IKEA fans who have been waiting in line for days finally got their hands on some free furniture when the doors opened on the Swedish chain's first Miami-Dade store Wednesday morning.
Customers have been sitting in line since Monday outside the 416,000-square-foot store in Sweetwater, which became the second in South Florida and the largest in the state when it opened at 9 a.m.
"I love IKEA, IKEA's amazing, it's fun," said Tony Grandson, who had been waiting in line since 5 a.m. Monday.
The first 39 people in line got a free Ektorp sofa, valued at $399, with the next 100 in line getting a Poang armchair, valued at $69. The first 100 children also received a soft toy for free.
The first 2,500 people in line got a mystery prize envelope with a gift card worth between $10 and $250 or a buy one, get one free voucher. More giveaways will be held on Thursday and Friday.
Sweetwater Mayor Jose Diaz was on hand for the grand opening, which featured music and entertainment as well as a traditional Swedish log-sawing.
The new store has about 1,500 parking spaces and nearly 10,000 items and will employ about 350 workers. Also featured on the store is a 178,000-square-foot solar array on the roof, which the company says is South Florida's largest solar installation.
