Curiosity led Wanda Humphrey and her sister Kayko Humphrey to San Francisco’s Mid-Market neighborhood Sunday to be among the first to check out the soon-to-open Ikea store, but it was the 14R Muni bus that brought them to Fifth and Mission streets so they could walk around the corner to stand in line.
“I decided, well, we wanted to see the new store, so we may as well go,” said Wanda Humphrey, a resident of Daly City.
When asked how they would take anything home, the sisters looked at each other. “We were just talking about that,” Wanda said, adding that she “wouldn’t purchase anything large.”
The new Ikea store at 945 Market St. is focused on “small-space living” for a different pool of residents than those who have traditionally driven to its big-box suburban stores. The Downtown San Francisco store will officially open Wednesday, but Saturday and Sunday afternoons, Ikea members were invited to attend a “sneak peek” preview that promised “food, prizes, giveaways and surprises.”
“This store is one of our city-center concepts,” said Ikea marketing and communications manager Wanda Fisher outside the store Sunday. “We’re going to carry mostly home furnishing accessories here that you can take home with you today. But our entire range is still available for purchase and delivery.”
A handful of Ikea staff members in bright yellow or blue T-shirts greeted the folks who stood in line waiting to be welcomed in.
Fisher said members would get to tour the shop, buy items and visit the new 68-seat Swedish deli. “We have all of the meatballs, the veggie balls and salmon balls, … cinnamon buns, veggie dogs, everything!” she said. “It’s just a little different than our traditional sit-down restaurant that you’d see over at Emeryville or Palo Alto.”
Customers can enter the store starting at 11 a.m. on opening day, following a ribbon-cutting ceremony with city officials. Ikea says the grand opening will include “games, workshops and giveaways.”
Downtown stakeholders are hopeful that the 250,000-square-foot building complex with Ikea as its anchor will help reinvigorate San Francisco’s struggling Mid-Market neighborhood, which has suffered as office workers failed to return after the pandemic and a string of retail stores closed.
Martin Snyder took a Muni bus Downtown from his home near Ocean Beach in the Outer Richmond District Sunday.
“I just want to see what they got, what’s in there,” Snyder said while standing in line.
Mark Sutton briefly joined the line in his motorized wheelchair before learning it was only for invited guests. Sutton, joined by his 11-week-old acquaintance of 10 days—a puppy named Sammy, who was busy burrowing in his lap—said he usually makes and tries to sell walking sticks on a nearby street corner but had come Sunday to panhandle.
Asked if he would shop at Ikea once it opened, Sutton responded, “Do they sell dog food here? I don’t even know what they sell. Probably not, unless they got something free.”