IKEA Opens in Canton, MI.
Associated Press reports on the IKEA Canton, MI opening:
“CANTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Hundreds of
screaming, arm-waving shoppers stormed Michigan’s first IKEA store
Wednesday, unable to pass up the spectacle of opening day and the
combination of functional furniture and low prices.
The doors
opened at 8:45 a.m. — 15 minutes earlier than expected — and the
hysteria began as the Swedish home furnishings giant opened its 28th
U.S. location.
n the time before the opening, prospective
shoppers ate complimentary doughnuts, donned blue-and-yellow visors and
enjoyed the stylings of a live band playing Motown hits.
IKEA
North America President Pernille Lopez presided over an opening
ceremony in the parking lot that featured the official “sawing of the
log” ceremony and the raising of the Swedish, American and Michigan
flags.Employees pounded inflatable noisemakers together as
shoppers entered the 311,000-square-foot store that is located in
Canton Township, 30 miles west of Detroit.
The excitement was such that some of those waiting outside the store had been there since Monday.The
company has been working with authorities in five jurisdictions –
Canton, the neighboring communities of Plymouth and Westland, Wayne
County and the state to control traffic on opening day. And it showed.Officials directed traffic and signs on Interstate 275 cautioned motorists to take it easy on their way to Canton.”
