A LONG-AWAITED branch of Ikea near Valencia will open its doors on June 17, and is set to be the second-largest of the Swedish flat-pack chain's stores in Spain.
It is currently under construction in the new industrial park in Alfafar, just a few kilometres from the city, thanks to an investment of over 60 million euros.
Measuring over 37,300 square metres and with 2,200 free parking spaces, the Ikea store in Alfafar will be the 16th in Spain and a bonus to residents in the Valencia region and on the Costa Blanca who, until now, have had to travel to Murcia or even Madrid to shop for the brand's trademark modern, minimalist and cut-price furniture and household goods.
Around 500 people have been employed in building the centre – the outside of which is nearly finished, with just the interior to be refurbished – and 400 directly-linked jobs and 80 peripheral posts will be filled in time for the opening.
When Ikea announced it was recruiting on December 2 last year for 480 jobs, inviting applications from candidates of all ages and levels of experience, nearly 20,000 CVs uploaded on the first day crashed the server.
By the time the application deadline was up on January 5 this year, over 100,000 candidates had applied – a world record for Ikea's 303 stores around the globe.
The Swedish interiors giant has 15 other stores in Spain of which three are in Madrid (Alcorcón, San Sebastián de los Reyes and Ensanche de Vallecas), three in Barcelona (Sabadell, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat – pictured - and Badalona), three in Andalucía (Málaga, Jerez de la Frontera in the province of Cádiz, and Castilleja de la Cuesta in the province of Sevilla), one in Murcia, and the rest are all in the north of Spain – Barakaldo (Vizcaya province, in the Basque Country), Pola de Siero (Asturias), Zaragoza, in Aragón, A Coruña, in Galicia, and Arroyo de la Encomienda (Valladolid province, in Castilla y León).
It also has two wholesalers in Valls (Tarragona province, in Catalunya) which supplies its branches in south-western Europe and is where its transport and storage bases are located.
