Two months after Michigan’s first Ikea store opened in
Canton, it can still feel like opening day on weekends as a DJ plays
tunes in the parking lot, hot dog vendors whip up quick 50-cent lunches
and a good parking spot is hard to find.

Betty and John Shnell of
Sylvan Lake found that Sunday morning wasn’t too crowded. They took
their two kids, Giulia, 8, and Alvaro, 10, to the store to pick out a
new bedroom set for Giulia after dining at Ikea’s restaurant.

“I heard it was crowded,” Betty Shnell said. “You would have to take a bus and I didn’t want to come.”

So the Shnells just waited for a Sunday morning because “everyone’s at church right now,” John said.

Ikea
hasn’t kept all the success to itself. Its mere presence has made other
retailers feel more confident about Michigan’s shaky economy and two
new shopping centers and a Costco are planned for Michigan Avenue, not
far from the store at Ford and Haggerty.

“Ikea is kind of a super
catalyst. It is on a corridor that was already strong, but now Canton
is really on the radar screens of retailers looking at southeast
Michigan,” said Dave Long of CB Richard Ellis. The real estate
development company is lining up national retailers for a
500,000-square-foot shopping center at Michigan Avenue and Morton
Taylor in Canton. Long said he couldn’t announce any retailers yet but
he expects the center will start construction next summer if all goes
well with signing tenants.

“Retailers have this caution over the state’s economy,” Long said.

“THAT GRAND OPENING FEELING: Ikea remains a draw”
By Greta Guest
The Detroit Free Press

“Journeys bring power and love
Back into you. If you can’t go somewhere,
Move in the passageways of the self.

They are like shafts of light,
Always changing, and you change
When you explore them.”

- Rumi

[via Whiskey River]

*OUTSIDE THE BOX. An occasional series of thoughts and images. A breathing space. Because we can’t be shopping all the time:) Submissions are welcome.

Thanks everyone for sending news tips and pictures on the Canton store opening. We really appreciate it. Have a great weekend. See you all on Monday!

crz mama l took this at the kid’s play area. More at FLICKR

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here. IKEA  of Canton, Michigan on the horizon.

Green_eyed_girl on FLICKR

“This was our “camp site”.

yes, we are all full of contradictions, and it was because of the
extremity of this one, that sarahanne and i indeed spent the night in
the parking lot… and the adventure began…”

Muppster @ FLICKR

Share your photos with IKEA fans all over the world. Simply go to FLICKR and tag your photos “ikeacantonmichigan ” We will feature the best images here on Positive Fanatics.

Audrey Seilheimer, from Canton, is the first customer to enter the IKEA store.

Photo: Davd Coates/The Detroit News

Read full article here
Detroit Free Press event blog

“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.”

LINK

“Brandon
Shelton, 22, of Westland, right, and Alease George, 28, of Detroit wait
Monday for Ikea’s grand opening in Canton on Wednesday.”

(Photo by
RICHARD LEE/Detroit Free Press)

LINK

[Thanks Paul Molnar!]

Share your photos with IKEA fans all over the world. Simply go to FLICKR and tag your photos “ikeacantonmichigan ” We will feature the best images here on Positive Fanatics.

“Ikea doesn’t open its first Michigan store until Wednesday, but more
than 50 people were lining up outside the store at Ford and Haggerty
roads in Canton Monday afternoon. About six of them had tents and the
rest had their sleeping bags for the two-day camp out, said store
manager Mark McCaslin.

Audrey Seilheimer, a 28 year-old
mother and professional photographer from Canton, was the first in line
at 8 p.m. Sunday.”

More of Greta Guest’s story @ FREEP.COM

[Thanks Paul!]

Around 8:00am, the focus is changed over to the stage where the opening
ceremonies will take place.  Local entertainer Dan Carter will perform just
prior to the offical ceremony.  Flag raising, with the American and Swedish
national flags and the singing of those national anthems.  A welcome speech by
Canton’s supervisor, Tom Yack and other local officials.Instead of a ribbon
cutting there will be the Swedish custom of sawing a log to mark the official
opening.The store opens for business at 9:00am!

“We have 5 days of entertainment lined up for the IKEA fans who will brave
the anticipated crowds June 7 through June 11.  Wednesday, of course, is the
most exciting day, with several performers entertaining throught the day.
Starting at 6am a 10 piece band will take to the stage to entertain the crowds
with motown sound music: Tee Turner and the Headliners a local Detroit band.
Tee Turner has performed with the Temptations and the Miracles.

” Ikea is a self-contained world, complete with its own restaurant,
serving Swedish and American dishes, and even a supervised play area
where shoppers can drop off children for 45 minutes at a time.

Nevertheless, Ikea could generate some spillover business at nearby
motels and restaurants, which Cabela’s has done, Zimmermann said. And
there’s still the 6 percent Michigan sales tax on everything bought
inside Ikea.

“It’s definitely a win for the state,” Zimmermann said.

Customers flock to Ikea for its low prices and wide variety. The
store sells 10,000 items, ranging from kitchen cabinets and sofas to
coat hangers and potholders. Ikea also carries its own line of
appliances, which Benton Harbor-based Whirlpool Corp. makes for the
retailer...”

The Miami Herald
LINK

Our friend, Jen Segrest of OHIKEA is also quoted extensively in this piece. Kudos and on with the struggle!

Ikea store manager Mark McCaslin believes 300 to 2,000 customers will be waiting to shop at 9 a.m. Wednesday. The first 5,000 shoppers will receive gift cards.

“The Ikea experience”
Chic but cheap designs are expected to attract droves of shoppers to Canton

Kara G. Morrison / The Detroit News

“Ikea is “just a store” the way Mall of America in Minneapolis is “just a mall.” That is to say, it’s an experience.

And
that is why the Swedish home furnishings retailer, at the corner of
Ford and Haggerty roads in Canton Township, expects customers to line
up as early as Monday — two days before the doors open for the first
time in Michigan.

Store manager Mark McCaslin believes anywhere from 300 to 2,000 customers will be there ready to shop at 9 a.m. Wednesday.

That
doesn’t seem like an overly brash estimate, when over the last several
weeks, more than 30,000 Ikea enthusiasts signed up on a special Web
site (www.ikeacantonproject.com) to compete for a pre-opening shopping day and personal store tour.”

LINK

See also: IKEAFANS.com – Personalizing the IKEA Experience since 2005