Thousands pour into Ikea Winnipeg on opening day

More than 8,000 people have walked through the doors of Winnipeg's Ikea store since it officially opened to great fanfare on Wednesday morning.

Ikea officials told CBC News that the new store, located on Kenaston Boulevard and Sterling Lyon Parkway, has attracted 8,200 visitors as of 4:30 p.m. CT.

More than 2,000 people flowed into the Ikea store as the doors opened at 9 a.m. A total of more than 20,000 people are expected to pass through the store on opening day.

Official openingfestivities included performances by jugglers and First Nations dancers, as well as speeches by Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger, Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz and Grand Chief Derek Nepinak of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.

Theparking lot was already packed hours beforethe doors to the 395,671-square-foot-store opened.

Peoplebeganlining upin their cars Tuesday night, waiting for thelotto open so they coulddash to the front doors and brave frigid temperatures through the night.

By 2 a.m. Wednesday, the line stretched600 deep while the temperature kept falling,eventually hitting 21 C.

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Due the to cold, Ikea opened the doorsand let the line inside to warm up. But prior to the official opening, they weretaken back outside.

The first 1,000people in linewere given numbers to mark their place, alongwith gift boxes that each included a $75 gift card and an Allen key.

Among those was fivegolden allen keys thatallowedthose shoppersto open a lock for a chance towin a $1,000gift card or a grand prize$5,000gift card.

Barry Capner, who received the0001 spot in line, arrived at the store at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday.

"Aw, I feel great about it. It was a long run coming up the parking lot but yeah, I feel great," he said.

"Number onehow good can it get, right?"

It could get as good as it did for Winnipegger Trish Kekropidis, whose golden Allen keywon her the $5,000 gift card.

"Five thousand dollars!I'm gonna be shopping!" she screamed.

Oneshopper came from Mexico City

Mary Gil, whowasNo. 56 in line, came from Mexico City, bracing against the Winnipeg cold to help her sister out.

Gil's sister lives in Winnipeg and is renovating her home, so she's at Ikea to buy some new furniture.

But Gil, who has been to Ikea in the U.S. and is a fan of the store, said she wanted to experience the excitement of an opening day.

"To be the first in the store and just get to know the products first and just like the excitement and everything. And everyone running and getting the gift box," she said.

While some people shake their heads, wondering what all the fuss is about for a store, many of those in line on Wednesday see Ikea asmore than anordinary store.

For Charlotte Livingston, it's a signal of the city's emergence as an important place on the world retail map.

"We've arrived.We've got something great that the rest of Canada has and we wanted it too, we always wanted it. Now we have it so it's exciting," she said.

"Ikea isto the ladies of Winnipeg what the Jets is to the men of Winnipeg," added Carla Oliphant.

While some Winnipeggers have saidthey'll wait several weeks, even months, before going to the store in order to avoid the crowds, manager Stephen Bobko suggests people needn't worry about a crush of shoppers.

"This store is so equipped for these volumes of people. It's a 400,000-square-foot store;we've got over 1,600 parking spaces," he said, further noting there are 40 checkout standsto keep the crowds moving.