’ shop- a much smaller IKEA branch compared to the Pasay branch, which is the biggest IKEA store in the world. The one at Trinoma is only about 400sqm, but officials said all the IKEA products at Pasay can be ordered and picked up at Trinoma and customers can still buy small items in the store.
“Pots, pans, dinnerware, glassware, home organizers. These are the most frequent products in the blue bags of our customers,” said IKEA Philippines Country Retail Manager, Ricardo Pinheiro.
With the opening of the second branch, Pinheiro is seeing a possible rise in visitor count this holiday season from 500,000 to one million. He said November, December, and January are historically its busiest months.
“I think we will surpass the 500,000 visitors in our physical store during that period [last year] and for sure we’ll pass the million visitors during that period [this year],” he added.
Dozens lined up during the opening hour at the Trinoma, where there is also a planning studio. A design staff will help customers design their dream home. The branch is also purely cashless.
Ayala Malls Senior Vice President and Head of Leasing and Hospitality Mariana Zobel de Ayala welcomes the partnership with IKEA.
“IKEA’s arrival at Trinoma is more than a retail expansion, it’s a shared commitment to uplifting everyday living,” Zobel de Ayala said.
Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte also welcomes the entry of IKEA to Quezon City, saying investments will bring in more jobs for the residents. She revealed that she has always bought from IKEA since she was in college, and she jokingly said the next major IKEA store will be in Quezon City.
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