IKEA Tampa Opens!!

To read all about today's IKEA Tampa grand opening festivities, and to see all of the photos from today's celebration, please click here. (You do not need a Twitter account to view the pics or read the tweets.)

Here are just a few pics...

This pic is of Shelby, she was first in line! Shelby and her brother and friends were super nice and fun, just really great people!!

Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio and IKEA Tampa Store Manager Monica Varela sawed a ceremonial log in half which officially opened the new store at 9am. "Sawing a log in Sweden actually brings good luck to the new home and its future guests," Ikea spokesperson Joseph Roth said. "We view Ikea Tampa as our new home ... so we really like to inaugurate in the same way and welcome all these visitors who are going to be guests in our new home."

In addition to brief remarks by Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio, Varela was joined by Tampa Council Chairman Thomas Scott who raised the U.S. flag; Honorary Swedish Consul B-G Holmberg who raised the Swedish flag; and Special Assistant to the Governor Michelle Todd who raised the Florida flag. 

The lines were long, but the time flew by with a lot of entertainment and freebies. Everyone was in by 10am-ish.

Upon entering the lobby, hundreds of IKEA Tampa co-workers greeted very excited shoppers with thunderstick and cheering...

“We are excited to bring the unique IKEA family-friendly shopping experience to the Tampa Bay area and beyond,” said Varela.  “The enthusiasm the IKEA Tampa coworker family felt about this big day and about opening the store translated into excitement and a great shopping experience for customers.”

 

Last but not least, meatballs for breakfast at the new store! (When you get up at 5:30am, meatballs at 10:30am actually doesn't seem that odd :)...