The IKEA home furnishings chain is about to launch its first branch in southern Israel, with opening day scheduled for next week, on Feb. 26. The chain has invested NIS 100 million in the new Be’er Sheva branch, which began operations three days ago (Feb. 18).
Like the other branches in Israel, the new store will have a dairy restaurant and a meat restaurant, in addition to its display and sales halls, and a children’s play area.
The Be’er Sheva store, which has 22,000 square meters of space, will have 21 cash registers (including eight for self-service) and 1,500 parking spaces.
The IKEA website in Israel is not yet bilingual in English. On the “plus” side, the company also plans another store for the Jerusalem corridor, and it says it will “never” open on the Sabbath. Its response to Globes on that issue was illuminating: “This is something that will never happen. We work until midnight on Thursdays, and open the stores on Saturday night. Both our employees and our buyers have to rest and enjoy their Sabbath.”