THIS month marks 34 years since the Swedish furniture giant, IKEA, opened its store in Warrington.

The Gemini Retail Park store opened its doors for the first time on Thursday, October 1 1987.

Thousands of people, including some who had camped out in the days beforehand, visited the country's inaugural Ikea.

 

 

 

The opening day was described as ‘absolute bedlam’, with special offers on – including sofas for £25 and bookcases for £5.

At the time of opening, the store was allowed 7,000 people in the building at any one time and on the opening day they were ‘exceeding’ that.

Customers from across the country turned up, even some from Ireland.

And over three decades later, queues formed again as Warrington’s IKEA reopened after the Covid-19 lockdown.