COLUMBUS (WCMH) — Huge crowds are anticipated for the grand opening of IKEA’s Columbus store.
Doors open at 9am Wednesday. Columbus police and the retail store say they are expecting an overflow of traffic.
“One is to monitor and control the public roads. And also make sure we have plenty of parking and removing the customers from the public roads as quickly as possible,” said Joseph Roth, IKEA public affairs manager.
The home furnishing store is expected to draw 10,000 – 15,000 customers a day during the first week.
Overflow parking will be available in case IKEA’s 2,000 spots fill up.
Road signs are posted along the interstate warning drivers of potential delays.
Worse-case scenario, Columbus police will close all surrounding exit ramps if the traffic gets too congested.
Tiffany Hail saw those delay signs this morning and decided to camp out overnight instead.
“We got here about 7:30 this morning,” said Hail. There was already 21 people here. I made the 22nd person.”
